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Figaro Leg 3 Finish At Torbay
The 400nm leg from La Cornouaille was won by Figaro rock star Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner - Leucemie Espoir), claiming his 10th leg victory racing his 16th Solitaire. Yann maintains his lead overall by 22 minutes and 26 seconds. The talented Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) gave Yann a good run for his money. Neck and neck, just 0.1nm apart for the final 10 miles of the race, Charlie piled on the pressure, battling Yann all the way to the finish line. In the end experience prevailed (Charlie racing in just his fourth Solitaire) and Yann clinched the victory in Torbay - just 30 seconds ahead of Charlie in second. Third was Xavier Macaire (Skipper Herault). Magma Structures skipper Alan Roberts was the first British skipper over the finish line in 9th place - a great position for Alan, racing his second Solitaire.
The Race Village will be open on Beacon Quay, Torquay Harbour every day between Wednesday 17th and Sunday 21st June, when the fleet will restart the race at 1600 BST from Tor Bay.
Solitaire du Figaro top three overall results - after three legs
1. Yann Elies/Groupe Queguiner/ 8 days, 10 hours, 50', 24"
2. Charlie Dalin/Skipper Macif 2015/ 8 days, 11 hours, 12', 50"
3. Xavier Macaire/Skipper Herault/ 8 days, 11 hours, 47', 27"
Solitaire du Figaro Leg 3 top three results
1. Yann Elies/Groupe Queguiner/ 2 days, 16 hours, 30', 9'
2. Charlie Dalin/Skipper Macif 2015/ 2 days, 16 hours, 30', 42"
3. Xavier Macaire/Skipper Herault/ 2 days, 17 hours, 22', 49"
www.artemisoffshoreacademy.com
www.lasolitaire.com
Record Fleet On Route To Genoa
A record fleet of 240 yachts commenced the 63rd edition of the Giraglia Rolex Cup offshore race earlier today.
Under a 10 knot breeze and following four separate start sequences, the international fleet began their 243-nm journey from Saint-Tropez to Genoa via the Giraglia rock, located on the northern tip of Corsica.
"The forecast is complicated," said Caol Ila R navigator Ian Moore. "An upper mid sized boat could do well as the breeze is likely to die tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon."
Moore's point about the race finish being tight is poignant. The very first Giraglia in 1953 required a photo finish and in recent years, line honours tussles have gone right down to the finish line. The often benign conditions on the approach to the finish line just outside race organiser Yacht Club Italiano's base in Genoa has claimed some notable victims in the past.
The frontrunners forecasted rounding the Giraglia rock at around sunrise tomorrow morning, with arrival in Genoa forecast for later on Thursday. The race record of 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds set by Esimit Europa 2 in 2012 does not appear under threat.
An hour into the race, Esimit Europa 2 held a narrow lead over Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones's Wally Cento Magic Carpet Cubed (GBR) and Roberto Tomasini Grinover's Maxi 72 Robertissima III (ITA).
www.yci.it
http://www.regattanews.com
Lizzy Foreman’s Checklist
"Flapjacks made by Mum; ✔
Teabags; ✔
21ft boat with no toilet, bed, cooking facilities; ✔
Qualify & entry into Mini Transat solo transatlantic yacht race; ✔
Wet weather gear ?
Now that's usually a complicated business as there's so much choice and it's hard to find great kit that doesn't break the bank. I need to stay warm, dry and comfortable…for over 10,000 nautical miles.
I have a two-year racing campaign to fund. Every penny counts. The well-known brand names in the chandleries want a minimum of £500 for a quality offshore jacket alone. I need a smock, salopettes & midshell too! I've heard of a new brand of foulweather kit. Hudson Wight Performance Sailwear...waterproof, durable, breathable?
They have 3 colour options & 5 sizes to choose from in their HW1s and do a Jacket and a Smock, Salopettes and Midshell and offer excellent customer service, and free returns? Everything needed for inshore or offshore racing, for less than £900? Too good to be true?
Eighteen months on since the company was founded and I have now sailed over 5,000 nautical miles purely in Hudson Wight kit; offshore, alone, for up to 12 days at a time at sea. Owing to the OceanVent 3-layer technical fabric, the kit quickly sheds any moisture build-up on the inner layer, even when worn for days on end.
Believe me, I should know! There's no catch to this lightweight, good looking and high performance sailwear. Forget about tearing up money in the shower. Get a set of Hudson Wight HW1s. Not only will you stay dry, but there will be cash left in your pocket too.
Hudson Wight Performance Sailwear all the way (& back). ✔ "
Changing Gears
It was slow going for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet after leaving Lorient, France yesterday, as the teams fought strong tides on this sprint leg to the pit-stop in The Hague, Netherlands. Light northerly winds and strong currents early today held boat speeds in check - as low as three to four knots during one stretch mid-morning.
Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), who made a bold move to split from the pack and keep close inshore, was caught in a strong adverse current and no wind at all as they rounded the Pointe du Raz.
It took the magenta team three tries to cross the current and round the point before they managed to break through and sneak along the French coast.
The estimated time of arrival remains between 1400 UTC on Thursday and 0500 UTC on Friday morning.
1. Team Alvimedica, 687 nm to finish
2. Dongfeng Race Team, 0.9
3. MAPFRE, 0.9
4. Team Brunel, 6.3
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 8.4
6. Team SCA, 18.9
7. Team Vestas Wind, 19.5
Bronenosec Shows Match Racing Magic In Porto Cervo
A warm, summery Costa Smeralda, combined with a lazy, balmy wind, seemed distinctly at odds with the cut throat, razor's edge match racing that took place on day one of the Audi RC44 Porto Cervo Cup.
Despite the wind shifting between the north, northwest and back and varying between 6 and 12 knots, PRO Peter Reggio roared through the full schedule, completing six flights. At the close of play, today's winners were Bronenosec Sailing Team and Artemis Racing, both on four wins and one loss. However in the 2015 RC44 Match Racing Championship, that rolls from event to event, it is now the St Petersburg team that is a nose in front, on eight wins, albeit with Artemis Racing and Peninsula Petroleum close behind, each on seven.
Today Bronenosec Sailing Team lost just one race - to Nico Poons' Charisma.
Tomorrow is the first day of fleet racing at the Audi RC44 Porto Cervo Cup, with the first warning signal scheduled for 1200 CEST.
2015 RC44 Match Racing Results
(After two events)
1. Bronenosec Sailing Team - 8 points
2. Artemis Racing - 7
3. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team - 7
4. Team Aqua - 5
5. Team Nika - 5
6. Team CEEREF - 5
7. Charisma - 5
8. Katusha - 4
9. RUS7 - Anywayanyday - 4
10. Aleph Racing - 3
11. MAG Racing - 3
12. Artemis Racing Youth -2
SAP Sailing Analytics & Live Tv At Kiel Week
Some of the biggest names in Olympic competition will feature on the Live TV coverage at Kiel Week, which starts in Germany this weekend.
In addition to the full-time Olympic stars, the live TV and expert commentary and analysis provided by SAP Sailing will also offer a rare opportunity for some of sailing's Corinthian classes to reach a global audience.
A combination of aerial overhead shots, side-line course cameras and onboard images from competitors' boats will bring the 9-day competition alive. Expert commentators will bring blow-by-blow analysis of the racing, with the help of SAP Sailing Analytics, a vast array of telemetry and GPS tracking that helps reveal who's fast, who's tactically smart, and why.
Olympic Week
Saturday 20 June: 49er FX Women & Nacra 17 catamaran
Sunday 21 June: 49er Men
Monday 22 June: 2.4mR Paralympic keelboats
Tuesday 23 June: Finn, 470, J/70
Wednesday 24 June: Medal Race finals for 49er, 49er FX, Laser Men, Laser Radial Women, 470 Men & Women
Corinthian Week
Thursday 25 June: F18, Hobie 16 & A-Class catamarans
Friday 26 June: Europe, Laser Radial & Laser 4.7 singlehanders
Saturday 27 June: 29er and 420 doublehanders
Sunday 28 June: RS800 and Musto Performance Skiffs
To follow the racing live from 20 June, go here:
livecenter.kieler-woche.de
Dubarry Crosshaven - Preferred By Professionals
If you had to invent the most punishing ordeal for offshore sailing footwear - an extreme boot camp perhaps? - then it would be a professional, fully-crewed round the world race: thousands of ocean-bashing, boat-trashing miles around the planet. If there's even the slightest imperfection in boat, man or gear, this race will find it, break it, then tell everyone about it.
For most of us, it's the ultimate contest of man and machine against nature. For Dubarry, it's R&D. After supplying its ever-green Shamrock boot to the professional crew of Ireland's Green Dragon entry in a 2008-09 round the world race, Dubarry's most fanatical designers listened, developed, tested, listened some more, tweaked, analysed and tested again. The result was the Crosshaven boot.
When Green Dragon arrived in Galway at the end of leg 7 for the best party the race has ever seen, elbowing their way through the "craic addicts" was Dubarry's research team, wanting yet more feedback. Their finishing touches sealed the Crosshaven's reputation as the offshore professional's boot of choice. Where's the proof of that? Professional teams chose Crosshaven in the 2011-12 and 2014-15 round the world races.
Dubarry Crosshaven - Born at sea
Emirates Team NZ Selects and Trains New Talent
An advance party of Emirates Team New Zealand crew fly out this week to head up to Southampton in the UK to begin assembly of the teams AC45'F' in preparation for the first America's Cup World Series event in Portsmouth next month.
The AC45'F' was converted at the team base in Auckland from the non foiling America's Cup World Series catamaran in March before being loaded into a container destined for Europe.
Perhaps the three team members most excited to get back onboard again will be the those that last sailed the team's AC45: Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and Guy Endean who made up half of the victorious Red Bull Youth America's Team from San Francisco in 2013.
Onboard will be Sailing Team Director Glenn Ashby, Ray Davies and along with Richard Meacham will be the experienced heads in building the crew to take on the competition in the America's Cup World Series and beyond.
The boats in this 35th America's Cup require only a crew of six to race, just over half of what it took to sail the AC72, so the requirement for such a large team of sailors is reduced.
Excitingly there will be a few completely new faces being given the opportunity to trial with the team to fill the 'big guy' spots onboard, with successful track records in Olympic classes, match racing, Extreme 40's and the Red Bull Youth America's Cup.
2016 Round Ireland Yacht Race
Preliminary Notice Of Race Issues
Wicklow Sailing Club, in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club, gives notice that the 2016 Round Ireland Yacht Race is scheduled to start from Wicklow Bay at 14:00 hrs on Saturday 18th June 2016.
The Round Ireland is a biennial 704 mile circumnavigation of the island of Ireland, starting and finishing in Wicklow. The 2016 race will be the 19th of the series, with the first race having been sailed in 1980.
The race provides spectacular scenery around the coastline of Ireland. There is a series of challenging tidal gates and varying sea conditions. Finally, there is the massive welcome home at Wicklow Sailing Club.
Enquiries have already been received at the race office from interested boat owners.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club has confirmed that the race will continue to merit bonus points (1.4) for participants and the Royal Irish Yacht Club will once again provide a base for those boats who wish to use Dun Laoghaire as a base.
In 2014, the overall winner was Tanit (Richard Harris and team from Glasgow), while line honours went to Monster Project (Andy Budgen and local WSC sailor David Ryan). The overall record of 2 days 17 hours 48 minutes 47 seconds is held by Mike Slade in ICAP Leopard 3 achieved in 2008.
The race officially opens for entries in January 2016 but please don't hesitate to register your interest at the email address below.
Launchings
Click on images to enlarge.
J8 has launched recently from Holland Jachtbouw's shipyard in Zaandam, on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Now known by her official name, "Topaz", this Hoek design has been built with a reduced wetted surface and higher keel aspect ratio to the longest waterline length yet to be seen in a J.
Topaz is now about to undergo commissioning sea trials with the project teams from HJB and Cornelsen and Partners, the project managers, as well as the naval architects from the Hoek office.
This latest exciting launch brings the J Class Association's fleet to 8 boats on the water.
www.hollandjachtbouw.nl
www.cornelsen-partner.de
www.hoekdesign.com
www.jclassyachts.com
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A timber racing yacht abandoned under the trees near a beach on Twofold Bay near Eden is said to be the Jindivik, one of the competitors in the 1959 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race. Local sailors are keen to see her restored and her heritage saved.
The Jindivik was one of the sleek racing yachts that sailed in the 1959 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race. After losing her mooring in Twofold Bay, near Eden, during a storm several years ago she was dragged off the rocks and into the nearby coastal scrub.
It took three and a half weeks of dragging her a few inches at a time using a four wheel drive vehicle and a hand winch to get the Jindivik to safety.
Colin Walder is one of those who assisted in recovering the Jindivik off the rocks and says that the damage is not so bad that she can't be restored and raced again.
Article and more photos: www.abc.net.au
Audio interview with Walder:
mpegmedia.abc.net.au
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Atalante is the largest in the Truly Classic range to date and built in accordance with MCA LY2 regulations. Combined with her highly optimised performance, she'll be able to complete in the Superyacht Cup and Spirit of Tradition regattas as well as being enjoyed privately. And, like all Truly Classics, behind those traditional looks are the very latest technologies and innovations.
The next stage of the project is to step the mast and add the rigging. But you can already see another striking visual aspect of Atalante in the form of her deck layout. This includes both a private owner's cockpit aft and a guest cockpit and deckhouse amidships, an instantly recognisable Hoek Design feature.
The Claasen craftsmen are now putting the finishing touches below decks to a classic interior with raised and fielded panelling, white painted panels above wainscot level, and a range of other classic details.
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'Rebellion,' the high performance Carkeek 40 Mk II built by Premier Composites that launched in the UK earlier this Spring, is ready for her first competitive season in the UK.
Owned by Stewart Whitehead, 'Rebellion' is the second of the Mark II Carkeek 40s to be built by Premier Composite Technologies. She was commissioned in Dubai before being shipped to Hamble, England, in mid-April. 'Rebellion's' first competitive outing was the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series, where she scored a race win against a competitive 18-boat fleet in IRC 1, and the team are now preparing for a competitive inshore and offshore racing programme.
The Carkeek 40 comes from the drawingboard of Carkeek Design Partners, and builds on a strong history of co-operation between the design house and Dubai-based high-tech boat builders. This 'second generation' design is created to be competitive under both IRC and HPR (High Performance Rule) and sports a lightweight carbon infusion construction, carbon rig and rod rigging, square-top main, hydraulic forestay, under-deck systems and pedestal winch package for a 'grand prix' sailing experience.
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Earlier today, Tuesday 9th June, the new IMOCA monohull, aboard which Armel Le Cleac'h will line up on 6th November 2016 at the start of his third consecutive Vendee Globe, was launched in Port-la-Forêt. Banque Populaire VIII is the second VPLP/Verdier designed boat from the new generation to be launched after Morgan Lagravière's Safran.
Before entering the water, the tricky operation to fit the keel was carried out on Monday afternoon. This morning, Banque Populaire VIII was lowered into the water, before the required righting test, when the boat is turned right over 180 degrees. Following this compulsory test, the mast was fitted and the VPLP/Verdier given her rigging. This was carried out in several stages, as there is a full day of checks to carry out, before the maximum strain can be applied to the rig. Only when they are certain the rig can withstand the loads for which it was designed, will the 60-foot boat begin her campaign and fine tuning.
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The Last Word
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