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
Quantum Racing Lead In Miami
Photo by Nico Martinez, www.martinezstudio.es. Click on image for photo gallery.
Posting a race win and a third place from two light wind races off Miami's South Beach Quantum Racing earned themselves an overall lead of one single point after the opening day of the 52 US Championship, the second regatta of the 2014 US 52 Super Series.
In streaky, gentle breezes which only troubled double figures for a short period in the second race, Quantum Racing - with Ed Baird on the helm - proved adept at reading the changeable wind pressure. A pair of solid starts were the foundations for tactician Terry Hutchinson to build from the critical first windshift.
In the first race Ran Racing held the early lead before Quantum Racing were able to roll ahead of them on the first downwind. In the second windward-leeward 52 Super Series champions were also, again, one of the two boats to reap the benefit of the key first shift. Azzurra just managed to lead around the top mark first whilst Jim Swartz' Vesper sailed a great run to promote themselves to second.
The Miami race course lived up to its reputation, delivering light, difficult to read breezes which were often accompanied by an awkward, slightly choppy sea. If Quantum Racing came ashore to a sunny afternoon on the docks of Miami Beach Marina with an air of quiet satisfaction, Azzurra's tactician Vasco Vascotto acknowledged that theirs, too, had been a good opening day but he was kicking himself for a late call on the final downwind of Race 1 which he felt had handed a cheap point away to Interlodge.
Standings after two races:
1. Quantum Racing (USA) Doug De Vos 1,3 4pts
2. Azzurra (ITA) Pablo A Roemmers (ARG) 4,1 5pts
3. Vesper (USA) Jim Swartz (USA) 5,2 7pts
4. Interlodge (USA) Austin and Gwen Fragomen (USA) 3, 5 8pts
5. Ran Racing (SWE) Niklas Zennstrom (SWE) 2,7 9pts
6. Hooligan (USA) Guenther Buerman (USA) 7,4 11pts
7. Sled (USA) Takashi Okura (USA) 6,6 12pts
Grael And Gonzalves Hold Lead At 87th Bacardi Cup
While the forecasted breeze of 10-12 knots may not have materialized, the conditions for race three of the 87th BACARDI Cup definitely played to the strengths of three teams who are no strangers to racing on Biscayne Bay.
"Yesterday I said I was going to be happy with a top 10 [finish] for consistency," commented Lars Grael, Brazil's two-time ('88, '96) Tornado Olympic Medalist, after he and crew Samuel Gonzalves won today's race. "Today was a very tactical race among the top racers; it was a jibe war. Tomorrow the wind will pick up and it's going to be a difficult race for me. We are only half way through and I must say that consistency is key. If I'm able to stay in the top 10 I believe I will be in a good shape for the overall win."
Grael and Gonzalves moved to the top of the overall standings in the 55-boat fleet yesterday, and remain there after today's win. Their 2-2-1 scoreline, for five points, gives them a five-point cushion over San Diego's Mark Reynolds and Miami's Magnus Liljedahl.
"Fighting with Augie [Diaz] today I felt it was like the old days!" said Reynolds after finishing third today. "I didn't have a particularly good start; I think that's where I lost today's race. But I had good shifts and was able to keep my boat in clear air. I decided to split, it was a risky move, but worth a chance and it paid off."
Miami's Diaz crossed the finish line second today, and stands 11th overall on 42.5 points.
www.MiamiSailingWeek.com
www.BacardiCup.com
Hudson Wight - Daring To Be Different
The team at Hudson Wight has combined its sailing experience with proven fabric technology, design and manufacturing expertise to produce great looking, high-performance sailwear at surprisingly low prices. A simple and effective business model delivers a daringly different solution to your sailing clothing needs. In short, you can now buy offshore specification, kit made with top quality three-layer OceanVent fabric, at prices only ever seen before on inshore and coastal ranges from the better-known brands.
Hudson Wight only sells direct via its website and offers its products through an Affiliate Scheme with Clubs, Class Associations and other marine-related individuals and organisations, hence being able to sell core products at much lower prices than comparable products from other leading brands.
The feedback has been unanimous in its praise of the OceanVent waterproof and breathable fabrics and how quickly any build up of sweat and related condensation dries out via the hydrophilic breathable membrane.
Hudson Wight will be represented at a number of UK regattas this year, some in support of Affiliate Sail 4 Cancer.
Apart from buying the product and wearing it yourself, the recommendations from sailors now wearing the kit is one of the best ways to get the message across that you can buy top quality performance sailwear at very sensible prices. Read what Delivery Skipper and RYA Yachtmaster Instructor Norrie Forster from Scotland had to say in his forthright appraisal of the HW1s after a testing 5 day delivery trip from Southampton to The Clyde last year.
How Much Faster Can They Go?
Fat bottomed girl! Photo by Alistair Skinner. Click on image to enlarge.
The Volvo Ocean 65 is a brand new boat, a one-design class specially built for the next two editions of the race. We did lots of calculations and ran velocity prediction programmes but who knew how fast that boat was really going to be? We wondered - you wondered. Not any more: Team Brunel has just sailed 540 miles in 24 hours between the UK and the Canary Islands last week.
540 nautical miles in 24 hours - that's 56 miles short from the 596.6nm world record established by the Volvo Open 70 Ericsson 4 in 2008. 540 miles in 24 hours - that's a speed average of 22.5 knots (42 km/h).
"That's pretty good," admitted even Bouwe Bekking, a man renowned for keeping a lid on his emotions.
"We've had 45 knots of maximum wind on the nose and 35 knots downwind," Bekking said. "The conditions were very tough but the crew held up well. There was no key damage to the boat. Overall I'm really happy with how it went."
One of the new boat's main performance factors appears to be the six degrees of incline axis of the keel. The vertically inclined keel lifts the bow out of the water to avoid nose-diving - a major issue in the past editions of the race. -- Agathe Armand
Eric Twiname Trust Set To Reach Impressive Milestone
A charity foundation set up in honour of the late Eric Twiname is about to reach a remarkable milestone by the end of this year - the provision of funding totalling £1m to youth sailing projects in the United Kingdom since the Trust's formation in 1980.
The Eric Twiname Trust, which was set up in order to perpetuate Eric's memory and to enable his many and diverse sailing interests to continue, handed over the 30th Yamaha-powered Eric Twiname RIB allocated to the Techno UK Windsurfing Class Association at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show on Saturday (1 March).
By the end of 2014, over 30 RIBs, and 230 boats and windsurf boards will have been provided since 1980, with 150 of this impressive total compromising RS Teras for which the cost to clubs of purchasing small fleets is subsidised by the Trust and discounted by the manufacturer.
The Trust also currently funds the on-going provision and insurance of support RIBs for most of the RYA pathway, supported and recognised junior and youth classes. The Trust has done so since 1993, when the first craft powered by Yamaha was handed to the 420 Class Association, since then the Trust has assisted eleven different youth and classes, with some of them receiving their third ET Trust provided RIB recently.
All donations, whether from individuals or from organisations, are warmly welcomed by the Trust. To make a donation: erictwinametrust.org
18ft Skiffs 2014 JJ Giltinan Championship, Race 4
Click on image for photo gallery.
Sydney Harbour, Australia: The Gotta Love It 7 team of Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Scott Babbage grabbed the lead back in the 2014 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, proudly presented by Sydney City Marine, with a marvelous win in Race 4 on Sydney Harbour today.
After being buried deep in the pack at the start, the champion team were soon in contention and challenging the leaders half way up the windward beat.
Gotta Love It 7 took the lead on the following windward leg and edged away to take the honours by 1m37s from a gallant Mojo Wine (Chris Nicholson, Mike McKensey, Ricky Bridge), with Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips, Dave Ewings) a further 1m9s back in third place.
In the 18-knot wind, the 34-boat fleet made a magnificent spectacle as the skiffs raced downwind at great speed.
As the clouds built, the wind may have dropped a little but it made no difference as Team Seven continued to lead the fleet over the final lap of the course.
Race 5 of the championship will be sailed tomorrow (Thursday). The last two races will be sailed on Saturday, 8 March at 4pm and Sunday 9 March at 3pm. -- Frank Quealey Australian 18 Footers League
Live video at 18skiff.com
Reaping The Benefits
A look at the increasingly relevant issue of real-time sail shape validation
One of the most impressive aspects of Oracle Team USA's come-from-behind victory in the America's Cup was the team's ability to make significant improvements to their AC72's performance race by race... perhaps even leg by leg.
The ability to analyse performance quickly and feed findings back into the design loop is one of the keys to successfully managing the grand prix racing battleground. It's why a number of teams are using the VSPARS system to help them develop faster and more accurate sail shapes. The TP52 team, Quantum Racing, has been using this deck-mounted sail vision and rig vision system to great effect on the TP52 circuit, winning world titles and racking up impressive overall scores of 1,2,1 in the last three seasons of the 52 Super Series.
A key part of the Quantum TP52's success has been the crew's ability to change gears quickly on the race course, as well as take lessons learned and put them back into the design loop for recutting existing sails and influencing the design of next-generation sails.
The boat's jib trimmer and sail designer is Brett Jones, a Florida-based Australian pro sailor who is plugged into the VSPARS system during racing via a wrist-mounted PDA display. With cameras mounted on the mast and in the cockpit to measure the shape of four mainsail stripes and three jib stripes, the VSPARS system takes 3-second snapshots of the sails and provides instant feedback to Jones's PDA. 'I can look at a variety of different data,' he says, 'although we tend to use it mainly for camber and twist.'
Full article in Seahorse: www.seahorsemagazine.com
Rum Jungle Looking For Enthusiastic Graduate Or Intern
Rum Jungle, the well travelled charter yacht, has recently launched its own brand of finest Caribbean rum see www.rumjungle.co.uk/rum . We are looking for a hard-working and ambitious graduate or equivalent to help sell this and build the brand, but do not require experience. OTE up to £30k for an exceptional performance.
We will offer a case of this fine Rum Jungle to any Scuttlebutt reader who refers a successful candidate.
If you can't wait for that you can console yourself with a bottle bought from the web-site or a large glass in one of the many south coast and IoW pubs already stocking Rum Jungle.
Also watch out for rum promotions from Rum Jungle when she is in London in May & June and on the South Coast for the rest of the summer charter season.
Call us on +44 (0) 1590 676796 or email
Milly Bennett Wins The Marinassess Women's Match Racing Regatta
Sydney, Australia: Milly Bennett and her crew of Seldon Coventry, Alice Tarnawski, Kajsa Doyle and Jess Russell, representing the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, have won the Marinassess Women's Match Racing Regatta, hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Youth Sailing Academy.
It was another tough day on water for competitors with shifty winds and rain showers to contend with, but Bennett breezed through Round Robin Two without dropping a match.
Emma May and her crew of Nicky Bradley, Tara Blanc Ramos and Caitlin Tames, representing the CYCA finished in second place after a countback and winning four matches.
CYCA skipper Greta Quealy and her crew of Catherine Chua, Emma Harrison, Tiffany Fulde and Alex Paton finished in third place after coming together as a crew for the first time this regatta.
Quealy had two experienced hands on board in Tiffany Fulde and Alex Paton - both whom are CYCA Youth Sailing Academy Alumni.
For full round robin results log on to www.cyca.com.au
Final Results:
(Placing, Skipper, Yacht Club, Wins/Losses)
1. Milly Bennett (RPAYC)
2. Emma May (CYCA)
3. Greta Quealy (CYCA)
4. Rayshele Martin (CYCA)
5. Lauren Gallaway (CYCA)
6. Nina Long (CYCA)
7. Kate Downing (CYCA)
www.sailing.org/news/37500.php
Short Tacks
Volvo Car UK is continuing its support of British kitesurfing for a second consecutive year by announcing a partnership with Team Bridge, an all-star family of kite-surf athletes who are a combination of freestyle and race champions.
The Exeter based family is made up of parents Steph and Eric, and their three sons, Olly (17), Guy (14) and Tom (12). Together, this talented family travel and compete on the international stage and have a wide range of kitesurfing achievements between them.
Olly, the eldest of the three brothers, is the current Men's European Race Champion and two-time World Youth Race Champion. Guy, who is the PKRA World Youth Freestyle Champion and Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Vice Youth National Champion, plans to give his older brother some competition in the new Kite Race Foil Division this year. Tom is the PKRA World Youth Freestyle Champion and has been the European Youth Freestyle Champion since 2010.
www.volvocarssailing.co.uk/kitesurfing
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In its tenth edition, the Ida Lewis Distance Race features four coastal courses between 104 nm and 177 nm, and is perfectly designed overnighter for IRC, PHRF, One Design, Multihull and Double-Handed boats of 28 feet or longer. Its round-trip course starts and finishes off the historic Ida Lewis Yacht Club and includes turning marks at Castle Hill, Brenton Reef, Block Island, Montauk Point, Martha's Vineyard and Buzzards Tower
Both grand prix racers and cruising sailors have come to love and embrace this August tradition, which also offers special trophies for a Youth Challenge and Collegiate Challenge. It is a qualifier for the New England Lighthouse Series (PHRF); the Northern and Double-Handed Ocean Racing Trophies (IRC); and the US-IRC Gulf Stream Series.
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The Australian boss of the newest player in the boating insurance market, Pantaenius, is a well-known yachtsman who sized up Sail Port Stephens and decided it ticked a lot of boxes. Pantaenius has signed on as title sponsor of two components of Sail Port Stephens; the three-day Port Stephens Trophy April 11–13 for Performance Racing and Performing Cruising divisions and the PHS scored Commodores Cup April 14-16 for cruising divisions.
Managing director of Pantaenius Australia Jamie MacPhail and claims manager Adam Brown are familiar names and faces when it comes to eastern seaboard sailing circles. Over the decades both have campaigned a swag of high profile boats and racked up thousands of offshore miles.
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Organizers from the Real Club Nautico de Valencia (RCNV) have announced today that discounted rates on entry fees will be available for this month for the Trofeo SM La Reina-ORC European Championship, held over July 1-6, 2014. The discount offer is hoped to help get early commitments from the fleet, which is expected to have 25% of its entries from outside the host country Spain.
Registration can be done through the official website of the event ( www.trofeoreina.es ). Since 1969, ORC has provided the most scientific and transparent VPP-based rating system in the world, used to create fair racing among a broad variety of boat types.ORC Rating products and services are used in 35 countries around the world, and ORC organizes the annual ORCi Offshore World Championship, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).
Featured Brokerage
1990 50ft Trimaran BRANEC. 200,000 Euros. Located North of France.
Great racing yacht for extremely fast sailing. She was originally named DUPON DURAN II. Orginally designed as a 53 footer she has been shortened to 50 ft.
DUPON DURAN II
1990 TWOSTAR race
1991 ROUTE DU RHUM race
1992 OSTAR race
GREAT AMERICAN II
1993 delivered from Boston to San Francisco through the Panama canal
1993 Clipper Northern Light's record from San Francisco to Boston in 69 days
2001 New record from New-York to Melbourne in 68 days
2003 New record from Hong Kong to NY in 72 days
2004 The Transat (second in class)
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Not every problem someone has with his girlfriend is necessarily due to the capitalist mode of production. -- Herbert Marcuse
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