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
Star Worlds
Italians Diego Negri and Sergio Lambertenghi have taken over the lead at the Star World Championship, winning today's blustery race to now hold a 5-1 after two days of competition. The Italian lead, however, is on countback as the top three all sit on six points. Torben Grael/ Guilherme de Almeid (BRA) is in second with a 2-4 and Hubert Merkelbach/ Markus Koy (GER) remain in third overall with a 3-3. Yesterday's leader, Lars Grael/ Samuel Goncalves (BRA), dropped to fifth overall with an 11th today. Racing continues through November 8.
From Scuttlebutt: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com
Top ten after two races:
1. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi, ITA, 6.0 points
2. Torben Schmidt Grael / Guilherme de Almeida, BRA, 6.0
3. Hubert Merkelbach / Markus Koy, GER, 6.0
4. Torkel Borgstrom / Juan Pablo Engelhard, ARG, 10.0
5. Lars Schmidt Grael / Samuel Goncalves, BRA, 12.0
6. Fabio Bruggioni / Arthur Lopes, BRA, 13.0
7. Alberto Zanetti / Phil Trinter, ARG, 14.0
8. Tom Londrigan Jr / Dave Caesar, USA, 14.0
9. Gustavo Warburg / Lucas Carissimi, ARG, 18.0
10. Eric Doyle / Isao Toyama, USA, 19.0
Lovely event website without any news or press releases:
www.starworlds2015.com
Etchells Worlds
After Race 6 and discarding their worst scores in the series, Skip Dieball and Steve Benjamin retain their 1st and 2nd place positions respectively. Jeremy Thorp moves up from 8th to 3rd and 1375 moves up a notch to 4th.
Top ten after six races, 1 discard:
1. Skip Dieball / Jon McClean / Jeff Eiber, USA, 17.0 points
2. Steve Benjamin / George Peet / Luke Lawrence / Meihan Cheung, USA, 25.0
3. Jeremy Thorp / Stuart Childerley / Mark Andrews, GBR, 25.0
4. Argyle Campbell / Michael Menninger / Nick Martin / Victor Diaz de Leon, USA, 27.0
5. Marvin Beckmann / Steve Hunt / Danielle Septembre / Stephanie Roble, USA, 27.0
6. Ante Razmilovic / Stuart Flinn / Chris Larson, GBR, 28.0
7. Matthew Chew / Brian Donovan / Ashley Deeks / Alex Gough, AUS, 29.0
8. Graeme Taylor / Grant Simmer / Steve Jarvin, AUS, 37.0
9. Noel Drennan / Richard Allanson / Michael O'Brien , AUS, 44.0
10. Mark Thornburrow / Mike Huang / Malcolm Page / Simon Cooke, HKG, 49.0
2015.etchellsworlds.org/results/2015-etchells-worlds
LaserPerformance Collegiate Cup Moves To Italy
The 2016 venue for the LaserPerformance Collegiate Cup (LPCC). LPCC will be held in Torbole, Italy on Lake Garda hosted by Circolo Vela Torbole from 23rd -27th August, 2016.
The inaugural LPCC took place in August 2015 at the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club. Hosted by Yale University under the auspices of the Inter-collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) and governed by ICSA rules.
With the support of ISAF's "Connect to Sail" program, LPCC will reach out and work with as many countries as is possible to encourage participation of as many young sailors as possible.
In its first year, LPCC welcomed 8 teams from 7 countries. University-age sailors and their coaches attended from Oman, Japan, Ireland, Italy, Canada, France, and the USA. Teams competed for their countries in Yale's fleet of LaserPerformance double-handed Z420s. The 5 day experience included a practice session, a team race clinic led by the LPCC Ambassador and Olympic Gold Medalist Anna Tunnicliffe with support from team race gurus Karl Ziegler and Scott Macleod, followed by 3 days of team and fleet racing. The USA Women's All Star team from the ICSA won and earned an all-expense paid trip to compete in Torbole in 2016.
Looking to 2016, up to 12 teams, each with 6 or more sailors ages 18-25, will compete for their countries in LaserPerformance's double handed Z420s.
To register: www.laserperformancecollegiatecup.com
SK2 - Salon Nautique Du Leman!
Click on image for SK2 Videos
The fast and fun sportsboat with a canting keel. Developed by Swing Keel Sailing Ltd.
After a fantastic season with two tours around Central Europe SK2 is now showcasing at the Salon du Leman in Geneve, Palexpo, 13-15-15 of November 2015. Invited by our Swiss agent Sailing Corner we are delighted to attend this exclusive boat show.
For more information on the SK2 and what it has to offer visit www.sk2sailing.com
Bice To Showcase Boatyard Success Story At Metstrade
Nick Bice, who runs the Boatyard for the Volvo Ocean Race, has been invited to the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METSTRADE) this month as a keynote speaker to explain the secrets of success for the event's boat maintenance centre.
The Boatyard, managed by Bice who is a former round-the-world racer and shore manager for sailing's leading offshore race, has established itself as a unique collaboration model in the sport.
Bice has estimated that the seven teams contesting the last race slashed their shore costs by half in relation to people, spares and smart logistics thanks to the Boatyard, which offered fully staffed maintenance cover throughout the nine months of the event plus a supply of all spare parts including rigs.
METSTRADE, which is held in Amsterdam from November 17-19, is the perfect vehicle for Bice to showcase that success in the 2014-15 race and outline the exciting prospects for even more reliability, new technology and cost effectiveness for the 13th edition in 2017-18.
Bice says that some 80 percent of the Boatyard's suppliers, which includes among others Cariboni marine hydraulic systems, Maffioli ropes, Southern Spars and Spectra water makers, will be present at METSTRADE to showcase their wares. The vast majority of suppliers for the previous edition are expected to be signed up again for the 2017-18 race.
Clipper Teams Seek Southern Ocean Reward
After a slow start, teams are relieved to be making better direction south towards the notoriously strong currents of the Southern Ocean and the Roaring Forties as they bid to improve progress in the race to Albany, Western Australia.
Spreading out across a wide frontage, Skippers have been reporting 25 knots of wind, providing steadier boat speeds of up to 10 knots as they look to finally put the fickle conditions around Cape Agulhas behind them.
Race leader LMAX Exchange has built a sizeable gain over the rest of the fleet/
Mission Performance is now in second place as of early this morning after the most northerly positioned team Qingdao, now third, started to dive south to avoid the lighter northern winds.
The most southerly positioned team, ClipperTelemed+, is expecting to cross the 40S line tomorrow morning, which officially marks the start of the Southern Ocean.
Olympic Games: Sailing Must Change To Stay Relevant
As a past competitor in the Laser class, a current coach in Canada, and a fan of the sport, I see sailing now in the midst of an existential threat as it struggles to stay relevant in the dynamic world of Olympic sport. Fleet racing has been the accepted protocol throughout sailing's history, but the hard reality is that the sport needs to better adapt to fit into the current requirements of Olympic sport.
With the Paralympic sailing classes already out of the 2020 Olympic Games, and with low revenue potential and skyrocketing costs for Olympic events, sailing has been a sport on the edge, doing their best to stay significant to the general audience. But athletes are faceless names to fans, regattas are poorly publicized, and Olympic Class sailing has become a lackluster spectacle.
ISAF has sought to develop World Cup events in an attempt to make sailing more relatable, making athletes qualify and adding medal races. These were necessary changes, but now sailing must adapt once again to try and alleviate the issue for the majority of fans: accessibility and confusion. We all remember the Irish Olympic Sailing video. Funny maybe, but regrettably that is the reality for most potential viewers. -- Mike Todd in Scuttlebutt
Kinda Related To Sailing....
UK sales of Beaujolais Nouveau soared to 700,000 bottles a year but have fallen back to 100,000 now. Specialist wine magazine Decanter anticipates this year's is set to be the best ever. At about £6 a bottle, it goes well with haute cuisine or a pizza and could be good for a sailing club party.
In 1970, the idea for a race to London to be the first bar or restaurant with the Beaujolais Nouveau bottlings coincided with the growth of wine bars as the trendy place to drink instead of pubs and the first genuinely female friendly drinking environment.
The race is no more but the Beaujolais Run still exists as an organised trip for wine enthusiasts, just for fun and to raise money for the Air Ambulance. It has been going for 45 years and is supported by sponsors including the Quba sailing clothing company.
Run director Robert Bellinger says it may be too late to join this year but you could register your interest for 2016. Go to www.beaujolaisrun.com or email
Seahorse December 2015
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Update
Jack Griffin on the oil crisis hitting the AC50s, Terry Hutchinson gives the nod to a good (young) man, a cruel month for Italy's Andrea Mura, welcome back SORC, plus Herbert Pearcey and not flying on modern aeroplanes
From the top
The Maxi72s have come of age and the TP52s... three years ahead of the curve! Rob Weiland
The Ullman magic - Part II
More championships (now with lead attached) and sailing blindfold offshore. Tom Linskey
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Launchings
The brand new J/112E will make her UK debut at the London Boat Show this January. The first hull for the UK, the J/112E will arrive straight from the builder's yard, and after the show will remain with Key Yachting for the spring, before travelling to her new home in Ireland.
A popular 36ft in length, the J/112E is designed to be an efficient performance yacht with cruising comforts. Understanding that sailors spend time on deck than anywhere else, J Boats have created a comfortable, ergonomic cockpit. The helmsman can sit either completely forward, straddled or aft of the wheel.
The single large diameter steering wheel allows an outboard sitting position in order to see the jib telltales and waves. With the main and jib controls within easy reach, the helmsman can adjust the sails upwind without leaving the wheel or troubling the crew.
V-shaped bow sections provide superior directional stability and reduced slamming in waves. Freeboard forward and topside flare help to keep the deck dry. A long waterline combined with a low vertical centre of gravity results in a smooth, sea-kindly motion – more like that of a 40 footer. The J/112E will be available to view on stand A220/B, the show runs from 8th – 17th January 2016.
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Following on from the success of the recent Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational sailed in Club Swan 42s, the 44th Street clubhouse in Manhattan provided the perfect setting for an evening dedicated to ClubSwan, and the presentation of the newest addition its family, the new ClubSwan 50.
Juan Kouyoumidjian, who won the 'bid' to design the ClubSwan 50 among a pool of international yacht designers, commented: "The brief was clear and simple: an extremely fast boat that would also be easy to take to the limit, convertible into a sports cruiser with limited crew, with captivating looks and the natural elegance of a Swan. The result is a powerful racer-cruiser, competitive both in class racing and conceived as a one-design."
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Premier Composite Technologies latest build, high performance IRC 45' by Mark Mills heading down under.
Named "Concubine", this is the first Mills IRC 45′ design by Premier Composites Technologies and the boat is heading to Australia, to prepare for the 2015 Sydney-Hobart race and an exciting programme of inshore and offshore races in 2016.
The boat has been built for an experienced IRC campaigner, looking to build on his habit of winning. The team has enjoyed class success in the Sydney Hobart, Sydney Gold Coast and Geelong Race Week Regattas, and his previous yacht also called Concubine, has previously been named Yacht of the Year at the CYCSA. An accolade, they hope to repeat in their new race boat.
The boat is a lighter, more powerful development of the original design, with a more aggressive performance to rating profile, making Concubine, both longer and wider. She also incorporates a retracting propulsion system and retains the moding options for weight, draft, and stability to further tune performance, prior to specific events.
"The design target IRC rating was 1.3 TCC and all of the design trials are within a couple of clicks of that target," explains Project Manager Silas Nolan. "We wanted this target rating so we would be at the fastest end of Division 2 or still quick enough to be able to hang on to the Division 1 boats, depending on the division splits at different regattas."
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What particularly strikes you as you step on board Columbia is the atmosphere. Judging from the beaming owners and crew, this is clearly a much-loved yacht, and the pride that has gone into her build is obvious. It is rather difficult to believe that she is only a few months old, and not a well-restored classic.
She is as close a replica as physically possible of the original Columbia, a 141-foot wooden Gloucester fishing schooner built in the historic A. D. Story shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1923.
Her owner, Brian D'Isernia, had a dream as a high school student to one day build a classic American fishing schooner. He narrowed his favourites down to only a few boats, until he finally settled on Columbia. "She was one of five famous American schooners that fished and raced against the Canadians, and the only one to produce serious competition to the famous Bluenose," he explains. "I chose the Columbia because she was the most beautiful and considered to be the fastest of the Americans."
Featured Brokerage
2002 M32. 190,000 EUR. Located at Lake Garda/Malcesine.
Perfectly ready to race, with tralier container, custom trolley, also prepared for long distance sailing.
Code 0, double forestay, nothing broken in the years.
Twice Centomiglia and Gorla Winner, Bol ' 7th, Blaues Band Bondensee 4th.
Sailed only on Lakes
It comes with everything except a road trailer.
Contact
Gregor Stimpfl
mobile +39 335 6254900
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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