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

Clipper LMAX Exchange Aground
While transiting to another marina to be lifted for the application of new hull graphics, CV24 (LMAX Exchange) has run aground. There are no injuries and the local coast guard has been informed. Skipper Olivier Cardin and three crew aboard are assessing the situation and awaiting further instructions.

The incident occurred approximately 42 miles from Marina da Gloria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (where the Clipper Race fleet is berthed), at night in light winds and good visibility. The skipper informed the Clipper Race Office at 0012 hrs local time / 0312 UTC.

Race officials travelled to the site on board the GREAT Britain yacht and are currently working on a plan to refloat CV24.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is with our Race Office team on site with CV24 which ran aground on a sandy outcrop 42 miles southwest of Marina da Gloria. He reports that the only damage appears to be the starboard rudder, which can be repaired.

Sir Robin said: "The hull is intact and the boat is secured by its anchor. We will remain on site to await the arrival of heavier equipment to get her off."

clipperroundtheworld.com

Head In The Game For Mcmillan On Opening Day Of Act 7, Istanbul
The Wave, Muscat opened the Extreme Sailing Series Act 7, Istanbul presented by Yandex today in style with a string of back-to-back race wins.

Tipped as the Act in which British helm Leigh McMillan would make a definitive move for the Series title, today's opening performance certainly reinforced that claim. McMillan hit the podium in all seven races to finish at the top of the Istanbul leaderboard at the end of day one on 65 points.

After a disappointing result six weeks ago in Saint Petersburg, today saw a return to form for SAP Extreme Sailing Team, with the Danish crew taking two confidence boosting race wins to finish the day in second place on 56 points, with Red Bull Sailing Team rounding off the overnight leaderboard in third.

It might not have been blue skies and sunshine for the first day of racing in Turkey, but against the moody backdrop of the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque, the fleet relished the steady 18-knot breeze.

Results after 7 races, Day 1:

1. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Sarah Ayton, Pete Greenhalgh, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari 65 points.

2. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Thierry Douillard, Mads Emil Stephensen, Brad Farrand 56 points.

3. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans-Peter Steinacher, Lionel Vaucher, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson 53 points.

4. Oman Air (OMA) Stevie Morrison, Nic Asher, Ted Hackney, Ed Powys, Ali Al Balashi 53 points.

5. GAC Pindar (GBR) Chris Draper, Adam Minoprio, Seve Jarvin, James Wierzbowski, Tyson Lamond - 39

6. Lino Sonego Team Italia (ITA) Enrico Zennaro, Pierre Pennec, Nevio Sabadin, Stefano Rizzi,Tom Buggy - 34

7. Team Turx (TUR) Mitch Booth, Edhem Dirvana, Selim Kakis, Diogo Cayolla, Pedro Andrade - 34

8. Gazprom Team Russia (RUS) Igor Lisovenko, Pavel Kalinichev, Pavel Karachi, Alexander Bozhko, Aleksey Kulakov - 30

www.extremesailingseries.com

Dubarry Crosshaven - Preferred By Professionals
Dubarry Crosshaven 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

dubarry.com

Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup Commits To Swan 42 Through 2019
On the heels of the most dramatic and most competitive edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup - with the top four places decided on the final leg of the regatta - the New York Yacht Club has committed to use the Swan 42 yacht for sailing's preeminent Corinthian competition through 2019.

The Swan 42 class was created in 2006 by a group of New York Yacht Club members; it's the eighth one-design class sponsored by the Club and was integral in the creation of the Rolex NYYC Invitational Cup, which has been run every two years since 2009 out of the New York Yacht Club's Harbour Court clubhouse.

The Swan 42 National Championship is held each July in the waters off Newport, R.I., and has seen as many as 20 boats contest for the title. The boat has also developed a strong following in Europe, with 12 boats racing in a one-design fleet at the 2104 Rolex Swan Cup. 

In the United States, the Swan 42 has scored major handicap wins under IRC (2014 Key West Race Week, the 2015 Queen's Cup) and ORR (2014 Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac).

In Europe, a Swan 42 won the 2014 Giraglia Rolex Cup under IRC and the 2014 European and 2015 World ORC Championships.

invitationalcup.org

Selection Open For 2016 Great Britain Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup Teams
Selection is now open for the 2016 Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, with the RYA planning to send four teams of three boats to represent Great Britain at the prestigious event in Cowes (23-30 July 2016).

The RYA is seeking expressions of interest from owners and teams who would like to compete for Great Britain at the 2016 event. Teams comprise of three boats within the IRC rating 1.0 - 1.230. One team will be nominated by RYA Scotland and the other three by the RYA.

The seven day event consists of two offshore events within the English Channel and a number of inshore events in the Solent, pitting three-boat teams against one another to win overall team points.

The selection process will begin in the New Year with a number of events defined as selection regattas. Full details of the selection policy can be found on the RYA Keelboat website.

The completed RYA selection Trials Entry Form and proposed crew lists for the Selections Trials of the GBR teams should be delivered to the RYA before 1700 on Friday 29 January, together with the entry fee. Entries after this date will be accepted up to Friday 25 March subject to a late entry fee.

For more information on the RYA team selection process please contact

Antigua Sailing Week
Antigua Sailing Week It's blowing twenty gusting twenty-five, blue water's hissing at the rail. The helm loads up, the boat takes off, down another Caribbean roller. The wild ride continues, stem-deep pristine ocean cascades over the bow. The deck is hot, the sun is brilliant, and so is the competition. Sun, Sea and Surf, the pace is on. Palm trees dance on Pigeon Beach, the 'Trades' are in, and you don't want them to stop.

Cracking jokes on the dock, salt encrusted, a cold one soothes the thirst. The beat goes on and the rhythm hits you. You nod, shake your hips, and move your hands and feet. You're tuned-in and the DJ's playing your favourite song with a hundred or more dancing with you. The sun sighs farewell, setting the skies ablaze, but the party goes on. You don't want to stop but it will be blowing twenty when the sun says - Good Morning.

The 49th Edition of Antigua Sailing Week - April 23-29 2016

www.sailingweek.com/v4/

To enter: www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=1477

Strong Start For Team CEEREF
RC44s are not supposed to race at night, but after a windless, race-free opening day at the RC44 Cascais World Championship and a windless morning today, Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio was not going to miss an opportunity. The sea breeze finally came good mid-afternoon allowing a first start at 1530, but this resulted in a general recall and a black flag second start that got away cleanly. After all this and the three solid races that followed, the sun was getting low in the sky.

Open to the Atlantic, Cascais has the reputation of being a windy venue, but thanks to a giant area of high pressure hovering over Europe, the gradient breeze has all but shut down off the Portugese coast. Thankfully unlike yesterday, a sea breeze was able to develop today and the teams were at last able to get their first World Championship points on the board.

John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team, the 2012 World Champion, claimed today's first race, but had to fight back after getting caught in irons and being last off the start line in race two. She too has a stand-in helmsman in Antonio Sodo Migliori, a two time Farr 40 World Champion.

With Team CEEREF claiming race two, it was the turn of Vladimir Proshikin's Team Nika, the current RC44 Championship Tour leader, to win race three. However this was after a disappointing 11th place in race one.

Tomorrow looks set to have the most sailable breeze of the regatta with the first warning signal once again scheduled for midday.

RC44 Cascais World Championship Results

1. TEAM CEEREF (SLO 11), 8 points
2. Bronenosec Sailing Team (RUS 18), 11
3. Aleph Racing (FRA 17), 15
4. Team Nika (RUS 10), 16
5. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team (GBR 1), 16
6. Katusha (RUS 21), 16
7. Charisma (MON 69), 17
8. Artemis Racing (SWE44), 21
9. RUS7 - Anywayanyday (RUS 7), 21
10. Team Aqua (GBR 2041), 30
11. Artemis Racing Youth (SWE 4), 30
12. MAG Racing (POL 44), 33

rc44.com

ORACLE TEAM USA Announce Race Crew For Bermuda
ORACLE TEAM USA will race in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Bermuda with the same crew that earned a second place finish in Gothenburg, Sweden in August.

Spithill will again be skipper/helmsman, with Tom Slingsby, tactician; Kyle Langford, wing trimmer; Joey Newton, trimmer; Louis Sinclair, bow.

Louis Sinclair, Graeme Spence and Ky Hurst are three new additions to the sailing team who bring a physical element that will be necessary on the new America's Cup Class boats in 2017, as well as the AC45S test boats the team is developing.

The Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Bermuda is the first official racing in the home venue of the 35th America's Cup. As the defending champion and the first team to establish residency on the island, Spithill says ORACLE TEAM USA is looking at Bermuda as its home waters.

Racing in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Bermuda is on October 17-18. Teams are allowed just one free training day on October 15 and one day of official practice racing on October 16. 

oracleteamusa.com
americascup.com

US Sailing's 2015 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Awards
US Sailing has announced that it is now accepting nominations for its 2015 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards, widely acknowledged as the foremost individual sailing honors in the nation. Through November 30, 2015, each member of US Sailing may nominate the one male and one female sailor they believe has turned in the most outstanding on-the-water performance during the 2015 calendar year. Nominations can be made online through US Sailing's website at rolex.ussailing.org

Established in 1961 by US Sailing and sponsored by Rolex Watch, U.S.A. since 1980, the annual presentation of US Sailing's Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards recognize the individual male and female U.S. sailor who has demonstrated on-the-water excellence at international and/or national events to earn their place in the history of the sport. 

For the 2015 competitive season, Terry Hutchinson of Annapolis, Md., and Stephanie Roble of East Troy, Wisc., were awarded the prestigious distinction.  Roble, a first-time winner, joined 76 previous recipients, including Hutchinson and others who have earned the honor multiple times:  Ed Adams, Betsy Alison, Sally Barkow, Dave Curtis, Dennis Conner, JJ Fetter, Allison Jolly, John Kostecki, Buddy Melges, Lowell North, Jan O'Malley, Jane Pegel, Ken Read, Cory Sertl, Lynne Shore, Jody Starck, Anna Tunnicliffe and Ted Turner.

rolex.ussailing.org

Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2015
The world's best yacht racing photographers will be celebrated for the sixth consecutive time on 8 December during the 2015 Yacht Racing Forum in Geneva

The Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image is now the world's premier photography competition dedicated to the sport of sailing, celebrating the very best yacht racing image taken over the previous 12 months. Since its debut in 2010 this prestigious Trophy has been awarded to four world-class photographers: Thierry Martinez, France (2010 and 2011), Kurt Arrigo, Malta (2012), Abner Kingman, USA (2013) and Alfred Farre, Spain (2014).

International financial services group Mirabaud is the title sponsor of the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image award. Mirabaud's association with sailing is built on its alignment with local and global initiatives that convey professionalism, ethics and performance. The company has been involved in international yacht racing for many years, notably through its sponsorship of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud, the world's biggest regatta held on a lake, its support of offshore sailor Dominique Wavre (Vendee Globe 2012-13 and Barcelona World Race 2010-11), and its current ongoing partnership with Yann Guichard and Dona Bertarelli's Spindrift Racing as Gold Partner.

Submission to www.maxcomm.ch/yri2015

Contest rules: www.yachtracingimage.com/contest/rules/

More in Seahorse magazine's November issue

Featured Brokerage
Raceboats Only 2009 Botin & Carkeek GP42. 295,000 EUR. Located in Kiel, Germany.

The most sought after GP42 ever built is now available.

Fully optimised for ORC racing but also showing huge potential under IRC, means this is one race boat you want to get your hands.

A turn key package for the sailing thrill seeker that's also looking to collect a bucket load of silverware.

Details

Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Port Hamble

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled. -- P. G. Wodehouse

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html

Search the Archives

SEARCH SEARCH

Our Partners

Seahorse Magazine

YachtScoring.com

Wight Vodka

Robline Ropes

Harken

Marlow

Navico

Translate