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Scuttlebutt Europe
Scuttlebutt Europe

Issue #2141 - 23 July

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

Quantum Racing and Madrid - Caser Seguros Lead in Barcelona
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Medcup Barcelona Quantum Racing (USA) emerged as overall leaders of the Camper Regatta - Conde de Godo Trophy - Barcelona after opening with two fifth places and a second on what proved an especially testing first day of racing as the Audi MedCup Circuit competes for the first time ever off the Catalan capital.

As an introduction to a new venue nothing was gained easily in the moderate 9-13 knots NE'ly breezes. With the start line set directly in front of where the Olympic village was for the 1992 Olympic Games, relatively close to the shore, there was an awkward choppy sea kicked back off the beach to contend with. The variable cloud cover moved the wind around from time to time, the breeze varied in strength across the course and the racing for the most part was extremely close with small errors punished heavily in the intense competition.

The Quantum Racing team came back to the dock at the city's Moll de la Fusta, greeted by huge crowds. After a long day on the water the 2008 Audi MedCup champions looked mildly frazzled but content to have stuck within their budgeted 12 points for the day which leaves them leading by only one point from a trio comprising Emirates Team New Zealand in second, Artemis (SWE) in third and Bribon (ESP) in fourth, whilst Cristabella (GBR) lies fifth. -- Sabina Mollart-Rogerson

Camper Regatta - Conde de Godo Trophy - Barcelona

TP52 Series

Day 2
1. Quantum Racing (USA), 5+5+2= 12 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), 1+4+8= 13
3. Artemis (SWE), 7+2+4= 13
4. Bribon (ESP), 3+3+7= 13
5. Cristabella (GBR), 2+1+11= 14
6. TeamOrigin (GBR), 10+6+3= 19
7. Luna Rossa (ITA), 9+11+1= 21
8. Matador (ARG), 4+9+9= 22
9. Synergy (RUS), 6+10+6= 22
10. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER), 12(DNC)+8+5= 25
11. Bigamist 7 (POR), 8+7+10= 25

Despite losing skipper/tactician Jose Maria van der Ploeg (ESP) to an ankle injury just prior to Race 1 today, Madrid Caser-Seguros (ESP) led by helmsman Paolo Cian (ITA) has taken the early lead in the Camper Regatta - Conde de Godó Trophy - Barcelona, Stage 3 of the Audi MedCup. With scores of 1-1-1, the team has a strong 5-point lead over runner-up Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), led by skipper Jose Maria Pnce (ESP), who is tied on points with Iberdrola (ESP), led by skipper Laureano Wizner (ESP).

The unusual big wave, light breeze conditions put a premium on teamwork as well as raw speed, and today Madrid Caser-Seguros showed supremacy in both.

Often the real fight was for the remaining places behind the leader, and in the last few metres of every race. Cesare Bressan (ITA), team manager of AIRISESSENTIAL (ITA), said "We sailed well, in the starts we have been protagonist of all the three races, being in the leading positions. It's a pity for the order at the photofinishes, we lost points and positions."

Today's three wins vaults them up into being tied in points but taking the lead in the tie-break with Islas Canarias Puerto Calero for the overall series standings. -- Dobbs Davis

GP42 Series

Day 1
1. Madrid - Caser Seguros (ESP), 1+1+1= 3 points
2. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP), 2+4+2= 8
3. Iberdrola (ESP), 3+2+3= 8
4. AIRISESSENTIAL (ITA), 4+3+5= 12
5. Península Petroleum (GBR), 5+5+4= 14

www.medcup.org

America's Cup Television Trials Underway Off Valencia
Valencia, Spain: The America's Cup television evaluation trials began today with a pair of RC44 high-performance monohulls put through the rigors of match-race maneuvers under the watchful eyes of HD and 3D cameras.

With 16 cameras shooting over four-plus hours of sailing, more than 60 hours of video were captured today as Russell Coutts and James Spithill of BMW ORACLE Racing threw their boats through a series of close-proximity maneuvers.

Three onboard cameramen (two on one boat) augmented the fixed and remote control cameras, and upwards of 25 microphones, including surround-sound microphones, captured the crews' voices and ambient noise.

The action became intense when the start box was limited to five boatlengths in width and depth. Required to stay inside the box, the two crews circled around each other for three minutes before breaking off to head to the start line.

The entrance of a helicopter with gyro-stabilized 3D camera was one example of the latest technologies being evaluated. The chopper blew hats off heads and soaked observers when it was just 50 feet off the water, trying to get a tight viewing angle.

Rushes from today's action will be available to view on the blog of the official America's Cup web site, www.americascup.com . There will be a section where viewers can post feedback and comments.

Torbay Week 2010 Early Entry Date
Click on the log for photos from Torbay Week 2009.

Torbay Week The closing date for discounted entries for this year's Torbay Week, is August 1.

The six day event, starting on Friday August 20, is run by the Bay's four sailing and yacht clubs and includes a four day yachting championship together with social entertainment each night at the clubhouses.

Free berthing is again provided at town moorings by Tor Bay Harbour Authority, together with free launching for dinghies taking part.

Torbay Week director, David Homer: "We've consistently received great feedback from competitors about the standard of racing at Torbay Week. We're extremely fortunate to have world class race officers who together with our volunteers will again run a fantastic event.

Entry can be made using the online payment system on the Torbay Week website - www.torbayweek.co.uk or by sending an application form downloaded from the website to Royal Torbay Yacht Club, Beacon Terrace, Torquay, TQ1 2BH.

Entries start at £25 for a dinghy, £65 for a PY cruiser and £75 for an IRC cruiser.

Torbay Week is run by Torbay Week Management Group for Babbacombe Corinthian SC, Brixham YC, Paignton SC, Royal Torbay YC.

The event is supported by the English Riviera Tourist Board.

www.torbayweek.co.uk

The Camper Project For The Volvo Ocean Race
Left to right: Roberto Bermudez Castro (ESP) Camper Emirates Team New Zealand; Grant Dalton (NZL) CEO, Emirates Team New Zealand; Marcelino Botin (ESP) Principal Designer, Emirates Team New Zealand. Photo by Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand. Click on image to enlarge.

Camper VOR Camper announced today that construction of the VO70 yacht will start in the first week of August and, with crew selection also well advanced, that experienced Spanish round-the-world yachtsman Roberto Bermudez de Castro has joined the team.

It will be his fifth round-the-world race, most recently as skipper of Team Delta Lloyd in 2008-09. He was a watch captain on Brazil 1 in 2004-05 and raced the southern ocean legs on board Assa Abloy in 2001-02.

Known throughout the sailing word as "Chuny", his first round-the-world experience was as a watch leader and helmsman on board the Spanish entry in the 1993-94 Whitbread.

Chuny, a member of the Spanish Olympic team at Athens in 2004, has been a regular on the competitive MedCup TP52 circuit and sailed with the Spanish America's Cup team at San Diego in 1995 and at Auckland in 2000.

With the yacht build scheduled to start on August 9 at the Cookson Yard at Auckland, the design team will come together next week to make final decisions.

Boat builders will start building the mould, the first step in a process that will involve more than 30 tradesmen and over 38,000 hours.

The hull and deck will be constructed from carbon fibre over a nomex honeycomb core.

The yacht will be trucked to the Emirates Team New Zealand base in early April.

Three months of sea trials off New Zealand will follow. The sailing crew will be looking for strong winds and big seas to test handling and reliability before shipping the yacht to Europe in July.

emiratesteamnz.com

Les Sables - Les Acores - Les Sables
From Saturday, july 24, the fleet of forty competitors engaged in what became, even years, the equivalent of the Mini Transat, will be moored at the Vendee Globe pontoon in Les Sables d'Olonne. Then, begin a week of preparations interrupted by some strong moments.

Saturday, July 24: From this date, all competitors must be moored to the dock in Les Sables d'Olonne. This is an opportunity for the family of Mini Sailors to meet together once again, to measure once again the competition, to find the warm welcome of the city of Les Sables d'Olonne and the Club of Les Sports Nautiques Sablais.

Wednesday, July 28: prologue in the bay of Les Sables d'Olonne. The prologue is an opportunity to refine the settings, to calibrate his boat compared to others. It is also the opportunity to board a few guests, children sport schools, those who gave a helping hand in preparing the boat.

Sunday 1st August will be the big start to the island of Faial in the Azores. Ahead of the bow of solo sailors, more than 1 200 nm. As it is often the case in early August, the Azores anticyclone is recovered off the Bay of Biscay, the fleet may have to deal with moderate downwind. In this case, an arrival of the first boats in less than ten days is quite imaginable.

Boissieres Arnaud, who ran twice the Mini-Transat in 1999 and 2001 will be on his sixty feet boat Akena Verandas at the start of the race. Similarly Alessandro di Benedetto should cross the finish line in Les Sables d'Olonne Thursday, July 22 at 7:30, after the first round the world solo non-stop on a Mini 6.50, will sponsor the start of the race.

Finally, at the Azores, competitors will be welcomed by Yves Le Blevec, winner of the Mini-Transat in 2007, recent winner of the Vendee - St. Petersburg event reserved for 50-foot multihulls.

Event: www.lessables-lesacores.com
Mini class: www.classemini.com

Hotel and Development Land For Sale in Bequia
Hotel And Development Land Forsale In Bequia The Receiver of Friendship Bay Hotel Limited (in Receivership) offers for sale the land and property situated at Friendship Bay Hotel in Bequia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.

- Located on c 435,600 sq ft land;
- c.20% beachfront;
- Development potential;
- Rear undeveloped land is sloping with ocean views;
- Hotel consists of 19 rooms and 5 suites (2 with individual plunge pools);
- Beachfront restaurant/bar;
- Breakfast room; and
- Private jetty.

About Bequia
Bequia has its own airport with daily scheduled flights to and from Barbados and several other of the Grenadine Islands. Bequia is the second largest of the Islands after the capital island of St. Vincent. It measures approximately 7 square miles and has a population of approximately 5,000 people. It has a strong maritime heritage and is a favourite destination for yachts from all over the world. Friendship Bay is a sheltered south facing bay on Bequia's windward side with a broad sandy beach.

Further details available on request.
Indicative offers by 5pm EST Monday 16 August 2010.

Contact for enquiries
Claire Loebell
Phone: +1 345 814 8922
Email:
Ernst & Young Ltd
62 Forum Lane, Camana Bay
PO Box 510, Grand Cayman KY1-1006
Cayman Islands
www.ey.com

ISAF Match Race Rankings
The leaders of the current ISAF World Match Race Rankings remain unchanged but the chasing pack are applying pressure and closing the gap.

Current Open World Match Race Champion Adam Minoprio (NZL) has had his lead narrowed as has Lucy Macgregor (GBR) in the Women's Rankings.

Open Rankings

Adam Minoprio (NZL) completes his ninth consecutive release in the world number one position but has failed to reach the final of the last three ISAF World Match Racing Tour events. His best result was a third place at the Portugal Match Cup in Troia. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) has also slipped from second to fourth despite finishing runner-up to Peter Gilmour in the battle of the Aussies at the ISAF World Match Race Tour event in Portugal and fourth at the ISAF World Match Racing Tour events in Gyeonggi, Korea and Marstrand, Sweden.

Top ten, Open Rankings

Skipper - Nation - Points (Editor: no idea why the ISAF does not list crew for the Open rankings. They should.)
1. Adam Minoprio, NZL, 12307
2. Ben Ainslie, GBR, 12042
3. Mathieu Richard, FRA, 11711
4. Torvar Mirsky, AUS, 11535
5. Peter Gilmour, AUS, 10858
6. Ian Williams, GBR, 10742
7. Bjorn Hansen, SWE, 10088
8. Eugeniy Neugodnikov, RUS, 10025
9. Sebastien Col, FRA, 9877
10. Damien Iehl, FRA, 9750

Women's Rankings

Lucy Macgregor (GBR) retains the top spot in the Women's ISAF World Match Race Rankings but her lead is been eroded by Claire Leroy of France. Despite finishing a lowly eighth at the ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta in Kiel, Macgregor did however finish third at Match Cup Sweden Women's Trophy in Marstrand. Claire Leroy finished Kieler Woche as runner up in a long draw out regatta in light airs. She was defeated by Ekaterina Skudina of Russia who has been the big mover of this rankings release. Skudina also won Match Cup Sweden Women's Trophy to jump from #22 to #11.

Top ten, women's rankings:

Skipper - Crew - Nation - Points
1. Lucy Macgregor / Ally Martin / Annie Lush, GBR, 11178 points
2. Claire Leroy / Marie Riou / Eiodie Bertrand, FRA, 11112
3. Anna Tunnicliffe / Alice Manard / Deborah Capozzi / Molly Vandemoer, USA, 10193
4. Nicky Souter / Rayshele Martin / Stacey Jackson / Nina Curtis / Jessica Eastwell / Olivia Price, AUS, 10185
5. Silke Hahlbrock / Maren Hahlbrock / Kerstin Schult, GER, 10053
6. Anne-Claire Le Berre / Alice Ponsar / Myrtille Ponge, FRA, 10029
7. Katie Spithill / Nina Curtis / Nicole Douglass, AUS, 9866
8. Renee Groeneveld / Annmieke Bes / Brechtje Van Der Werf / Carolyn Howe, NED, 9851
9. Julie Bossard / Elodie Creac'h / Sophie O'Ortoli, FRA, 9257
10. Genevieve Tulloch / Jennifer M0rgan / Alice Manard / Jamie Haines / Jennifer Chamberlin, USA, 9178

sailing.org

XOD Central Solent Championships
Photo by Eddie Mays, www.eddiemays.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

XOD Solent Championship For the first time in 99 years, XODs were seen racing off Hythe in Southampton Water at the weekend.

Heads turned on the decks of the Red Funnel ferry as 17 XODs from Yarmouth, Cowes, Hamble and Itchenor sailed from a start line on the Netley shore and raced to the northernmost Hythe buoy near Hythe jetty.

The third race of the XOD Central Solent Championships had a course to commemorate the first XOD race held in June 1911 by the Motor Yacht Club that had its headquarters aboard the old ex-Admiralty paddle steamer "Enchantress" moored off Netley.

The two-day five-race series was organised by the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, whose race management team gave the fleet excellent courses, clear comprehensive communications and a quick efficient turnaround between races, despite the 35 degree windshift after the attention signal for Race 2 which required a postponement to reconfigure the course.

Sunday morning saw a cracking good sailing breeze of 15-20 knots of wind from the south-west and the fleet was joined by Alan Perry's X55 Falconet and Jasper Bardon's X151 Xanadu from Itchenor.

Overall Results:
1. X2 Palassie - Lisa Childerley
2. X172 LizzWhizz - Neil Payne
3. X13 Mischief - Diana Wilson

www.rsyc.org.uk

Clean Sweep & A Record To Boot
Ullman Sails Congratulations to Jack Taylor & his crew aboard Santa Cruz 50 "Horizon" who accomplished an impressive feat at the 2010 Pacific Cup with a clean sweep, including first boat to finish, first boat in class and first boat overall. Fully powered by Ullman Sails inventory, the "Horizon" team also broke the record for the fastest Santa Cruz 50 to ever sail the 2070-nm distance race from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii. Taylor and his crew crossed the finish line in Kaneohe Bay Friday night after 8 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes.

Ullman Sails - Invest in your performance.

www.ullmansails.com

All To Play For On Day Three
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.hotcapers.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Classic Regatta Despite forecasts of rain showers and light winds, the weather gods smiled once again today on the crews competing at the British Classic Yacht Club Panerai Cowes Regatta on day four, allowing two fantastic races to be completed for all classes. As the classic fleet arrived at the starting area this morning, right on cue the skies cleared and a pleasant eight to ten knot breeze sprang up, enabling racing to get underway on schedule at eleven o'clock.

At this stage in the regatta the top slots in almost all the classes were too close to call and any crews with aspirations of a class win were painfully aware that their two results today could make or break their regatta. In Class 1 the Spirit 54 Sloop, Soufriere and the One-Off Timber Sloop, Meteor, were tied on points at the top. In Class 2 the 1957 built, 49 foot Sloop, Cetewayo, held a three-point lead over the 1963 Yawl, Stiren. The Class 3 leader Mikado, a 1904 Clyde 30 Linear, had the benefit of a seven point cushion between her and the second placed 1974 41 foot S&S Bermudan Sloop, Golden Fleece. It could not have been much closer in Class 4 with the 1897 Cork Harbour One Design Gaff Cutter, Jap, holding a single point lead over the 1937, 30 Square Metre, Erida.

In this afternoon's race Cereste had to settle for second place behind the 1958 Bermudan Sloop, Danegeld who took the Class 4 win. Class 3 went to the 1971 Auxiliary Sloop, Opposition, by the narrowest of margins; just nine seconds on corrected time separate her from the 1963 Sloop, Clarion of Wight in second. Cetewayo reversed the results of the Class 2 morning race by claiming victory over Wings and in Class 1 Italia took her second win of the day with Meteor in second gaining precious points on their rival Soufriere who could only manage a fourth.

Racing at the British Classic Yacht Club Panerai Cowes Regatta 2010 concludes Friday with a single race to decide the trophies.

www.britishclassicyachtclub.org/regatta

OK Dinghy European Championship
Medemblik, Netherlands: With the highest entry for more than 20 years, the OK Dinghy European Championship in Medemblik, Netherlands next week is set to be the highlight of the year for many sailors. In total there are 67 sailors from 11 countries pre-entered for the week and with many of the leading sailors missing, it looks set to be a wide open championship.

The European Championship coincides with the latest release of the OK Dinghy World Ranking List which includes the Spring Cup, Kieler Woche, Warnemunde Woche and the Nordic Championship. World Champion Karl Purdie (NZL) still leads the rankings with very few changes at the top. It is interesting to note that only four out of the top 20 are sailing in Medemblik.

In fact only one former world champion and the current European champion are attending. As the worlds has already been held in February many of the class stars are taking a break before next years worlds in Largs, Scotland, so this could be the most wide open championship for a long time.

On recent performance, the convincing winner of the Spring Cup and Kiel Week and the highest ranked sailor competing, Greg Wilcox (NZL) has to be one of the favourites. World Champion in 2002, Wilcox has been near the front of the fleet ever since and has won a score of ranking events in recent years.

Another sailor to watch will be newcomer Tim Goodbody (IRL). Having competed in the Finn in the Olympics in 2008, he jumped into the OK earlier this year after threatening to do so for many years.

The defending Champion is Martin von Zimmerman (GER), the winner of the Nordic Championship this year. He won the European title in Loctudy, France, four years ago. The OK Dinghy Europeans is normally only held once every four years, when the World Championship is held in the southern hemisphere, as it was this year - in Wellington, New Zealand.

Class website www.okdia.org
Entry list and results at: www.ryc-hollandia.org

Letters To The Editor -
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 Bill Reilly: I just want to congratulate Alessandro Di Benedetto on completing his solo, non-stop and unassisted round-the-world sail today (Thursday)... His circumnavigation, which involved sailing a Mini-Transat 6.50m around the world via the Southern Ocean, is even more remarkable considering he broke his mast before rounding Cape Horn and sailed the rest of the way back to France under jury-rig... The whole voyage took him 269 days, covering 28,360 miles... It's quite refreshing to see a real sailor take up such a challenge and succeed, using nothing but experience, proper planning, good seamanship and ingenuity, unlike Abby Sunderland's ill-conceived publicity stunt...

Featured Brokerage
Featured Brokerage Boat 2004 X Yachts 43, EUR 225,000. Located in Medemblik, Netherlands.

Very well equipped and maintained. Engine has only 400 hours. Classic version with teak deck.

Brokerage through Bach Yachting International.

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word
I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book. -- Groucho Marx

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