EuroSail News #5541 - 16 May
In This Issue
• Championship glory for Belgium, Uruguay and Great Britain
• Patrick Isoard wins The Transat CIC Vintage category
• It's all about who you know...and what they know.
• RORC De Guingand Bowl Race
• Job Opportunity: Technical Specialist at World Sailing
• Big sea (small boat) - UK Double Handed Offshore Series / Sea Ventures
• Cup Spy : Light winds turn up an interesting development
• Poole Regatta Attracts Entrants from Far and Wide
• The Survival of Wooden Boatbuilding
• David Campbell James retires
• Featured Charter: Advanced 80 Mindfulness
• Featured Brokerage:
• • MOD 70 - Maserati Multi 70
• • YBREEZE 75
• • Shogun Yachts 43
• • Beneteau First 36
• • Melges IC37
• The Last Word: Aldous Huxley
Brought to you by Seahorse magazine and YachtScoring.com EuroSail News 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
Championship glory for Belgium, Uruguay and Great Britain
Sunday was the conclusion of the 49er and 49erFX European Championships as well as the Nacra 17 World Championship in La Grande Motte, France.
49erFX Europeans: Belgium win first major title
Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts didn't sail a great medal race but the Belgians had built up a sufficient buffer that it didn't matter. Crossing the finish line in last place, it wasn't long before Belgian celebrations started. Maenhaut and Geurts have won the first major title of their career at just the right time before the Olympic Games.
49er Europeans: Uruguay win overall and Great Britain are top Europeans
Hernan Umpierre and Fernando Diz made a strong start to the medal race and led around the first mark. But the Uruguayans misjudged the downwind leg and fell back to seventh at the bottom of the course. The doubts were beginning to creep in, but the South Americans had built up a strong buffer over the previous days and crossed the finish line in seventh to take the gold medal.
Nacra 17 Worlds: title No.4 for Tita & Banti
Italian foiling stars Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti have won their fourth Nacra 17 world title in La Grande Motte, France. It was also a great day for first-time winners of a major championship for teams from Uruguay and Belgium in the 49er and 49erFX European Championships. -- Andy Rice
Patrick Isoard wins The Transat CIC Vintage category
The skipper of Uship for Children of the Mekong crossed the finish line this Wednesday at 10:52 a.m. (French time). Aboard his Open 50 monohull, he completed The Transat CIC in 16 days 21 hours and 22 minutes. But Patrick Isoard has just done a little more: this business manager has made his dream come true and also left his mark on the history of the race, the Vintage category having been launched during this edition.
His Race In Numbers:
Arrival time: 10:52:47 a.m. (French time) Race time: 16 days 21 hours 22 minutes 47''
Distance traveled: 3,482.93 nautical miles
Average speed (on the great circle): 7.28 knots
Actual average speed: 8.59 knots
It's all about who you know...and what they know.
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RORC De Guingand Bowl Race
Start: 0900 Saturday 18 May. RYS Line, Cowes IOW
Course: Cowes-Around Marks (110-160 NM)
The Royal Ocean Racing Club's North Sea Race, hosted by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, has attracted over 50 boats. The North Sea Race is one of the oldest in the RORC Racing Calendar dating back to 1931. The race is run in association with the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association, the Yacht Club Scheveningen and the North Sea Regatta. The North Sea Race is the sixth race of the 2024 RORC Season's Points Championship, the world's largest offshore racing series.
Almost uniquely in the RORC series, the De Guingand Bowl Race starts and finishes in The Solent. This allows the RORC Race team to devise a course that is both tactical and strategic without the influence of a pre-determined route. The racetrack will be decided just 24 hours from the start, depending on weather conditions.
Nineteen teams will be competing for Race One of the 2024 IRC Two Handed National Championship. Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews racing Sun Fast 3200 Cora (GB) are the reigning champions, having won both races for the championship last year. -- Louay Habib/RORC
2024 De Guingand Bowl Race Entries
Job Opportunity: Technical Specialist at World Sailing
World Sailing, the governing body for the sport of sailing, is looking for a skilled Technical Specialist to join our team. This pivotal role involves ensuring the integrity of our sport through quality standards and regulations in equipment manufacturing and certification worldwide.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide technical support to equipment manufacturers and World Sailing classes.
- Manage Class Rules and Building Specification changes.
- Perform international equipment and documentation reviews at manufacturing sites.
- Oversee global production control and track certifications.
Qualifications & Skills:
- Strong knowledge of sailing equipment, performance factors, manufacturing processes.
- Experience in quality control and data analysis.
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.
- Willingness to travel internationally and work flexible hours.
- Proficiency in MS Office; CAD and metrology skills are a plus.
Why Join Us?
- Be a part of a global organization shaping the future of sailing.
- Contribute to sustainability initiatives within the sport.
- Work in a dynamic, challenging, and rewarding environment.
- Collaborate with experts in the field and make a lasting impact on sailing worldwide.
Apply by sending your resume and cover letter to
For more info visit World Sailing - Career Opportunities
Big sea (small boat) - UK Double Handed Offshore Series / Sea Ventures
Racing a small boat shorthanded across the Atlantic is one of the bucket list challenges for many amateur doublehanded offshore sailors. Kate Cope looks at the different options from those who have experienced the races.
The RORC has completed its 10th Transatlantic race from Lanzarote to Grenada and if you want to join, the 11th edition starts in January 2025. The race attracts plenty of highprofile mono and multihulls but past editions have had few doublehanders. The timing is perfect for some bucket list Caribbean racing, you arrive in plenty of time for RORC Caribbean 600 (mid-February) and most of the inshore regattas. It's well organised and good value, with the lowest entry fee of all the races, and complimentary social events.
Cap Martinique started its second edition in April. This relatively new race from La Trinité to Martinique is proving to be very popular with both solo and double-handed boats. Its first edition attracted 35 boats and this one had 80 boats racing so plenty of good quality competition in a narrow rating band. The race also had the advantage of a short delivery from northern Europe to the start, and the ambiance was warm and friendly.
Full article in the June issue of Seahorse
Cup Spy : Light winds turn up an interesting development
Three teams "sailed" on Monday.
Coincidentally the wind was largely a 'no-show' in Barcelona and Auckland. American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing made the best they could of the breeze available in Barcelona, but it was not sufficient for serious testing.
In a new feature of Cup Spy, we are downloading the "Photos of Interest" from the AC37 Joint Recon Team reports, identifying any new features they spot on the AC75s sailing from Barcelona. From now through until the Cup itself expect to see new add-ons to the AC75s as the design and development process continues.
What happened in the Cup - May 13, 2024:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed today out of Barcelona. However light and fickle winds required the AC75 to be tow-started to get foiling. But was unable to stay foiling for a sustained period, and called an end to the session at 1545hrs.
- American Magic was similarly affected by a lack of breeze, However the US team did change down to the J1 jib (their largest) and managed to self start in a breeze estimated by the AC37 Joint Recon Team at 6kts - which is below the minimum required for racing to start of 6.5kts.
- Emirates Team New Zealand were also affected by light winds and cold conditions in Auckland. The intention was to run two AC40s in contested racing practice, however with there being insufficient wind for a productive racing session, the decision was taken to keep the AC75 race team ashore and practice with the Youth and Womens crews sailing alone. On Tuesday May 14, the wind arrived at around 8-10kts, with flat water and both crews went through a combination of race and speed training drills.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have decommissioned their AC75 in preparation for relocation to the team's America's Cup base in Barcelona.
- INEOS Britannia did not sail today.
- Orient Express Racing Team: No AC37 Recon Team report. However they were sailing their A40 in One Design mode and getting a look at the other teams. A launch date has yet to be publicly advised for their AC75 raceboat.
Read Richard Gladwell's commentary in Sail-World.com
Poole Regatta Attracts Entrants from Far and Wide
With standard entries for the 2024 International Paint Poole Regatta closing on Sunday 19th May, the event has become a truly international affair with multiple yachts from France and the Netherlands signed up to race in Poole Harbour and Bay alongside competitors from across the UK. There is still time to enter and reserve your place at one of the UK's favourite yacht racing events.
The International Paint Poole Regatta will also see the VPRS Regional Championship, J80 National Championships, J24 Southern Area Championship - a 2025 J24 Worlds Qualification Event, Sonata Regional Championships and 2.4mR National Tidal Championship held over the weekend. It all makes for highly competitive racing where the best of the best yacht racing crews will come together to compete for a prestigious array of silverware, not to mention the overall regatta winner picking up the historic Canford Cup.
The racing is not just reserved for championships, with many other class starts organised including the Redwing. XOD. Flying Fifteen, R19 and Shrimper 19 classes. Classes racing as part of the 2024 GBR IRC National Championship will be split into Class 0, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 and Class 4 to include TP52's, the Cape 31 fleet, Performance 40's, Contessa 32's, Quarter Tonner's, Beneteau 27.7's, J70's and many others. -- Chris Jones
The Survival of Wooden Boatbuilding
Many a reader's first experience of a boat would have been a small, glassfibre dinghy, tender perhaps to a small glassfibre cruising yacht, a Corribee, or something grander, depending on parental income. For others, slightly older, a Mirror dinghy, home built, and those of a generation born in the fifties it would have been a clinker pram or, in my case, Greenfly, my naval grandfather's 15ft pride and joy, wrecked when a hurricane lifted it from the garden and deposited it some miles away (well, miles may be an exaggeration but I was five when it happened and a mile may well have been a few metres or yards in those days.)
Old School Wooden Boatbuilding
Greenfly, which I can remember helping to paint, upside down on the grass in front of that modest house in Bedhampton, overlooking Portsmouth Harbour, was my earliest idea of a boat, aside from the pirate ships I read about. And when it came to my own first boat, inevitably it was wooden: a Gull that we built in father's garage in Hampstead, and a Mirror, and finally when I was about 16, I bought a National 12 called Fesquie, named after a dark haired girl of my dreams, but forever out of my reach.
Read Adrian Morgan's column in ClassicBoat.co.uk
David Campbell James Announces Retirement From Olympic Race Management
The 2024 Nacra World Championship and 49er European Championship will mark the end of an era in Olympic sailing, as David Campbell James (GBR), the Principle Race Officer for the 49er Class for over 20 years, retires. He was a trailblazer; reforming how Olympic sailing was managed on the water to blend new forces in sailing as the Olympic skiff burst onto the scene.
He worked tirelessly, bridging the gap between the traditional roles of officials and athletes to create a sailing community that worked together for the betterment of all involved. Many of the reforms his process uncovered are now the standard in all Olympic sailing and that will be his lasting legacy on the sport.
He was early to adapt to modern sailing as an athletic endeavor and evolved the race day to fit those athletic requirements. Olympic sailors could no longer sit below all day for hours during delays. Skiff sailors needed to drive the boat at all times, so he developed a daily plan of short, sharp races, quick turnarounds, and a certain sensibility about the suitability of the racecourse to ensure the avoidance of long delays.
Featured Charter
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Some yachts are built for long ocean passages while others are designed to deliver superb performance in competition. Mindfulness satisfies both requirements to perfection.
Mindfulness is a blistering performance cruiser built from exceptionally high quality materials and equipped with an oversize rig. With her crew, Mindfulness can effortless tackle long and challenging passages in absolute safety as testified by her sister ship Apsaras’s round the world tour.
See listing details in Seahorse Charters
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See the the Seahorse charter collection
Featured Brokerage
MOD 70 - Maserati Multi 70. 1,450,000 EUR.
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Contact
email
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YBreeze 75 - the exclusive daysailer for ultimate sailing pleasure and perfect performance.
The concept of the Y75 sailboat was born from a desire to create a new type of sail yacht that combines the ease and simplicity of a day powerboat with the magic and thrill of balanced sailing. The designers and architects behind the Y75 are driven by a passion for sailing and design.
The key principles guiding the design of the Y75 sailboat are design simplicity, comfort and fun. The team decided that each yacht sold in the area of Balearic Islands, South of France and Mediterranean Italy would come with a boat captain to ensure that the yacht is always available and ready to set sail whenever the owner desires.
For full details please go to... yyachts.de/en/yachts/ybreeze-75/
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
T. +49 3834 5858 77-0
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Shogun Yachts SHOGUN 43. POA EUR.
Want a yacht that effortlessly combines innovative design and ground-breaking technology, to make doublehanded sailing easy and fun – even at top speed?
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Matias Renlund - Grabau international (Scandinavia)
Tel: +358406861501
Email: -----------------------------------------
Beneteau First 36, From 238,813 (VAT excluded) EUR.
First 36 is the first mainstream racer/cruiser where onboard comfort doesn’t affect the experience of high performance sailing.
For full details please go to... beneteau.com/first/first-36
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Beneteau
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Melges IC37. 149500 GBP. Located in Hamble, UK.
"ICY" is a proven race winner under IRC, and a superb mid-sized all rounder that is highly capable in ORCi and ORR as well.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life.
The only completely consistent people are the dead. -- Aldous Huxley
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see eurosailnews.com/advertise/
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