Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.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 Tour Helms Challenge The Bay Of Marseille Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team are still both on top of the WMRT leader board after today with 11 flights now completed overall. Ainslie has more wins than any other helm so far this week with a current score of 5-1. This leads us into the scenario of 'local knowledge' being a serious variable to win races at this venue. Local knowledge is a phenomenon respected the world over by the sailing fraternity. The indigenous racers revel in understanding that they have decades of tales fed in at an early age on which way to go up the all important first beat or if the rain clouds suddenly disperse and the islands appear, as happened today, then the trend is for the wind to always swing to a particular angle. However, the Bay of Marseille has no clear answers, even French national sailors have been experiencing the woes of highly testing conditions. Pace, a previous ISAF Match Racing World Champion who has returned to the WMRT action, after a 5 year absence, is not shining in these Mediterranean style winds. Perris our newest match racing star from yesterday has also unfortunately awoken from his 'dream' with no victorious matches today. Day 2: Current Round Robin Standings For the live blog please visit www.wmrt.com/live-from-marseille.html PUMA Enters Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 PUMA continues to produce and expand their line of sailing performance gear and remains the first Sportlifestyle company to participate in a venture of this kind. PUMA will also be the Official Supplier of footwear, clothing and accessories to the Volvo Ocean Race. For the 2011-12 race, PUMA Ocean Racing has proudly partnered with BERG Propulsion, one of the world's leading designers and producers of Controllable Pitch Propellers for commercial shipping. The team will be known as PUMA Ocean Racing, powered by BERG Propulsion. Team selection efforts are already underway and will likely include a number of sailors from PUMA's 2008-09 team, plus a mix of new and veteran talent from the professional racing world. Training will begin onboard PUMA's il mostro in spring 2010 at the team's home base in Newport, Rhode Island. More Than 40 Years Of Quality Sails & Service So whether you're contemplating an addition to this year's racing wardrobe or the most durable sail inventory for the cruising season, invest in your performance. Visit us at www.ullmansails.com Open Youth Olympic Games Qualifier Even the host nation Singapore, (with two automatic spots in the Games), is here in force with 4 male and 4 female sailors including 2009 World Champion Darrel Choy and World Women's Champion, Najwa Jumali and will use the event as their qualifier. After the first day of racing, Choy leads the male division but Ian barrows of the US Virgin Islands, fresh from his win of the North American and Caribbean Qualifier in Cayman, continues his impressive sailing and sits in second. In the women's female division, Niki Blassar of Finland put on the most impressive performance of the day with two firsts and a second to pull 12 points clear of Ling Ying Koh of Singapore. Full story on the Championship website An Ideal Race Having turning point in southern Britain before sailing back to La Rochelle would confront the competitors to other difficulties, what would they be? Eric Mas: "From a meteorological perspective, there is no danger in returning to the coast of Brittany in this season, but there are more convoluted situations. The coastal effects complicate the wind flow and we cannot rely on strong thermal breezes, the season temperature is still a bit too neutral. Sailing is also complicated because of the tidal currents even if the tidal range will be low until May, 10th." Can we talk about a full and varied racing course (offshore and coastal)? Eric Mas: "According to conditions in May, we can expect with high probability, that the path through a turning mark buoy in southern Brittany is doable. And then that is a race that is actually ideal for offshore sailing in the Bay of Biscay, which opens widely the game of paths choices before arriving in Gijon's Bay traps. And it's the same for the sailing back to Brittany that gives the opportunity to make routing strategies for 48 hours. The return to La Rochelle along the coasts of Brittany and Vendee requires a series of tactical decisions to integrate multiple, besides marking the opponents, all benefits and constraints of the wind, waves and currents knowing how variable they are along the coasts." 2009 podium : Prototypes : Series : Course : La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) / Gijon (Asturies) / La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime). www.classemini.com Guys Don't Read This Ad! Buy them at: Annapolis Performance, Line Honors, Point Loma Outfitting, Sailing Pro Shop, Sound Boatworks More dealer info can be found at www.camet.com Irish Have High Hopes For Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series With just over two months to go until the premier sailing regatta in the north of Britain takes place, there are clear indications that the Irish contingent will race on Loch Fyne armed with some of the most potent craft on the water. To date 25% of the entries received for the 2010 Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series have been from Ireland. Roxy 6, designed by John Corby, is due to be launched, on schedule, at builders Dale Nelson in Neyland, Pembroke in Wales this weekend. After initial sea trials the new boat will compete locally at Neyland and Milford Haven in a series of warm up races before heading across the Irish sea to race off Kinsale at the Spring Series before heading to the Irish IRC Cruiser Racer National Championships on Dublin Bay, the weekend before the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series. Among those top Irish teams which promise to be back on Loch Fyne over the May bank holiday weekend is the double top trophy winner Anthony O'Leary. He has the regatta on his schedule as the Cork crew work up to trying to win the Rolex Commodore's Cup for Ireland. O'Leary and his crew come with a highly potent Ker 39 which will be following much the same set of events as Roxy 6, and so arriving in Tarbert direct from the Irish championships. Catamaran In 36 Year Tasman Solo Race Record Cliffhanger Arms, in his 14m catamaran Big Wave Rider, needs to reach the finish line of the 2010 Solo Tasman Challenge by about 9:50 pm on Saturday to break the race record of six days, eight hours and 50 minutes set in 1986. His lilac coloured yacht is sailing at more than 12 knots and is expected at the finish line by 6:30pm on Saturday - if the breeze holds. Last night he reported 1.5m swells and 10-15 knot SSW winds. Meanwhile Dream Lover, skippered by Rick Morgan, has altered course for Lord Howe Island where a crew while join him to sail the boat back to her home port of Scarborough, near Brisbane. 'He said he had a bad knee,' the radio operator for the Fitzroy yachts sponsored race, Barrie Vivian said, 'and he thought he'd play it safe rather than risk himself and the boat.' While Arms is way out ahead racing against the clock, the five similarly sized boats in the middle of the fleet are still battling for supremacy as the wind eases off. Most boats had kept north of the New Plymouth to Mooloolaba rhumb line to take advantage of the predicted southerly winds and Lyttelton's Rhys Boulton, sailing Spellbound, the southernmost yacht, had followed suit last night. -- Lindsay Wright Follow the fleets progress at www.solo-tasman.org.nz From Sail-World.com: Iceland - In The Wake Of Viking Iceland Midnight Sun Race 10th of July 2010 The 75-nautical-mile race starts in the town of Siglufjorour in North Iceland, and winds around Grimsey Island, which is traversed by the Arctic Circle. Further information www.icesun.is Russian Sailors Ready For America's Cup In fact, the last Olympic medal they won was silver, back in 1996 in Atlanta. Fortunately, interest in what is generally still considered a costly sport has been increasing in Russia. "We have all the necessary ingredients in place, like the budgets, the sponsors, the big companies who are interested in global media coverage, and talented sailors. We have technology, including aerospace technology, which can be used for the America's Cup. So we are definitely ready for this event now," Oscar Konyukhov, executive director of a yachting agency, said. A Russian team - Team Synergy - has found an admirer in Olympic champion and BMW Oracle CEO, Sir Russell Coutts. "The thing that's been missing is the teams in big boats sailing. And now some of the Russian sailors are starting to come and race in these bigger boats, and starting to feel very good. I mean Synergy did very well in the Louis Vuitton regatta in Nice. They finished third and that was a fantastic performance," Sir Russell Coutts said. Full article in RT.com: rt.com/Sport/2010-04-07/russian-sailors-americas-cup.html Short Tacks www.cupinfo.com/en/gavin-brady-mascalzone-interview-10006.php This is the third piece in a triad (Cayard - Bruni - Brady) from Diane Swintal for CupInfo. * Photographer Peter Idoine, took these images around 1930hrs this evening NZT of what is believed to be a satellite re-entering Earth's atmosphere, and plunging into the Tasman Sea, an estimated 75kms off the coat. Click on image to enlarge. These images were shot from Auckland's Piha coast at a point about 150metres above sea level. The disintegration was observed over an eight minute period right on dusk, with good visibility. -- sail-world.com * YachtWorld.com, the world's largest Internet yacht brokerage portal and a division of Dominion Enterprises, today announced that the April issue of YachtWorld.com Magazine features an exclusive article on how an American sailing team utilized technology to bring the America's Cup back to the USA. Commenting on the article, John Burnham, editorial director, YachtWorld.com and Boats.com, said, "Whether you've had the 149-year-old trophy competition on your radar screen or not, you'll find our exclusive interviews with designers and engineers tell a riveting behind-the-scenes tale of risk-taking and problem-solving to build and fly a mechanical, 69-metre wingsail for the challenging team, BMW ORACLE Racing." Burnham went on to add, "This article is the first of a number of upcoming exclusive stories that will engage readers in different facets of the yachting lifestyle". Available worldwide by either print subscription or free digital edition, YachtWorld.com Magazine complements the global stature and reach of YachtWorld.com by providing yacht brokers and their clients' premium brokerage listings and articles in a glossy supporting format. * This week Maltese Falcon confirmed that they will take part in The Superyacht Cup Palma, June 23–26, 2010. The iconic superyacht, from Perini Navi, at 88m is the largest yacht to have ever taken part in The Superyacht Cup. Maltese Falcon always draws a huge amount of attention wherever she goes with her radical rig configuration and stylish design. The tallest of her three freestanding and rotating masts reaches over 58m and she carries a total of 15 sails, creating a sail area of 2,400 square meters. Designed by Gerard Dijkstra, with exterior and interior styling by Ken Freivoch, Maltese Falcon was launched in 2006. -- thesuperyachtcup.com Photo by AP Photo/Nord Stream. Click to enlarge. * The Chicago Yacht Club announced today that the 102nd Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, Presented by Veuve Clicquot is sold out at 375 paid entries. Boats that want to enter the race may ask to be put on the wait list. Interested skippers should contact the Chicago Yacht Club at the e-mail address below. One design fleet requests for the 2010 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac need to be submitted by Friday, April 9, 2010. The Schedule of Events for the 2010 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is posted on the race website at www.cycracetomackinac.com For more information please contact Featured Brokerage This boat just had a major refit, painted in 2009 and new timber floor fitted to the cockpit, she is ready to go racing and had been maintained to a very high standard, New keel & rudder in 2003, Boatyard cradle, spares etc available Brokerage through Crosshaven Boatyard Co. Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/crosshavenboatyard/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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