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 Nerone Wins Rolex Farr 40 Worlds Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic: The Rolex Farr 40 Worlds lived up to its billing as the big boat one-design championship against which all others are measured. The 2010 series was decided on the final race of the final day, raced in front of a huge spectator fleet from rubber ducks to 25 metre sport fishers. Massimo Mezzaroma's Nerone (ITA) ended the day lauded champion, for the second time (first in 2003)/ Guido Belgiorno-Nettis' Transfusion (AUS) were beaten at the last, but certainly not disgraced. The next Rolex Farr 40 World Championship will be held in Sydney in February 2011. The final day started early. Principal Race Officer, Peter Reggio,brought the first signal forward to 1000 local time, three races were threatened and for once the wind played ball. Three races were held. While the Italians were celebrating in true Latin manner, spraying champagne, hugging, singing, kissing and throwing each other into the harbour, a little way up the dock the crew of Transfusion were reflecting on the one that got away. First to congratulate Mezzaroma and his team after crossing the finish, the Australians are rightly proud of their achievement in finishing second. Guido Belgiorno-Nettis acknowledged that ending up in standings between Jim Richardson and Terry Hutchinson, and, Mezzaroma and Vascotto, who have been in the Class for many years, at only their second Worlds is something they deserve to be pleased about. The disappointment that they were unable to carry their lead through to the finish softened by an achievement that any of the boats behind them would have welcomed. Final top ten: Slow Start to the 42nd Semaine Olympique Francaise in Hyeres The light and fluky southern breeze only allowed for 5 races to be completed in Hyeres. The Women Match racing thanks to the quick work of the racing committee completed 35 races. In the first group, the team of Claire Leroy won both races against Trine Abrahamsen (DEN) and Mandy Mulder (NED). Other teams with 100% win are Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Ekaterina Skudina (RUS). The Russians who had missed the round robins qualification both at the Rolex Miami OCR and at the Trofeo Sofia Mapfre in Palma have increased their chance to select for the Gold fleet after three straight wins in their group today. In group B, three teams are sharing the top scores with three wins: MacGregor (GBR), LeBerre (FRA) and Tulloch (USA). In the last group, Spithill (AUS) and Osborne (NZL) have collected four victories. 66 races are still remaining to complete the first round robin. On the five classes who have sailed today, french teams of Xavier Rohart and Pierre-Alexis Ponsot in the Star and the Sonar team of Bruno Joudrain have won their race. In the Laser, only two groups managed a race, won by Andreas Geritzer (AUT) and Josh Junior (NZL). Helena Lucas took the bullet in the 2.4. Same conditions are expected tomorrow. * From ISAF Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe, sailing in the Elliott 6m class: Our first race was against Denmark's Trine Abrahamsen. We didn't have a great pre-start against her, but had a clean start at the pin end of the line. She was over at the boat end, so we were able to take advantage of her mistake and went on to win the race. Our second race was against Spain's Sylvia Roca. We controlled her in the pre-start and had a great start against her. At the bottom of the course we held an almost 5 boat length lead over her, but she is very fast and kept getting a little more breeze than we did which allowed her to pull back the five boat lengths and round right on our stern at the top mark. Downwind, we sailed very smart and kept the lead, even extending a little. Up the second beat, we saw pressure on the left, so we rounded the mark and continued to go straight. Sylvia tacked away and headed right. We split for a long time before we came back together and although we hadn't gained much, it was another boat length. Downwind again, we sailed smart and took the lead. As the rest of our group sailed in the third flight, we had a bye. Only 22 of the original 24 teams made it to the event. Team China didn't make it due to air travel problems. So this left two of the three groups with only seven teams, meaning during each flight, one team sits out. Tomorrow, however, we will sail all four flights to complete the round robin. We felt like today we got some of our nerves out of the way, and are very much looking forward to four races tomorrow. -- teamtunnicliffe.com A Midsummer's Night Feast A highly sought after opportunity for two people to dine aboard Lord Nelson's flag ship HMS Victory in Portsmouth UK, hosted by the second Sea Lord. This glittering prize is offered in a limited ticket raffle (only 100 tickets to be sold). The prize for the single winning ticket includes a reception at Admiralty House in Portsmouth and a tour of this famous ship. Event date: June 24th 2010 Ticket Price 25 GBP. Buy two tickets and odds fall to just 50:1. Apply by email to for an application form. Return the completed form with a cheque or by bank transfer. Payment and mailing details are on the application form. All proceeds go to the Charity: Surrey Drug and Alcohol Care. If you wish to use PAYPAL to make payment. Please send an email to , the number of tickets required and your name. We will send you an invoice you can pay via PAYPAL. Surrey Drug & Alcohol Care (charity No 293421) run a 24 hour help line to provide support for substance users with the aim of bringing them into treatment. Party Time For (Almost) Everybody In Ensenada Never mind that in Sunday's awards ceremony the trophy will go to Dick Compton, Jim Yabsley and Tom Parker, the owners of Taxi Dancer, the Reichel/Pugh 68 from Santa Barbara that beat him by 70 minutes on corrected PHRF handicap time over the 125.5 nautical miles. No matter. "We are the first boat from Mexico to finish first in the Maxi class," Berho said. Then there was Bill Gibbs from Ventura, who was delighted when his Tennant catamaran, Afterburner, finished only an hour and a half behind H.L. Enloe's much faster trimaran, Loe Real, because he collected 26 minutes more than what the San Diego-based rival owed him in handicap time to win the ORCA class for multihulls. Other confirmed winners were Dennis Pennel's Blue Blazes in PHRF-A, the Richley Family's Amante in PHRF-B, Ron Simonson's Sleeper in PHRF-C, Tom Holthus' Bad Pak in Sprit-A and Mark Wyland's Lucky Star in Sprit-B. Taxi Dancer, the bright yellow longtime campaigner among West Coast ultralight sleds, finished only 11 minutes 22 seconds behind Peligroso boat for boat before cashing in 81 1/2 minutes worth of handicap chips ---no contest Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes was a more serious threat. Taxi Dancer owed time to the dark blue Farr 60 and tallied out by less than 12 minutes. Now the anxiety is about who will collect the $6,000 Lamborghini diamond watch that will be presented Sunday to the winner of the President of USA Trophy for best overall corrected handicap time. That was still up in the air Saturday afternoon as the slower-rated PHRF classes approached the finish line with the significant advantage of better breeze---following from the west rather than on the nose from the east---than the bigger boats found in the morning. -- Rich Roberts First 10 Finishers (elapsed times) AG2R Top ten at 1900 hrs Sunday: 1. Saveol, Romain Attanasio / Samantha Davies, 2835.4 nm to finish Full results: transat.ag2rlamondiale.fr/fr/s10_classement/s10p01_class_general.php Race viewer: transatag2r.geovoile.com Radical Modifications to Alex Thomson's IMOCA 60 Over the last 4 months the boat has been undergoing a dramatic modification and re-fit under the guidance of boat designer Juan Kouyoumdjian that will provide Alex Thomson with the most powerful IMOCA 60 in the World. The boat, now virtually unrecognisable from the original Kouyoumdjian designed Pindar, features a number of radical changes that sets the boat apart from the IMOCA 60 fleet but, under the new grandfathering rule, keeps the boat within the restrictions set down by IMOCA. Alex Thomson Racing is confident that the results will lead to some exciting sailing. "We've worked closely with Juan to create something that's a bit special and we're all really pleased with the result", said Alex Thomson. "We're in the process of fitting the rig and then we'll be able to try her out. I've been looking forward to that moment for quite a while now". HUGO BOSS is due to be officially unveiled in all its glory at a high profile launch event in May. Alex Thomson will then embark on a six-month sailing programme that will take him up to the start of the Barcelona World Race in December where he hopes to go one better having finished second in the 2007/8 race. Get A Deal On The Racing Rules! To order the Rules DVD or learn more about it, go to: www.LearnTheRacingRules.com RORC - Cervantes Trophy Race The race starts from Cowes on Saturday 1st May from the RYS line to the East with the first warning signal at 0750. Over 4000 miles of offshore racing with the Royal Ocean Racing Club continues this May Bank Holiday. The Cervantes Trophy Race is the first English Channel Race of the RORC season. This year's race from Cowes to Le Havre in France has attracted an international fleet with yachts from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Poland. The Cervantes Trophy Race is part of RORC's Season's Points Championship. The Championship consists of a testing series of races which attracts an international and varied fleet. For the serious offshore sailor, trying to win the championship is a real challenge. The Season's Points Championship this year includes the tactically challenging Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race. High Performance TP52s, Rolex Commodores' Cup boats, two-handed entries and production cruising boats will be racing across to Le Havre. Monday 3rd May is a Bank Holiday, which will allow competitors to enjoy an extended time on the water. For those interested in more racing; The Trophee Guillaume Le Conquerant is a return race back to the UK, organised by the Societe des Regates du Havre in association with RORC, and the Island Sailing Club, Cowes. The race starts on Sunday 4th May from Le Havre. The closing date for entries in the RORC Cervantes Trophy Race is Thursday 22nd April. Entries may be accepted after this date but will be subject to a late entry fee. NZ/USA Global Ocean Race Team Is Revealed Ryan Finn is also an experienced Mini sailor and will compete in the singlehanded Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables Race in August this year. The 32 year-old American sailor has considerable experience as shorecrew for successful shorthanded programmes on both sides of the Atlantic and is - like Colman - one of the few ocean racers who makes his own sails. This is a team that fully appreciates fine tailoring! Colman and Finn have formed a partnership with Lance Armstrong's global anti-cancer LiveStrong campaign to raise funds and awareness for this exceptional sporting foundation. In 1998, Ryan avidly followed the Around Alone race from his hospital bed while he was fighting his own battle with cancer. Conrad and Ryan have secured part of their budget for the GOR, but are still searching for a title sponsor for their project. "We each hail from a country hosting a stopover and both currently live in France," says Colman, who is based in the Lorient, while his GOR co-skipper is based in La Trinite-sur-Mer. "By being the 'local boys' in Europe, Australasia and America, we will be able to communicate well with a huge part of the GOR audience and are thus a good prospect for a truly global brand." Guadeloupe To Antigua Race This 42-mile event opener not only serves as a feeder race for Antigua Sailing Week (24- 30 April 2010) but is also the first of three offshore events within the Antigua Ocean Series. It also gives the largest yachts in Antigua Sailing Week fleet an opportunity to have a go at breaking the overall speed record of 2h, 18m, 42secs set by Bob Miller's 140ft schooner Mari Cha IV, in 2004. With winds reaching no more than 10kts today however, there was little chance of any record-breaking taking place but those who took part enjoyed a relatively straightforward race up to Antigua. Irish sailor Adrian Lee and his international team aboard the Cookson 50 Lee Overlay Partners matched their star performance from last year by - once again - winning the Racing Division of this opening race in the Antigua Ocean Series, beating Peter Morris' Frers 43 Jaguar by less than four minutes on corrected time. In the Cruising division it was Steve Schmidt's Santa Cruz 70 - Hotel California - that won the class, which puts her in a good position for a top result in the overall Antigua Ocean Series. He may not have had any competition as far as other mutihulls were concerned in today's race, but the Polish sailor Roman Paske sailing his 90ft catamaran R-Six Team (Gemini) says it was good to take line honours overall. This boat, which is now three year's old, was built for solo round the world racing, a pastime Paske hopes to put into to practice later this year. "I had her built for a Jules Verne record attempt and hopefully intend to set off later this year - westbound. Meanwhile were here to raise the profile of the boat in preparation for my voyage." The schedule for Antigua Sailing Week continues, with racing for ASW series now kicking off on Sunday morning rather than the originally scheduled Saturday. Division A will race the Yachting World Around the Island Race (Race 2 of the Ocean Series) while Division B will be sent on the Dickenson Bay Race. The Round Redonda Race (Race 3 of the Ocean Series) takes place on Wednesday 28 April (lay day). -- Sue Pelling Reward For Stolen Boat The boat Lady Ashley Brett, a Beneteau Oceanis 500 was chartered from Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands and has not returned to her charter base. A Norwegian male aged 44 with a woman aged 40 and a girl aged 10 chartered the boat in March. It's thought the boat has crossed the Atlantic. Anyone with information should contact MCS Marine Claims Service GmbH Am Kaiserkai 2 20457 Hamburg Germany Tel. +49 40 374818-18 Fax +49 40 374818-15, , www.mcs-germany.com Featured Brokerage This Mummery/Ball/Dixon design racing yacht built by Hibiscus Coast Yachts has had over $40000 spent on new Doyle sails. Brokerage through All Boat Brokerage Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/allboat/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
Use this box to send a copy of this issue of the Scuttlebutt Europe Newsletter to a friend: Or [FORWARD] for a page where you can send copies to up to a dozen friends. About YachtWorld.com About Boats.com Yachtworld.com on line magazine is available free of charge and delivered digitally every month. Click here to receive your copy: www.yachtworldmagazine.com/ywm/latest/ NEW! See the Boats Blog at Boats.com -- www.boats.com/blog/ To subscribe, unsubscribe, and select HTML or Text format visit scuttlebutteurope.com Editorial and letter submissions to Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html |