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

Williams Wins M32 Battle Of Aarhus
Aarhus, Denmark: They say nothing is over till it's over - and never has that proven more true than by what went down at the final day of the Scandinavian Series event in the city of Aarhus today. British Ian Williams claims the top spot at even points with Swedish Nicklas Dackhammar after an unbelievable final race. 

Dackhammar had started the day with strong sailing in the initial three practice races that the Racing Committee put through due to shifty conditions around the course in the city harbor. In the first race to count in the overall scoring, the Swedish skipper crossed the finish line first after steady sailing around the course in front of top rival, Williams.   On the final mark rounding of the second and final race of the day, Williams went into duel with Dackhammar giving Holmberg time to catch up with the two. In perfect timing the Brit then put his boat into speed again, once Holmberg was close enough to be in front of Dackhammar, but behind Williams. The only way possible for GAC Pindar to top the podium by being at a point tie with Dackhammar - and have the better score in the final race.

The third spot of the event went to Danish Nicolai Sehested, while the other local team, Trifork, ended up fourth but as the overall winner of the final day. Swedish Måns Holmberg ended the regatta in fifth.

The Battle of Aarhus was the third stop of the M32 Scandinavian Series with the next event coming up in Helsinki from September 1st till September 3rd.

Results - Aarhus Leaderboard
1. GAC Pindar (GBR) - Ian Williams - 25 points
2. Essiq Racing Team (SWE) - Nicklas Dackhammar - 25
3. TREFOR Racing (DEN) - Nicolai Sehested - 38
4. Trifork (DEN) - Jes Gram-Hansen - 40
5. TyphoonX Racing (SWE) - Mans Holmberg - 42

m32series.com

New World Record Around The Isle Of Wight
Lloyd Thornburg's Phaedo3 set a new incredible World Record time of 2 hours 4 minutes and 14 seconds around the Isle of Wight on Friday afternoon. Now the MOD70 holds both the World Record and Race Record. The race record from this years The boat itself held the old World record of 2 hours 21 minutes and 25 seconds, but that is when is was "Foncia" and being skippered bi Michel Desjoyeaux. 

(Record still to be ratified by the WSSRC)

Crew onboard for the race: Brian Thompson, Miles Seddon, Robert Greenhalgh, Peter Greenhalgh, Pete Cumming, Sam Goodchild, Fletcher Kennedy, Justin Slattery. Onboard media; Rachel Fallon-Langdon

www.teamphaedo.com

12th Palermo-Montecarlo Kicks Off With Record Attendance
Midday Sunday 21st August, 57 boats took the start of the 500nm offshore Palermo-Montecarlo in the Gulf of Mondello, Palermo, Sicily, in 8 knots of wind.

It's a record attendance that includes six Maxi-yachts from 11 countries and a big success for Circolo della Vela Sicilia who, with the Yacht Club de Monaco and Yacht Cub Costa Smeralda, organise this race retracing an ancient route taken by Phoenician ships. After the Volcano Race and Giraglia Rolex Cup, it's the fourth and final stage of the Mediterranean Maxi Offshore Challenge 2016 on the International Maxi Association (IMA) calendar.

Rambler 88 skippered by four-time-in-a-row winner of the America's Cup, Brad Butterworth, led the fleet ahead, their challenge being to cover the distance in under 47 hours 46 minutes and 48 seconds, a record set last year by the 100' Esimit Europa 2 of YCM member Igor Simcic, skippered by Jochen Schümann, four-time winner in real time of this event. ‎

Among other favourites in corrected time is the J111 Yacht Club de Monaco, with Juan Alberto Casalone‎, ‎Martina Petrella and ‎Rémi Piazza trained by the YCM's Sports Section, supervised by Jacopo Carrain (skipper), with Pietro d'Ali on tactics, Enrico Zennaro and Filippo La Mantia (mainsail trimmers) and Giuseppe Leonardi (Number 1).

The YCM will also be following Hessel and Haico Halbesma sailing with Robeena Evensen (Challenger), and Gordon Kay, on Infinity.

The first boats are expected in Monaco from Tuesday 23rd August.

www.ycm.org

Swuzzlebubble Wins Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Cup
Strong winds and huge seas meant that racing had to be cancelled on the final day of the Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Cup in Falmouth. Race Officer Jack Penty met with the skippers at 08.30 to review the situation, but it was clear conditions were essentially unsailable and the entire fleet unanimously agreed not to risk their historic little yachts.

That decision confirmed that the 1977 Bruce Farr designed Swuzzlebubble sailed by owner/helm Greg Peck, Steve George, Mike Relling, Kevin George, Mike Grieg, Andy Yeomans and James Dodd had won the 2016 Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Cup.

It was an extremely had fought series with many of the races being won and lost by mere seconds.  Ultimately Swuzzlebubble's winning margin was just five and a half points from Paul Pullen's 1986 Andrieu designed Miss Whiplash, with Ireland's Jonny Swan and his team aboard Harmony, designed by Rob Humphreys in 1980, in third place.

Winning the Corinthian Championship for the first all amateur crew was Jonathan Cunliffe's 1985 Berrett/Finot designed Emiliano Zapata, which finished in eighth place overall.

The trophy for the first production boat went to Richard and Ursula Hollis's beloved 1985 Jeppersen X95 Crakajax.

www.halftonclass.co.uk

adidas Poole Week Gets Off To A Roaring Start
adidas Poole Week was arranged to start this year just as the games in Rio were finishing. After all, with the entry list topping 130 boats, the racing takes place in the stunning waters of Poole Harbour and Poole Bay.

In true Poole Week tradition, it all started with a day of memorable sailing. Just as last year, the forecast of blustery conditions had put off many of the usual Sunday boaters, so the competitors had the harbour largely to themselves.The lack of distraction from weekend traffic was welcome, given a south-westerly wind that gusted to over 25 knots at times, kicking up a substantial chop and also flicking left and right in a way that turned some of the beats into rather one-sided affairs.

The Flying Fifteens - one of the largest fleets with 26 entrants - were dealt a massive left shift in their first race, which also had to end with an extra windward leg after the finishing mark decided it had had enough of bobbing up and down in the same place and detached itself to go and explore the harbour.

With the three top Fifteens from last year all present again, it was no surprise to see them engaging in their own private battles at the head of the fleet. After the day's two races it was Patrick Keats and Richard Whitworth who emerged on top. A second and a first put them one point clear of Graham and Ben Scroggie, with the 2015 winners, Bob Alexander and Huw Willetts, a further three points adrift in third.

Sharing the committee boat start line in Poole Harbour's Top Triangle were the Lasers, whose third race started after everyone else had headed for home. By the finish they had been out for over three hours; a true test of endurance in those conditions. Having been narrowly pipped in the overall results last year, Roger Hakes started as he hopes to continue, counting two firsts to Andrew Hartley's first and second. As with the Flying Fifteens, the 2015 winner didn't have such a good time: Bob Cudmore finished the day in third. Notably, the Laser Radial fleet - racing on the same course but with their own results - made up almost half the total number of Lasers, and some of the leading Radials were keeping the full-rig front-runners looking over their shoulders.

Full results on www.pooleweek.org

RIO 2016: An Open Letter To All Medal-Less Olympians
Dear Olympians Without Medals,

Trust me, it will get better again soon. Right now, you are surrounded by the five rings of Olympic circus, where everyone you meet is a member of the same elite club. And you may be feeling like a second-class citizen, or worse still like a loser, because you don't have anything shiny hanging around your neck and you weren't standing on that damned podium.

But in a few days, you will leave the Olympic world and come back down to earth again. And almost instantly you'll realize that, outside of that shiny five-ring bubble, your new status as an Olympian is incredible all by itself. More people get struck by lightning than get to do what you've just done. It's special. You're special.

Some of you will start training again right away for 2020. Some of you will take a break and then jump in again, deciding that the adrenaline rush is worth all the hard work and sacrifice—and maybe feeling that you and the Olympics have unfinished business. And many of you will decide, after reclaiming some perspective, that another four years of total devotion to your sport is too big a sacrifice: that instead you want to pursue a more stable career, or a steady relationship, or even just the daily pleasures of a less nomadic and less goal-driven life.

No matter what you decide to do next, being an Olympian will help you achieve your next dream too. Yup, it's a great thing to have on your resumé. But besides the opportunities it can bring in sponsorship, or job offers, or just bragging rights at your favorite local hangout, competing at such a high level has already taught you more about yourself and what you need to do your best than you realize right now.

Carole Newman Cronin's full letter on her blog:
carolnewmancronin.com

Noroton Yacht Club Dominates Hinman Trophy Team Race
Newport, R.I.: Sailors often say it's the little things that make the difference between winning and lose. This was the case for Noroton Yacht Club as they won the Invitational Team Race Regatta for the Commodore George R. Hinman Masters Trophy for the second straight year, though maybe not in the way you'd expect.

"We have to thank the espresso beans," said team captain Scott MacLeod. "We all have chocolate covered espresso beans before each start. It's our performance-enhancing drugs."

Hosted at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, the Hinman Trophy is one of the most prestigious masters-level team racing events in the United States. The racing took place on Narragansett Bay in the New York Yacht Club's fleet of 21 identical Sonar sailboats, which were designed by NYYC member Bruce Kirby, with each crewed by three or four sailors. Skippers must be at least 45 years of age and each crew member must be at least 40 years of age.

While first place seemed a foregone conclusion, the battle for second was anything but. Six teams started the final day's Gold Round Robin within two points of second place. Southern Yacht Club had the best day of any of the teams fighting for second, but that was not enough to overcome the two-point deficit they started with. St. Francis Yacht Club took second with Southern Yacht Club in third.

Final Results
1. Noroton Yacht Club, Darien, CT, 21 points
2. St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, CA, 14
3. Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans, LA, 13
4. New York Yacht Cub, NYC, 11
5. Texas Corinthian Yacht Club, Kemah, TX, 11
6. Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Oyster Bay, NY, 10
7. Eastport Yacht Club, Annapolis, MD, 10
8. Riverside Yacht Club, Riverside, CT, 4
9. Indian Harbor Yacht Club, Greenwich, CT, 2

nyyc.org

Updated Analysis Suggests Atlantic Hurricane Season To Be Stronger Than Expected
In its updated 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, NOAA calls for a higher likelihood of a near-normal or above-normal season, and decreases the chance of a below-normal season to only 15 percent, from the initial outlook issued in May. The season is still expected to be the most active since 2012.

Forecasters now expect a 70-percent chance of 12-17 named storms, of which 5-8 are expected to become hurricanes, including 2-4 major hurricanes. The initial outlook called for 10-16 named storms, 4-8 hurricanes, and 1-4 major hurricanes. The seasonal averages are 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.

"We've raised the numbers because some conditions now in place are indicative of a more active hurricane season, such as El Nino ending, weaker vertical wind shear and weaker trade winds over the central tropical Atlantic, and a stronger west African monsoon," said Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "However, less conducive ocean temperature patterns in both the Atlantic and eastern subtropical North Pacific, combined with stronger wind shear and sinking motion in the atmosphere over the Caribbean Sea, are expected to prevent the season from becoming extremely active."

"Given these competing conditions, La Nina, if it develops, will most likely be weak and have little impact on the hurricane season," added Bell. NOAA announced that La Nina is slightly favored to develop during the hurricane season.

www.bwsailing.com

Nelson's Dockyard Officially A World Heritage Site
Nelson's Dockyard and related archaeological sites are now a World Heritage Site.

The dockyard consists of a group of Georgian-style naval buildings and structures in a walled enclosure that served as a significant strategic position for the British Navy in the early 1700s.

Antigua and Barbuda's UNESCO representative, Dr. Reginald Murphy announced on Facebook that the prestigious designation was given this morning at the UNESCO meeting underway in Istanbul.

Dr Murphy says the approval was received with much excitement by world community representatives including, China, Panama, Spain, Argentina, Thailand and Kuwait as well as fellow Caribbean nations - Cuba, Jamaica and Barbados.

antiguaobserver.com

Featured Brokerage
Infiniti 53. 1,900,000 Euros.

The Infiniti 53, a new 53 foot canting keelboat suited for exceptional performance both offshore and inshore. The new yacht will feature a canting keel, gybing centerline daggerboard and leverages the dramatic performance advantages available through the DSS system. The design intends to revolutionize the performance of yachts in the mid-50 foot range. It will be the first Farr-designed boat featuring DSS foils.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Harmen Rockler
Farr Yacht Sales

+1 410 267 6550

2001 Volvo 60 - SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE. 129,000 Euros. Located in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Turn Key charter business with a good revenue stream. Very seriously for sale and open to genuine offers.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679222

Max Fun 35. 58.000 Euros.

Fast boat with nice accomodation, very well maintained

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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

The Last Word
What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -- Christopher Hitchens

Editorial and letter submissions to

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