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
Drama At The Last In Triumphant First New York - Vendee Race
The drama continued all the way to the end as the inaugural 2016 New York - Vendee (Les Sables d'Olonne) Race presented by Currency House and SpaceCode drew to a close on Monday. After the American-New Zealander, Conrad Colman (100% Natural Energy) finished 12th in the small hours of Monday morning, the last solo skipper out there, Dutch skipper, Pieter Heerema (No Way Back), had to divert to Lorient with dangerous conditions forecast to coincide with his predicted arrival in Les Sables d'Olonne.
Early on Monday morning, Colman (100% Natural Energy) was the 12th to finish. 12 of the 14 boats that started finished, with Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire) being forced to retire because of damage at the start and Heerema diverting.
Heerema, the 65-year-old IMOCA novice, had been expected into Les Sables at around 16:00 (French time), but in conjunction with the Race Office and his own technical team, diverted north to Lorient, in Brittany, where he should arrive this evening (Monday). The IMOCA60, No Way Back, is experiencing technical problems, preventing Heerema from starting the engine.
Colman crossed the finish line off Les Sables d'Olonne on Monday, June 13 at 04:35:57 (French time). Colman covered the course in 14 days 06 hours 55 minutes and 57 seconds. He finished 4 days 13 hours 58 minutes and 05 seconds behind the winner, Jeremie Beyou, (Maitre CoQ), having sailed 3,686 miles at an average speed of 10.75 knots.
* Lagraviere wins battle of the damaged three as Elies seeks revenge
After an emotionally exhausting race-within-a-race across the North Atlantic on their three powerful but damaged boats, Morgan Lagraviere (Safran), Jean-Pierre Dick (StMichel - Virbac) and Yann Elies (Queguiner - Leucemie Espoir) finished within an hour of each other in the small hours of Sunday morning. Lagraviere held on to his slender lead across a sympathetic Bay of Biscay, finishing just over 20 minutes ahead of Dick, with Elies a further 35 minutes back.
They finished 9th, 10th and 11th respectively overall in the inaugural 2016 New York - Vendee (Les Sables d'Olonne) Race presented by Currency House and SpaceCode, but that had long since stopped being their most important statistic. The three skippers had started as contenders for the podium, but the damage from collisions the morning after the start, meant all three had to head back to Newport. Both Lagraviere and Dick damaged port foils on their new generation boats and Elies damaged the port daggerboard on his older generation boat (the former Safran).
There was a more muted atmosphere on the pontoons than usual as all three stood by their boats missing an appendage; glad to be finished, but frustrated at not being able to properly unleash their machines and test them against the others in such a high-level fleet.
Father's Day Sailing Kit
Treat dad to some new sailing kit from Performance Sailing Shop on Father's Day. How about this season's hottest deck shoe, the adidas JB01, a Crewfit Sport lifejacket, or Henri Lloyd Fast-Dri t-shirt, perfect for summer sailing? Or surprise him with a Henri Lloyd Freedom jacket, giving him serious offshore and coastal protection.
If you can't decide then let him choose for himself with an eGiftCard to spend on Performance Sailing Shop's range of kit from adidas, Crewsaver, Henri Lloyd, Musto and Rooster.
www.performancesailingshop.com
Coville Sets New Distance Record
Pending confirmation from the World Sailing Speed Record Council, Thomas Coville has now entered the record books for sailing 713.8 nautical miles solo in just 24 hours.
He achieved an average speed of 29.75 knots on board Sodebo Ultim.
Coville made the record on 8 June while sailing from New York to Sodebo Ultim's home port of La Trinite-sur-Mer in France.
The skipper was returning from his Transat bakerly success. He took second place in the race on 11 May behind fellow Frenchman Francois Gabart on Macif.
Coville beats the previous record holder Armel Le Cleac'h, who travelled 682 nautical miles in 24 hours on Banque Populaire VII on 26 January 2014.
This is the third time that the 48-year-old skipper of the Ultime trimaran, Sodebo has secured the record.
His previous two records were set in 2008 on board the maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O while attempting to beat the solo around the world record.
He achieved 619.3 nautical miles on 5-6 January, and then broke that record on 31 January when he sailed 628 nautical miles solo in 24 hours.
King Of The Bay Challenge
IDRA 14 Starfish. Photo by Joe Fallon. Click on image to enlarge.
The Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC) has published the prizewinners of the first King of the Bay Challenge run as part of its annual regatta off Dun Laoghaire today.
The Gods looked favourably on the bay in the earlier part of the day with sunshine and light winds, influencing the PRO for the cruiser courses to set a shorter course to ensure everyone got a result, which they did.
The dinghy pursuit was a great success, competitors noted the tragic increased as the race progressed, heightening interest, compared to the norm, and decline of traffic as competitors spread out. In the end Starfish (IDRA 14) was the winner, followed by a bunch of Flying Fifteeens.
Starfish repeated their performance in the PY Slow race, to be crowned "king of the bay" a well deserved effort for the travelling dinghy, which is now over 60 years old, and beautifully maintained.
Results in Afloat: afloat.ie
Record Falls at ANZ Sail Fiji
Team Vodafone Sailing smashed the ANZ Sail Fiji record to become the fastest boat ever to sail from Auckland, New Zealand to Denarau, Nadi.
Simon Hull and his team crossed the finish line at Port Denarau at around 10.30pm on Monday just 59 hours 31 minutes and 3 seconds after the start on June 4.
According to the sailfiji.co.nz website, that is under 60 hours for 1,110 nautical miles race.
The previous record was three days, 20 hours, 49 minutes and 36 seconds set by Beau Geste in 2014.
The second boat to cross the finish line was Jim Delegat's Volvo 70 Giacomo.
The crew had to complete a few tacks as they made their way through the reef and eventually crossed the finish line at 9.53am on Tuesday.
Their elapsed time was two days, 22 hours, 53 minutes and 19 seconds.
Giacomo has also broken the race record with their time now going down in the history books for the monohull version. -- Zanzeer Singh, The Fiji Times
www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=357391
* A yacht that had been registered for the cruising class but was not competing has sustained damage, with one crewman killed and another missing:
Maritime New Zealand has advised in an online update at 0840hrs on Tuesday that a container ship is re-routing to assist three people aboard the battered yacht, Platino, 550 kilometres north of New Zealand.
There were five people on board the 20m Ron Holland designed yacht Platino - including owners Tory and Brent McKeogh, and Ross McKee.
A crewman was lost overboard from the 20 metre yacht and another died when hit by rigging yesterday morning.
The crew member killed has been named as Nick Saull, head of a prominent northern Auckland boatbuilding firm Brin Wilson Boatbuilders. The other crew member has not yet been publicly named.
The missing crewmember is believed to not be wearing a lifejacket, and it has not been reported by the authorities whether any rescue gear was deployed for him at the time of the incident.
Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand watch leader David Wilson told Radio NZ on Tuesday morning that the yachts boom had initially broken loose, and the wildly swinging boom had struck the backstays, bringing the rig down.
He said the mast was down and dragging in the water, pounding the hull badly. 'If that doesn't cause any damage, they should be all right. But should it punch a hole in the boat, they'll probably have to abandon ship.'
The yacht had been due to take part in this month's Auckland to Denarau, Fiji, yacht race, but had pulled out before the June 1 start because of refit delays.
Skip Novak: Something Should Be Done About The Number Of Rescues In Major Ocean Races
Describing grand-prix offshore sailors as 'idiots' continually in need of rescue (as someone did in a letter to Yachting World recently) is a tad strong in the language. Nevertheless I can see this man's point and empathise with his frustration.
The number of rescues in ocean racing, mostly in solo and double-handed events, as the boats get ever more radical, is reaching epidemic proportions. It's also not lost on this author how this seems to happen to many of the same people, time and time again.
Yes, 'great publicity for the sponsor' is the usual litany from the press and pundits . . . and on the other side a very bemused and at times outraged audience.
With a Vendee Globe fleet nearing 30 entries we can only speculate on the numbers that will be bailed out before they get to the Equator, and certainly more beyond. Historical statistics back all this up quite clearly.
But before we get too hot under the collar, it should be noted that most of these rescues are instigated and carried out by the project's shore team and paid for by the project's backers.
I was also amused to see on British television the story of a crew of two wannabe transatlantic sailors in a small cruiser having to be towed in by rescue services seven times in succession. The TV clip was telling as, when the skipper was interviewed, he seemed totally oblivious to the mayhem his crew had perpetrated.
Industry News
Henri Lloyd will be sponsoring British Skiff sailor Daniel Henderson for his 2016 racing season.
Daniel has a wealth of experience in dinghy sailing and a cabinet full of trophies including; 2011 World Champion, 2013 European Champion and 4 x National Champion, more recently Daniel has been competing in the International Moth, finishing a creditable 9th place at the 2015 European Championships.
Henri Lloyd will be kitting out Daniel in a selection of technical products including development products which will be part of the 2017 Henri Lloyd dinghy collection.
"Supporting aspiring British sailors has always been important to Henri Lloyd, their knowledge that they feed back to Henri Lloyd on the functionality and design of the technical attire in turn will benefit future Henri Lloyd customers". Paul Strzelecki, Joint CEO Henri Lloyd.
---------------------------------------------------
In three months time the International Melges 24 fleet will gather in Hyeres, France, to prepare for its 2016 European Championship and lining up to support the event as title sponsor is sailing clothing and marine fashion specialist Marinepool.
"Marinepool is pleased to become the Official Clothing Supplier of the European Melges 24 Championship in Hyeres. Marinepool will support a Melges 24 international event for the third time as the German brand was already partner of the World Championship 2010 in Tallinn, Estonia and then in Torbole, Italy in 2012. The Melges 24 Class is an ideal partner for Marinepool. It is one of the most competitive classes in the world, great fun to watch and sail, tough on the athletes and the equipment and a class where the level of competition is so high that meticulous preparation and top gear can make all the difference. No wonder that many teams in the class are using Marinepool sailing gear", explains Oli Deligans, Sales Director France.
---------------------------------------------------
On June 17, Newport, Rhode Island will be the host for more than 190 yachts and ambitious crews about to experience the 50th "Thrash to the Onion Patch." As in 2014, Pantaenius Yacht Insurance will serve as the official Bermuda Race Tracking Sponsor for this year's race.
By providing live tracking of the classic Newport Bermuda Race, Pantaenius contributes crucially to the safety and security of the racing crews, following each boat's progress from start to finish while bringing on-shore-spectators right into the middle of the action.
---------------------------------------------------
Travis Perkins has become an official event partner of the America's Cup World Series Portsmouth for the second year running.
Supporting community events at the UK stage of the global regatta, the partnership reflects the distributor's presence in the South of England and its commitment to supporting the local communities surrounding its branch and store locations.
As part of its commitment, Travis Perkins is funding the Portsmouth Sailing Project, which delivers sailing taster sessions to 1,000 local school children to inspire a new generation into sailing, while breaking down the potential barriers to young people from diverse backgrounds. The team is also working to construct a skate park for the community, further encouraging young people to try something new and prioritise their own well-being.
---------------------------------------------------
The RC44 Class Association announces global mobile provider Forbesfone as Official Telecoms Supplier to the RC44 Championship Tour.
The partnership will ensure the Tour becomes even more accessible to its global fanbase with the introduction of live GPS tracking via TracTrac at every event. Allowing fans to follow the racing from the comfort of their own home.
Forbesfone, a partner of Forbes LLC and the popular Forbes magazine, offers a global mobile roaming service. The team at Forbesfone have created the best mobile roaming product on the market designed for frequent travellers, minimising roaming costs, while delivering the highest standard of service. Hotspot hunting and mobile bill-shocks are a thing of the past with Forbesfone's global mobile service. A perfect solution for the 150 sailors and staff that travel the world as part of the RC44 Championship Tour.
Featured Brokerage
 |
 |
 |
2003 Elan 40. 80,000 EUR. Location on request.
Very well maintained Elan 40.Engine has been serviced yearly.
She was always stored inside for the winter. Very nice equipment list.
Designed by top international yacht designer Rob Humphreys, the Elan 40 succeeds in combining modern technology and expertise with a respect for tradition, elegance, and stylish good looks.
The deck layout of the Elan 40 reflects the many years of designing, building, and sailing experience that were put together to conceive this boat. The clean deck features the very best deck hardware available, while the ergonomically designed cockpit guarantees comfort for both the crew and the skipper. Down below the Elan 40 is just as thoughtfully designed and well-laid out. The high-quality joinery, flowing lines, and beautiful craftsmanship shine through in every detail.
----------------------------------------------
Nautor Swan 56 - ZINGALA. 495000 GBP.
Exceptional example of her class, a Regatta Swan with deep keel and tall carbon spar. Comes with all the go faster Kit from North as well as the whole cruising kaboodle. Also has nice blue hull.
Contact
Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679222
----------------------------------------------
Soto 53. 750,000 EUR
Fast cruising Sloop (design n. 44) made by Javier Soto Acebal who also supervised the construction of the boat.
The construction of the boat and of its installations was carried out following the protocols of the European Economic Community (EEC) in order to get CE certification. The designer Javier Soto names her the perfect cruiser-racer.
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. -- Walt Whitman
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html