In This Issue
Eivind Melleby and Joshua Revkin, 2017 Star World Champions | Robertson defends his title at GKSS Match Cup Sweden | 100 Days to The Nations Trophy | Mascalzone Latino, Be Wild and Airis New ORC World Champions | Too much to digest | Soak Racing crowned J/70 UK National Champions | Your Fastnet Race starts here. Book for the Pre-race party | French America's Cup team refused to help Team New Zealand | ...And that's just ONE of the reasons why ETNZ tossed the Louis Vuitton Bags | Audi J/70 World Championship: 173 Teams Registered | Featured Brokerage
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
Eivind Melleby and Joshua Revkin, 2017 Star World Champions
The final race was held in a 8 to 16 knot Westerly under sunny skies. The showdown between Eivind Melleby and Lars Grael materialized as Grael took the early lead and Melleby struggled to stay in the top 10.
Hubert Merkelbach, Diego Negri, Reinhard Schmidt and Johannes Polgar all over took Grael while Melleby moved up to 8th. In the end the math worked in favor of the 45 year old Norwegian and his 27 year old crew Josh Revkin of the USA. They are the new Gold Star winners. The also won the newly awarded Paul Elvstrom trophy for the team that won had the best score without a discard.
Trine Elvstrom, daughter and Olympic crew in Los Angeles in the Tornado class, presented the trophy. Paul Elvstrom won his second Star World Championship 50 years ago in Copenhagen.
Danny and I had a decent race finishing 31st. Our combined weight (390lbs) is just too light to be competitive. There is a reason there is a maximum weight limit (about 440lbs) in the Star Class. Weight is fast! We were slow upwind and that is especially tough on the first leg of the course right after the start. Danny had us going very fast downwind but not enough to compensate. Our goals for the week were to sail together, have fun and get Danny some big fleet Star racing experience... in that order. We did all that. We spent a bit more money on masts than we hoped to, but that's racing! I think Danny truly likes sailing the Star and will be racing for years. I think I may have done my last race as a Star crew. Putting it politely, my body is a little bit sore. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com
Final top ten:
1. Eivind Melleby Joshua Revkin, NOR, 28 points
2. Lars Grael / Samuel Goncalves, BRA, 34
3. Reinhard Schmidt / Paul Sradnick, GER, 31
4. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi, ITA, 29
5. Hubert Merkelbach / Brian Fatih, GER, 47
6. Facundo Olezza Bazan / Juan Pablo Engelhard, ARG, 45
7. Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada, USA, 41
8. Johannes Polgar / Markus Koy, GER, 53
9. Jack Jennings Frithjof Kleen, USA, 58
10. Thomas Allart Kilian Weise, NED, 86
Robertson defends his title at GKSS Match Cup Sweden
Marstrand, Sweden: After beating Pieter-Jan Postma's Sailing Team NL in this morning's semifinals, Phil Robertson and his CHINAone NINGBO crew went on win the final of GKSS Match Cup Sweden, dispatching Taylor Canfield's US One Sailing Team. This repeated the Kiwi team's victory on the Marstrand Arena in 2016, against the same opponent, but this time with a more emphatic 3-0 scoreline.
Racing took place with the wind building into the mid-teens, causing the nimble M32 catamarans to light up. More stable conditions compared to yesterday resulted in more boundary-to-boundary racing, while picking the right marks to round was vital to ensure sailing in the best pressure.
In today's final, Robertson's starting seemed in a different league. "We have trained in tight starting and it probably played into our hands a little bit. We were getting off the line pretty well and managed to keep our lead. But was close and tough - Taylor did a good job."
Canfield and his US One Sailing Team had overcome Ian Williams and GAC Pindar team 3-1 in the semifinals to gain their berth in the final (while Williams went on to win the Petit Final against Postma). This he had achieved in such surgical fashion that many had him as favourite for winning overall.
The M32s are now staying in Marstrand ready for next week's World Championship fleet racing when 17 of the one design catamarans will be competing on Marstrand Fjord.
100 Days to The Nations Trophy
The Nations Trophy is reminiscent of events popular during one of the golden ages of international yacht racing. The Admiral's Cup in 1957 proved a catalyst for number of nation versus nation team events and, even as trends in yacht racing have changed, the sentiment that nation versus nation competition should feature strongly has never wavered. Come October, anticipated entries from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA will hopefully demonstrate that The Nations Trophy is playing its part in reinvigorating this element of sailing competition.
Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!
Contact for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com
Mascalzone Latino, Be Wild and Airis New ORC World Champions
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Race managers led by PRO Giancarlo Crevatin made a bold decision to hold as many races as the light air conditions would allow today, which was two on one course area and only one on another. This meant Classes A and C had two races to determine the podium finishers, while Class B had only one race...at least this would get to the seven needed to trigger a discard.
On the strength of one race win and consistency with no finish worse that 4th place, Vincenzo Onerato and his Mascalzone Latino team racing his Cookson 50 have won the ORC World Championship for Class A, with last year's winner - Vadim Yakimenko's Russo-French team on Freccia Rossa - earning Silver medals.
In Class B the leader through most of the week was Diego Zanco's Croatian team on his X-41 Nube, and a discard of their 16th place in the second offshore race looked like it would keep them on top with a reasonable result in the last race. But disaster struck: a 17th place in the race made them keep their 16th and take them out of contention for a podium finish.
Meanwhile a team that had never been in the top ranks due to a 38th place in the second offshore race but had been quietly collecting excellent scores of 2-1-1-2 in the inshore races, and a final 1st place in the last race, was now vaulted to the top with the discard. Renzo Grotessi's Swan 42 Be Wild and his CSQ2 Sailing Team are the new ORC World Champions in Class B.
Class C was similar to Class A, with many contenders, some large point discards and two races to determine the ultimate champions. At the beginning of the week in the offshore races some perennial and proven favorites at past ORC championship events looked strong, but as the inshore racing progressed other teams started rising to the top, and with some heavy point discards waiting until Race 7, these teams were poised to pounce today.
And the team that not only rose quickly to the top but also eliminated any doubt by winning both of today's races was Cesare Bressan's modified Melges 32 Airis, the new ORC World Champions in Class C. This team has been on the podium at previous World Championships, namely being Bronze medal winners in 2012 in Helsinki sailing their GP 42 of the same name, but this is the first time they have been able to claim the top prize.
Too much to digest
Wholescale change is afoot in the Volvo Ocean Race following Mark Turner's appointment as CEO almost a year ago. The new measures, set to be implemented for the race after next are colossal, way, way more than merely adopting a new boat.
The latest initiatives for 'Volvo Ocean Race - the next decade' are intended to increase the value of the event to all its stakeholders: sailors purely focussed on winning, team owners, sponsors and partners, host cities, as well of course as the race's owners, Volvo Group and the Volvo Car Group.
Following debate about whether the replacement for the one-design VO65 would be monohull or multihull, the former was finally confirmed. After a lengthy tender process French naval architect Guillaume Verdier, one half of the partnership responsible for the last two Vendee Globe winners, won the contract to design the new boat. Yet to be named, this will be a foil-assisted, partially flying, canting-keel monohull. Likely to have more keel, more rig and more structure than an Imoca 60, the new boat's design is aimed purely at the Volvo Ocean Race.
However... by coincidence Turner says the platform has ended up being much the same size as an Imoca: 'Given how foiling technology is evolving, bigger is no longer necessarily better.'
So they decided to make it possible to transform the new boat into a Vendee Globe-compliant Imoca 60 if required. But Turner stresses this was decidedly a secondary feature - the brief was 'the right boat for the Volvo Ocean Race'.
Full article in the July issue of Seahorse: www.seahorsemagazine.com
Soak Racing crowned J/70 UK National Champions
Ian Wilson's Soak Racing (RSrnYC) are the 2017 J/70 UK National Champions, after a nerve racking final day of racing in The Solent.
Race 8 started in a light southwesterly breeze with a Spring tide running against the air flow. Soak Racing got a bad start, and were at best mid-fleet at the first top mark. Soak Racing gybed early to get into the full strength of the tide, and looked to take advantage of a big wind shift to the south. However, as the wind veered, it weakened and by the time the fleet got to the first bottom mark, it became evident that the race could not be deemed fair, and PRO Simon van der Byl, called for an abandonment of not only the race but an end to the regatta.
Soak Racing were the victors by eight points from last year's winners, Calascione & Ripard's Harlequin (RYS). Martin Dent's Jelvis was third and winner of the Mixed Crew fleet. The top Corinthian team was Patrick Liardet's Cosmic (RSrnYC), and Jack Davies' Yeti (RSYC) was the top youth team. Soak Racing were also the Masters Champions.
Top ten final results:
1. Soak Racing, Ian Wilson, GBR, Royal Southern YC, 15 points
2. Harlequin, Calascione Ripard, GBR, Royal Yacht Squadron, 23
3. Jelvis, Martin Dent , GBR, 26
4. Cosmic, Patrick Liardet, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 34
5. Phan Jeremy Thorp, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 37
6. Darcey Clive Bush, Chichester Yacht Club, GBR, 46
7. Brutus Charles Thompson, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 49
8. Yeti Jack Davies, Royal Solent Yacht Club, GBR, 49
9. Baby J Antony Esse, RTYC, GBR, 51
10. F'in Majic 2 Simon Childs, Hayling Island SC, GBR, 53
www.rys.org.uk/regattas/j70-nationals/
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French America's Cup team refused to help Team New Zealand
The French turned their backs on Team New Zealand hours after the dramatic capsize, then tried to charge $468,500 for any help, before abruptly withdrawing the offer altogether, claims Team NZ's billionaire backer.
In an exclusive interview with the Weekend Herald this week, Emirates Team New Zealand principal, Matteo de Nora revealed what he says was Groupama Team France's response to ETNZ's request for help after the pitch-pole that left the Kiwi boat in tatters moments before the start of race two in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series.
Within two hours of Aotearoa being lifted out of the water, CEO Grant Dalton asked the French for equipment and spare parts to get the boat fixed in time for the next day's race.
Team France had already been eliminated from the challenger semifinals and were therefore out of the America's Cup.
De Nora says the French refused almost immediately. Then came a request for a payment of 300,000 Euros ($468,500) if the French were to consider helping.
Before TNZ had time to consider the payment, and search for funding, the offer was abruptly withdrawn. De Nora wonders if Oracle heard about the deal and intervened.
Neither Groupama nor Oracle responded to requests for comment.
In hindsight, de Nora said, the rejection made Team New Zealand stronger.
"After the French said 'no', the team was united. I can tell you the secretaries were using hair dryers to dry the boat, the cooks, security, everybody was working round the clock."
The more people who turned up to help, the stronger the determination became.
www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11885899
...And that's just ONE of the reasons why ETNZ tossed the Louis Vuitton Bags
Remember this?
...In the most Kiwi bloke display ever, our Team New Zealand boys have tossed their $3000 prize Louis Vuitton bags into a crowd of eager fans.
After winning the America's Cup, the team were presented with limited edition Louis Vuitton Sac Polochon bags, that appeared to be full of Louis Vuitton goodies.
Before the sponsors' photo could even be taken, members of the team began hurling their bags into the crowd, who grappled for the pricey pieces of history...
... Our friend Laszlo Toth in Bermuda reveals that while all other teams were given full invitations to the Louis Vuitton Ball, Team New Zealand only got one ticket for a single team member plus a partner. That, and the French refusal to help as noted above, put anything French as unwanted in the Kiwi camp.
Audi J/70 World Championship: 173 Teams Registered
Porto Cervo, Italy: Registration has closed with a record breaking fleet of 173 teams from 25 different nations for the upcoming J/70 World Championship that will be organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of Title Sponsor Audi and Official Event Sailmaker Quantum Sails.
The chance of competing in one of the world's most famous areas for yachting has been a contributing factor in the even-better-than-expected turnout for this popular One Design event. J/70s are increasingly popular thanks to the J/70 builder's promotion and to the constant efforts on the part of the J/70 International Class Association and the single national J/70 associations.
Amongst the many names present the current World Champion, Joel Ronning owner/helmsman of Catapult. Another name to watch is that of the current European Champion, the 24-year-old Claudia Rossi who will be helming her Petite Terrible.
A record fleet will be racing in Porto Cervo from September 12th to 16th Porto Cervo, July 6, 2017.
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The Last Word
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