Scuttlebutt Europe #1948

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 \n

Teamwork Beats The Odds
Yesterday the 30th Rolex Middle Sea Race had its first boat home and today it appears to have its winner. Andres Soriano's Alegre (GBR) looks impregnable in first place as day four draws to a close. It will take a miracle for anyone on the course to finish inside the time set by the 69-foot Mills design. By 18.30 Tuesday evening, eleven boats had completed the 606 nautical mile course, with Nikata(GBR) crossing the finish line just after five pm, followed by Nadejda (RUS) andCalipso 4 (ITA) as the sun set over Valletta. The remaining yachts still racing are spread between Favignana and Lampedusa. What was a fast ride for some has proved a painfully slow one for others. Unquestionably, this year, the prevailing weather has favoured the larger yachts in the battle for overall victory. A complete turnaround from 2008.

Andres Soriano and his crew of largely Corinthian sailors are hugely popular winners. The plaudits for their achievement have come from every quarter, particularly the pro-sailed yachts at the head of the fleet that Alegre has comprehensively beaten over the course of this year's Rolex Middle Sea Race. Robert Scheidt four-time Olympic medal winner and helm on Luna Rossa (ITA) felt Alegre had sailed an almost perfect race, "they did an amazing job. They pushed the boat very well, preserved their equipment in the strong winds and when they needed to make decisions they made the right ones." High praise indeed. For Soriano it is a dream come true. Last year he celebrated line honours victory here. This year victory is even sweeter, it is on handicap and therefore overall. In both cases he has turned the tables on some of the most competitively sailed maxis and mini-maxis in the yacht-racing world, crewed by some of the greatest exponents of offshore and inshore racing. This is no mean feat.

There is teamwork and support being shown in abundance on the course this evening as the 36 yachts still racing push on to finish the race. Leading the pack at Lampedusa is Tonnerre de Breskens III (NED). Piet Vroon's crew have had their 'make do and mend' caps on in the last twenty-four hours as Frank Gerber reported, "Boat Captain, Dallan Roos, found an issue with the steering. With the help of the boat's designer, Jason Ker and boat builder, Rinus Meeusen [both racing onboard], an allen key and a few metres of spectra lashing, we found the solution. We haven't lost much time and can still push hard."

www.rolexmiddlesearace.com

* Camper and Nicholson's Marinas have setup a blog for the Middle Sea Race:
ghmblog.com

Ten Sailors On A Mission
Today, at the Race HQ for the Jules Verne Trophy in Paris, Frederique Granado, Director of external communications at Groupama and Franck Cammas, skipper of the maxi trimaran, presented the crew who will be setting off on their latest adventure from 1st November onwards. Their mission is to break the round the world record under sail, held since 2005 by Bruno Peyron on Orange 2 with a time of 50 days and 16 hours.

The crew aboard Groupama 3 are keen to get going and rediscover the three oceans for which they have been actively preparing for several years. Back from a 7-day preparation session in the Mont Blanc massif under Eric Loizeau, Franck Cammas' crew made a stopover at the Groupama Press HQ, 21 Bld Malesherbes in Paris' 8th district, in order to present their challenge to the press.

This challenge crowns a twelve year partnership with Groupama since it was back in 1997 that the first sailing contract with Franck Cammas was signed.

A familiar face in its Paris premises, the skipper of Groupama 3 presented his crew one by one. Among its ranks are a whole score of champions of international renown, such as Stan Honey, Steve Ravussin, Lionel Lemonchois as well as Thomas Coville

"In relation to our previous attempts, four new crew members have joined us. Stan Honey is replacing Yves Parlier in the navigation, Bruno Jeanjean is replacing Yann Dekker who's aboard Alinghi, as is the case for Franck Proffit who's replaced by Lionel Lemonchois and Sebastien Audigane by Thomas Coville. On paper and above all onboard during training, it's the dream team. The remaining six crew, which might be described as the elders, have been aboard Groupama 3 since her launch in 2006: Steve Ravussin, Fred Le Peutrec, Loic Le Mignon, Ronan Le Goff and Jacques Caraes".

With ten days until the start of the stand-by period set for 1st November, the skipper of Groupama 3 can count on Sylvain Mondon, an expert router at Meteo France, to analyse the forecasts on a daily basis and detect a good window sufficiently early to enable the crew to get to the boat: "To set off in good conditions, we'll need 20 to 25 knots of NE'ly breeze, which will enable us to reach the equator in five to six days. Unfortunately we cannot anticipate how things are going to pan out after that, particularly as regards the position of the Saint Helena High. However, it's the same scenario for all the challengers".

The record to beat
Held since 2005 by Bruno Peyron on Orange 2 in 50 days 16 hours 20 minutes at an average speed of 17.89 knots. Lionel Lemonchois, Ronan Le Goff and Jacques Caraes were aboard. -- translation by Kate Jennings

Barcelona World Race Competitors’ Benefit Package
Photo by Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com. Click on image to enlarge.

Entries are currently open for the second edition of the doublehanded Barcelona World Race, which begins on December 31, 2010.

Race organisers Fundacio Navegacio Oceanica Barcelona are providing an extensive benefits package for IMOCA 60 competitors who pre-enter before December 31 2009, intended to reduce costs by an estimated 20 per cent and maximize sponsor returns. These include return shipping from Guadeloupe to Barcelona for competitors in the Route du Rhum, logistics areas and free team and guest accommodation, as well as a spectator boat for start day.

Race organizers will also provide targeted advertising for each entry in their own country or preferred territory.

Full details, part of the preliminary Notice of Race, can be found at www.barcelonaworldrace.org

Clipper Ventures Publishes Eco 60 Rules
Clipper Ventures today published the inaugural rules and regulations in relation to the Eco 60, a new class of offshore racing boats who will compete for the first time in the VELUX 5 OCEANS 2010-11. The rules, developed over the last 12 months by the Race Management and a dedicated team of experts, will ensure the safety of the skippers and the boats racing in their own competitive fleet, as well as introduce regulations to reduce costs and encourage a sustainable future for the class.

The Eco 60 Class, open to 60 foot racing yachts launched before January 2003 that meet the class rules for safety and stability, is designed to broaden the reach of singlehanded offshore racing. The Eco 60 Class is intended to provide a low cost platform for sailors with limited budgets to break into the world of singlehanded professional sailing, whilst also encouraging skippers to embrace renewable energy sources. The Open 60 Class will be open to all Open 60s launched after January 2003 and will race alongside the Eco 60 Class over the five ocean sprints.

The foundations of the class, which developed from the first BOC Challenge in 1982, illustrate the established reliability and safety of the boats that fall within the Eco 60 category. In the Vendée Globe 2008, of the 30 boats that crossed the start line, seven fall within the Eco 60 Class. Of those seven, all but one successfully made it back to Les Sables D'Olonne to finish the singlehanded circumnavigation of the planet, comprising the majority of the final eleven finishers.

To download the full Eco 60 Rules document, please visit www.velux5oceans.com

Transat 6.50: Thomas Ruyant Should Arrive on Thursday Morning
Incredible Charlie Dalin (Cherche sponsor-charliedalin.com)! Stalled on the direct route and concentrating on the progress of his boat, Charlie passed Francisco Lobato (ROFF TMN) yesterday and continues to gain miles. 30.98 miles ahead at 3 pm positioning. The cavalry behind him is led by the Portuguese that must limit damages even if he has more than a 22 hours advantage thanks to the first stage.

Ricardo Apolloni (Ma Vie pour Mapei) can be happy now... Okay, he has lost some miles on the leader but he learned today that he is the father of a little Italian boy. Ricardo was 44 miles from the leader at 3 pm. Behind the situation remains the same than yesterday... Same players, same motivation: Fabien Sellier (Surfrider Foundation) is in contact with Mathis Prochasson (Manupoki-Avico), Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian), Xavier Macaire (Masoco Bay)... If they continue like this, the Bay of All Saints will be full of Pogo 2s. Hats off all the same to Matthieu Galland (Groupe Setec) who is 10th and remains in contact with his Super Calin.

Overspeed mode in the last 24 hours for the main protagonists of the race, the records of distance sailed in 24 hours are impressive. The leader Thomas Ruyant (Faber France) yesterday sailed 262.5 miles at 10.5 knots average speed. Stephane Le Diraison (Cultison Marins sans frontiere), who clings to the leading triumvirate, sailed 265 miles at 11 knots average. HP Schipman (Maison de l'avenir Urbatys) did 259.4 miles at 10.8 knots. And Francis Cuinet (Plan jardin) definitely does very well on his plan Bouvet 2002 with a beautiful day at 240.7 miles (10 knots avg.).

Ranking at 3 pm, on Tuesday the 20th of October

Series:
1. Charlie Dalin (cherche sponsor-charliedalin.com) 660.47 miles from the finish
2. Francisco Lobato (Roff TMN) 30.98 miles from the leader
3. Ricardo Apolloni ( Ma Vie pour Mapei) 44.37
4. Fabien Sellier (Surfrider Foundation) 82.42
5. Mathis Prochasson (Manupoki-Avico) 86.2

Prototypes:
1. Thomas Ruyant (Faber France) 394.83 miles from the finish
2. Henri-Paul Schipman (maison de l'avenir Urbatys) 54.87
3. Bertrand Delesne (Entreprendre Durablement) 74.26
4. Stephane le Diraison (Cultisol Marins sans frontiere) 82.78
5. Francois Cuinet (Plan Jardin) 98.04

www.transat650.org

Newport By Dubarry: As U2 Say "Get On Your Boots"!
If you're out day racing, you'll want to keep your feet dry and planted on deck but, unless the navigator gets it spectacularly wrong, you'll not be going round Cape Horn, so you don't need a full offshore boot. The Newport, new from Dubarry, has all the grip, comfort and durability you'd expect from the people behind the legendary Shamrock & Ultima boots, but it's lighter and more flexible, making those glamorous rockstar dashes to the foredeck quicker and slicker.

LiveLoveGoSailing www.dubarry.com/marine.cfm

GGYC / BMW Oracle File Legal Brief to Invalidate RAK Venue
GGYC has served a reply brief and exhibits on SNG and filed them with the NY Court. The latest filing is a point by point rebuttal of SNG's opposition papers to their motion asking the Court to invalidate RAK as the venue and return the AC 33 Match venue to Valencia in February, 2010. The hearing on this venue motion, and the motion for fair rules previously briefed (and papers posted below), is Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 11am, Supreme Court of New York County, 60 Centre St., New York City. -- from the BMW Oracle team.

Supporting documents at www.ggyc.org

Download the brief:
www.scuttlebutteurope.com/pdf/venueissue.pdf

New Title Sponsor Negotiations Underway for the Extreme Sailing Series
OC Events, owner and organiser of the award-winning Extreme Sailing Series, today announces its title sponsor, iShares, has decided to end its association with the European Circuit due to a change in company ownership. OC Events has confirmed this will not adversely affect the European Circuit for 2010 or the recently launched inaugural Extreme Sailing Series Asia 2009/10.

Mark Turner, CEO of OC Group that includes OC Events, commented: "Disappointing of course, but this is the world of commercial sponsorship - the Extreme Sailing Series concept will continue to be developed in Europe next year, along with all the stakeholders that have shared the success of 2009 – teams, sponsors and host venues. We have built up a benchmark sailing sports entertainment product, at the highest sporting level, providing excellent returns for all concerned. The European circuit has gathered fantastic momentum with ten top teams competing in close confines in Europe's top venues and we plan to grow this a great deal further in 2010. Fortunately the event now has many stakeholders and many different revenue streams, so while we will obviously bring in a new title sponsor for 2010, things are very different to 2007 when the title sponsor represented nearly all the income. We have team sponsors, host venues and other event partners already contractually committed through as far as 2012. The Extreme Sailing Series will be back in 2010, and we plan for it to be even bigger and better."

iShares signed a two year renewal at the beginning of this year, with a 10 day window exit clause following the final event of the season. BlackRock Inc acquired iShares in August this year.

Extreme Sailing Series Europe Vital Statistics

2009 Venues:
Venice, Italy
Hyeres-TPM, France
Cowes, England
Kiel, Germany
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Almeria, Spain
Estimated number of spectators:
2007 57,000
2008 150,000
2009 200,000

www.ocgroup.com

Compact Mirror and Tudor Manbag
Artefacts recovered from the remains of the Tudor warship Mary Rose but never put on display owing to lack of space show that some of the men on board the flagship of Henry VIII's navy possessed luxuries that would be considered excessive even by modern sailors.

A manicure set, a case for a vanity mirror, a "manbag" and a thigh boot are some of 18,000 objects that have remained in storage since they were recovered from the sea bed almost 30 years ago because the present museum in Portsmouth is too small.

The public will get their first opportunity to see them in 2012, provided that the Mary Rose Trust can raise the final 1 million it needs from a public appeal for the 35 million project.

Rear-Admiral John Lippiett, the chief executive of the trust, invited The Times to see objects that are currently kept in carefully controlled conditions in a storeroom near the museum. "This is one of the thigh-length boots," he said, pointing towards an unwrapped leather sleeve sewn to a well-preserved sole. "One would rather expect that this was an officer's because of the quality. You can see the lining, and the work involved in how it was stitched. A lot of the Tudor stuff was about fashion, for those who could afford it."

Andy Elkerton, the collections manager, said that the boot showed that style was important to the officer class. "The thigh boot is impractical for any work," he said. "He is going to put them on to look fancy. It was too finely made for anything heavy duty. The Tudors were bling merchants. They thought: if you've got it, flaunt it."

Admiral Lippiett pointed to a folded and flattened piece of leather with holes punctured at one end. "This is our manbag. It is a sort of handbag. There is a drawstring here so he could draw it tight and hold it by the top.

"And this little leather case would have had a mirror," he said, indicating a circular setting for a piece of glass that did not survive 400 years on the sea floor. "It is like a compact mirror. Vain lot, sailors."

The present museum displays only 6 per cent of the 19,000 objects found since the wreck was raised in 1982. Its replacement would house 70 per cent.

When the new museum opens, the Mary Rose will be the only 16th-century warship on display anywhere in the world. She sank in the Solent in 1545 while attempting to repel the French Navy, taking all but 30 of the 515 men on board with her. The reason for her loss remains a mystery, but historians believe that she was overloaded and a series of factors may have caused her to lean over far enough to allow water to pour in through holes for the cannon.

www.timesonline.co.uk

West Kirby Sailing Club Retain Their Team Racing Crown
Click on image for photo gallery.

West Kirby Sailing Club shot their way to victory for the second year running this weekend (October 17-18) when they successfully defended their Youth Champion title at the RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championships held at Farmoor Reservoir Oxford. And with a real shake up in standard throughout the fleet the weekend saw a brand new Junior champion team crowned 'Anglian Express' - a combination of Cadet sailors from Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

Competing in Fireflies, West Kirby sailed a great first day landing them in the top Gold A fleet for the second champion deciding day. Pulling off a faultless performance of five wins out of five races on day two the team, Cameron Douglas (16), Sam Robinson (17), Ben Robinson (15), Sarah Lombard (15), Sophie Shepherd (15) and Charlie Fitzgerald (15), beat every contender to claim their second title in fine style.

The battle for second place in the under 19 youth fleet was very tightly fought with Parkstone YC's 'Team A' and local team 'Oxford/420' battling it out behind the champions finishing with three race wins apiece. Having beaten Oxford/420, Parkstone were awarded second place with Oxford/420 picking up third.

With some strong teams in the RS Feva under 16 junior line-up, including 2008 champions from Wales, the competition in the fleet for the 24 Junior teams was always going to fierce. 'Anglian Express' however took it in their stride overcoming a difficult first day and powering through to victory on the second, leaving the 2008 champions to fourth place.

The 2010 RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championship will take place at Oxford Sailing Club for the third year running with the Championship scheduled for 16-17 October 2010.

For full results visit www.ryaracingevents.org.uk

Letters To The Editor - \n 
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Colin Curtis: Thank you Daniel Charles, as he stated Lar's Bergstrom and Sven Olaf Ridder had been playing around with wing keels TEN years before they were ever put on a Twelve Meter Sailboat. Sven had a big part to play with winglets on aircraft wing tips.

After Lar's death I was one of the people involved with sorting out all his bits and pieces, really funny how many inventions these pair were never thanked for, well maybe one of the only things was the Windex mast head indicator, and of course the B&R rig found on all Hunters love them or hate them they work... ask Steve Pettingale.

Sorting through all the old drawings we had drawings on Hulls- Keels -Winglets -Hydrofoils- Ram air slots as on Route Sixty Six, we had drawings out the Ying Yang, sorry to say a lot of these ended up in the trash. But a lot of stuff went up to the Herreshoff Marine Museum for all to see.

Ten years is a long time in yachting and all these drawings were out there for all to see, it only needed a guy like Ben to put it on a presige boat with a lot of media coverage. History states that Ben Lexen invented the Wing Keel.. "after all he has the Patent", but a lot of people had been playing with this idea. Well done Ben for using it. Maybe he was the MAN. Maybe it was Lar's and Sven, maybe it was Peter Van Oosanen, or maybe it was Tom Schnackenberg's spinnakers... but it all came together and changed history .

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The Last Word
The most exquisite paradox... as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible. -- Ram Dass

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Scuttlebutt Europe #1948 - 21 October

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