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
Emirates Team New Zealand Soars To Victory In Sweden
Photos by Rick Tomlinson, rick-tomlinson.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Emirates Team New Zealand put together a Super Sunday in Sweden, to vault to the top of the leaderboard and claim the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Gothenburg.
It was a difficult day on the tight race course, with light and shifty conditions.
But the Kiwis, led by skipper Glenn Ashby and prodigy helmsman Peter Burling showed no fear, posting a 2-1 scoreline in the two double-point races.
Two fourth place finishes dropped ORACLE TEAM USA to second place.
Land Rover BAR won the first Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series on home waters in Portsmouth. Two second place finishes on Saturday had the team poised for another top finish. But a poor start in the last race put the team in third place for the Swedish stop.
SoftBank Team Japan was in fourth place, with a strong final race giving a boost to the team's confidence heading into the next event in Bermuda.
Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Gothenburg - Final Results
Team - Points
Emirates Team NZ - 54
ORACLE TEAM USA - 48
Land Rover BAR - 46
SoftBank Team Japan - 43
Artemis Racing - 42
Groupama Team France 37
Overall standings - Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series
(following the first two events):
Team - Points
Emirates Team New Zealand - 72
Land Rover BAR - 65
ORACLE TEAM USA - 64
SoftBank Team Japan - 56
Artemis Racing - 53
Groupama Team France - 50
Never One To Pull Punches...
Richard Gladwell has some comments on the ACWS App...
America's Cup World Series App. The first version of this paid app allowed downloaders to watch the coverage on their laptops and hence big screen TV's.
Four minutes before today's scheduled America's Cup World Series Round 2 coverage start in Gothenburg, we found that the App software had been actually been changed to prevent viewing on computers. Yes we know that the AC+ app had been advertised as mobile only, but now it has really been restricted to mobile devices.
Why have the America's Cup organisers tried to restrict their paid coverage to mobile devices.
Can someone explain how this helps deliver value to America's Cup event sponsors, or the team sponsors or the audience?
Mind you, you won't hear any public criticism from any of the teams, any adverse comments from the team will under the enlightened rules of 2017 America's Cup cost them US$25,000 for the first offence, $100,000 for second offence and $250,000 for the third and subsequent offences.
So let's not ask them, we will ask our wider audience.
Please put you hand up if you think this is good business practice?
Someone? anyone? Ah one, thanks Russell!
We live in hope that by 2017, the penny drops that bigger audiences are better for the sport and the sponsors too and that the stupidity of restricted coverage is just that.
Seahorse October 2015
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
IMOCA spreads its wings
Building one-design rigs for the toughest racers on earth demands considerable concentration... Vincent Marsaudon talks with Jocelyn Bleriot
None too shabby
Karol Jablonski's racing CV is not only remarkable in volume but it is also far from typical
A lateral question - Part II
Kevin Ellway and Alan Smith develop their argument against J foils with Andy Rice
The place to be
This year's Yacht Racing Forum is set to take place beside Lake Geneva - very appropriate!
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Clipper Race Gets Underway
The twelve teams made up of international amateur sailors competing in the Clipper 2015-16 Race have passed under Tower Bridge, London, at the start of the 40,000 nautical mile global race in front of thousands of spectators.
Home team GREAT Britain led the fleet under Tower Bridge which lifted twice to salute the crews following the race's Official Opening Ceremony at the international Race Village in St Katharine Docks.
The yachts are now making their way down the River Thames in a Parade of Sail, followed by a fleet of spectator boats and RNLI support ribs with tens of thousands of supporters lined along the riverbanks.
The opening leg of the race takes the teams over 5,000 nautical miles from the British capital, across the Atlantic Ocean, including the challenging Doldrums, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Race 1, the Atlantic Trade Winds leg, starts Monday 31 August at 12.30 BST (11:30 UTC).
Following the first stopover in Brazil, the fleet will continue on via Cape Town, Albany - Western Australia, Sydney (including the world famous Sydney-Hobart Race), the Whitsundays, Da Nang - Vietnam, Qingdao - China, Seattle, Panama, New York, Derry-Londonderry and Den Helder - the Netherlands, before returning to London's St Katharine Docks for Race Finish on 30 July 2016.
Melges 32 World Championship To Alessandro Rombelli
Photos by Carlo Borlenghi, carloborlenghi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Trapani, Italy: Congratulations are in full order for Alessandro Rombelli and his STIG 2015 Melges 32 World Champion team that includes tactician Francesco Bruni and crew members Pierluigi De Felice, Giorgio Tortarolo, Michele Giovannini, Daniele Fiaschi, Luca Faravelli (2010 World Champ) and Filippo La Mantia.
It goes without saying that for Rombelli and his STIG team, it has been an unforgettable season of racing his Melges 32. With impactful wins in Loano, Porto Ercole and now Trapani at Worlds, Rombelli has established himself as a true, formidable opponent and competitor in the world of yacht racing.
Leading right up to the Worlds, Tomasini Grinover's Robertissima remained a strong front-runner. His win in Riva del Garda combined with only an eighth place finish at Worlds, Roberto comfortably finishes the season second overall.
Another individual who shined exceptionally bright all season long, and put brilliance on front-burner display in Trapani is third place overall di Lapigio. He proudly finishes out the European sailing season in third overall.
Top Ten Results (Final - After Eight Races, One Discard)
1. Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni, STIG, 27 points
2. Jason Carroll/Cameron Appleton, Argo, 35
3. Ryan DeVos/Mark Mendelblatt, Volpe, 52
4. Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio/Branko Brcin, G-SPOT, 64
5. Yukihiro Ishida/Hamish Pepper, Yasha Samurai, 68
6. Keisuke Suzuki/Nicolai Sehested, Swing, 73
7. Dalton DeVos/Jonathan McKee, Delta, 74
8. Roberto Tomasini Grinover/Vasco Vascotto, Robertissima, 79
9. Andrea Ferrari/Roberto Spata, Spirit of Nerina, 79
10. Filippo Pacinotti/Gabrio Zandona, Brontolo HH, 88
Full 2015 World Championship Results
2015 Audi-Tron Sailing Series Top Ten Results (Final - After Five Events)
1. Alessandro Rombelli, STIG; 134 points
2. Roberto Tomasini Grinover, Robertissima; 152
3. Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio, G-SPOT; 189
4. Edoardo Lupi/Massimo Pessina, Torpyone; 249
5. Dalton DeVos, Delta; 253
6. Alec Cutler, Hedgehog; 257
7. Jason Carroll, Argo; 262
8. Valetin Zavadnikov, Synergy GT; 267
9. Richard Goransson, Inga From Sweden; 295
10. Andrea Ferrari, Spirit of Nerina; 299
J/70 UK National Championship
With 30 boats on one start line, the first day of the J/70 UK National Championship featured the largest fleet of J/70s that have ever raced in the United Kingdom.
Ian Atkins racing Boats.com, with Ruairidh Scott on the helm, leads after four races but it was never easy for the reigning UK National Champions.
Six teams made the podium today: Ian Atkin's Boats.com, Will Goldsmith's Gill Race Team, Charlie Esse's Baby J, Ian Dobson's Sailboats.co.uk, Russell Peter's No.6 and Jack Davies' Jugador.
A light gradient wind from the east south east, veered during the day, but also flicked back to the east, which kept the tacticians on their toes. The wind speed rarely exceeded ten knots, whilst the racing was not physically taxing, today's shifting breeze was a real test of tactical awareness. Starting well is always important but even more so in light airs, two general recalls and a highly competitive start line, were indicative of the competition within the fleet.
With no wind in the Solent on Day Two of the J/70 UK National Championship, racing was abandoned for the day at 1300 BST.
Is Your Website Mobile Ready?
Keeping up with the Volvo Ocean Race, any day, any time, anywhere... was easy in 2015 as they had apps, but more importantly, the VOR website was completely mobile friendly. The same website content reformatted to fit any device screen size.
Following this year's Formula 1 is also something you can do anywhere, any time. No desktop or laptop needed... any phone or table would do for formula1.com
That's mission critical for ANY website this year. Views via mobile devices are more than half of nearly any site's readership.
Not every event has those budgets however, not everyone can create apps for both Android and Apple and get them into the app stores. That's where, once again, the web is the great equalizer
Watch the effect on formula1.com or volvooceanrace.com when you grab the bottom right corner of a browser window on a laptop and drag it to make the screen tall and thin. Menus change, images resize, elements on the page stack vertically.
Check out the TR2015 at transatlanticrace.com, the Transpac at transpacyc.com or the Fastnet at fastnet.rorc.org
Sailing Source helped build all three of this summer's big offshore yacht racing websites.
We can do the same for your class, club, company or event. At non-Formula 1 rates!
Sultanate Of Oman Wins Trofeo Di Roma: Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour
Oman Sail's crew on Sultanate of Oman capped off a stunning month by winning the Trofeo di Roma and stretching their overall lead in the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour.
Going into the final day of racing at the popular Italian resort of Civitavecchia, Leigh McMillan's team were fending off a strong challenge from Swiss rivals Alinghi who were on a roll with a stream of podium places.
Until the penultimate race, the pressure was immense and although the Omanis held the lead, a possible upset was on the cards. But a mistake by Alinghi on the start line handed victory in Rome to McMillan and his crew of Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Nasser Al Mashari and Alister Richardson.
The win comes on the back of McMillan's Extreme 40 victory in St Petersburg, Russia, with The Wave, Muscat and puts three points between Sultanate of Oman and second placed Alinghi on the overall ranking.
The final event in the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour takes place in Marseille from September 30 to October 3.
Full results: www.gc32racing.com/results/
Gilmour Wins Detroit Cup In Sudden Death Final
Detroit Michigan, USA: In a fourth and final day of challenging wind conditions on the Detroit River, the world number 8th-ranked team who led the 2015 Detroit Cup from the start also managed to see it through to the finish and win in a sudden death, one-match Final.
In light and shifty conditions, and at the edge of time limit for concluding the event, Sam Gilmour and his Neptune Racing Team of Adam Negri and Christopher Smith defeated another team from Perth, Australia - Matt Jerwood and his Redline Racing team - to win the event in an all-Aussie Final.
Throughout the double Round Robin and Semi-Finals, Gilmour and team were nearly flawless, losing only two matches in 17 sailed, and his win this year matches his brother David's victory in 2013.
Being the last event of four in the Grade 2 USA GRAND SLAM , the win also solidified Gilmour's victory in this series, which earns him an invitation to the Grade WC Congressional Cup in Long Beach in 2016, one of the oldest match race events in North America and a signature event on the World Match Racing Tour. -- Dobbs Davis
Final standings, 2015 Detroit Cup:
1. Sam Gilmour (AUS)
2. Matt Jerwood (AUS)
3. Chris Steele (NZL)
4. Nathan Hollerbach (USA)
5. Chris Poole (USA)
6. Chris Van Tol (USA)
7. Ryan Seago (USA)
8. Patrik Sturesson (SWE)
9. David Storrs (USA)
10. David Niemann (USA)
IRC Forum: September 19 in La Rochelle
UNCL and PropIRC had organised their first IRC FORUM September 19, 2015 at 18:00 in La Rochelle at the Grand Pavois.
A panel made up of owners, riders, naval architects, builders, journalists, computer center and IRC Technical Committee will speak on the theme "The IRC shared vision of the actors of the ecosystem", and invite public debate.
All members of the UNCL and PropIRC are invited to this Forum. Save the Date now, invitation and details will be released in early September. Please pre-register now by sending an email to
www.uncl.com/1er-FORUM-IRC-19-septembre-a-La.html
Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Glenn McCarthy: You all are responsible for the choice to have the Olympics sail in Rio de Janeiro. Last week you held the Aquece Test Event. How did it turn out? Last year you had competitors fall ill, and run into trash stopping progress up the race course. Was it any better this year?
No land based sport has such a table with 15 items in it as above. With athletes falling ill, needing surgery from disease, and running into trash stopping their progress up the field of play is identical to what happened in the 2014 Aquece Test Event. There was no report last year of having a field of play shut down due to an overwhelming amount of trash on the water, but it happened twice in the 2015 Test Event.
Promises of improved water quality were made back then. The jibber jabber over water quality tests is something to take everyone's eye off the ball. No one has said there are lines drawn in the sand, "If the parts per million exceed "This Amount" we must move the venue. Without limits defined, this is just a political sideshow.
The 2015 Aquece Test Event has proven again that Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro FAILS at the ability to provide a Fair Contest for all the worlds athletes.
IOC, Rio2016, ISAF your words of assurances have worn us out. Your continued statement that "The athletes safety and health is our utmost concern" is beautiful propaganda and Public Relations to tell the media, but you have shown no ability to assure the safety and health of the competitors. It is clear that you do not care about the athletes.
Your time has run out, it is time to move the Sailing Games out of Rio, NOW.
* From Rasa Bertrand: re: Coverage on TV in Australia. Stan Honey and team take a bow. Ken Read and Tucker. Boys it's not about upi. Please please let us hear what the sailors and boats are saying!! Racing fantastic.
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The Last Word
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