In This Issue
Wight Vodka Best Yachting Bar: In Support of Sail Aid | CQS takes Line Honours in the RORC Transatlantic Race | Star Sailing League Finals Day 2 | Where Sailing Comes First but the Rum is a Close Second? | Edition 2018, the last waltz of Figaro Beneteau 2 | Marine Weather and Sea State symposium | New cruising regatta in the wake of Vikings | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | Launchings | 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

Wight Vodka Best Yachting Bar: In Support of Sail Aid
Nominations open now for two awards: Best Caribbean Bar and Best Bar Elsewhere. Send us your bleary memories: scuttlebutteurope.com/sailors-bars

CQS takes Line Honours in the RORC Transatlantic Race
Ludde Ingvall's Australian Maxi CQS finished the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Wednesday 6th December taking Monohull Line Honours in an elapsed time of 11 days 00 hrs 03 mins 08 secs. CQS committed to a southerly route for the 3,000 nautical mile race and despite sustaining sail damage in a vicious 40 knot squall, the canting keel 98ft Maxi led from start to finish. Ingvall is no stranger to taking line honours in prestigious offshore races, twice taking the honour in both the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. This was Ludde Ingvall's 16th transatlantic.

CQS Crew: Skipper Ludde Ingvall; Co-Skipper Kenneth Thelen; Logan Andresen; Martyn Baker; Philip Barnard; Hans-Christoph Brumberg; Charles Egerton-Warburton; Robin Elsey; James Espey; Liam Gardner; Paul Heyrman; David Kenefick; Rokas Milevicius; James Oxenham; Malcolm Paine and James Tomlinson.

CQS has now set the bar for the best corrected time under IRC for the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy. The defending champion, Marten 72 Aragon, skippered by Jochen Bovenkamp and Canadian Southern Wind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump are likely to be the next yachts to finish. The Maxis have close company from two high-performance offshore racing yachts, Tilmar Hansen's German Elliott 52 Outsider and the provisional overall leader, Eric de Turckheim's French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine. All four yachts are expected to finish the 2017 RORC Transatlantic Race on Friday 8th December.

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

YB Race Tracker

Star Sailing League Finals Day 2
Nassau, Bahamas: Day 2 was very good to Phil and I. With scores of 1, 2, 20, 1 we jumped up to third place in the standings. We were very fast upwind in the 8-10 knots of wind and able to hold our own downwind. It has taken a lot of work for us to narrow our deficit downwind but very rewarding.

Our 20th place shows just how easy it is to get a bad score in this fleet. Once you are back in the pack, the bad air and chopped up water makes life difficult. There are no soft competitors out here!

We tied Robert Scheidt with 24 points on the day while Diego Negri of Italy had the best day with 22 points. Phil and I made some adjustments to our rig which suited today's conditions perfectly.

Tomorrow we will most likely have 3 races and the forecast is for less wind again. Downwind is scorching hot with all the kinetics we are allowed to do in the 80 degrees temps.

I hope you are enjoying the live coverage in the internet. if you haven't seen it, tune in at 11:00 EST tomorrow at http://www.starsailors.com

There is also a feed on Facebook under the same name. Complete scores can be found there too,

We check our weight everyday, morning and after racing as we are required to stay under a weight limit. Interestingly, I lost 3 pounds today. I am working hard to rehydrate now and stretching to keep my lower back loose. Needless to day, I will sleep well tonight! -- Paul Cayard

cayardsailing.com

Where Sailing Comes First but the Rum is a Close Second?
Antigua Sailing Week Big warm seas, consistent trade winds, challenging round the buoys racing and the best shoreside parties in the Caribbean sum up the phenomenon that is Antigua Sailing Week. Preceded by an optional race, the Peters & May Round Antigua Race featuring 52 nm of perfect pre-ASW tune up for new teams, followed by five days of racing off Antigua's south coast and interrupted by a beach day, this is a regatta not to miss.

Classes include Big Boat, Racing, Sport Boat, Cruising, Multihull, Bareboat and Club Class. Daily prize givings at Antigua Yacht Club are legendary as is the final awards party hosted in historic UNESCO-accredited Nelson's Dockyard.

Bragging rights, the best silverware and a photo op with the Queen's representative, the Governor General mean you get the best of all worlds - professionally run race management, incredible history and Caribbean beaches, parties and English Harbour Rum.

Mix that with a Fever-Tree ginger beer and you have the Perfect Storm.

www.sailingweek.com

Edition 2018, the last waltz of Figaro Beneteau 2
Click on image to enlarge.

Figaro In 2018, La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro will celebrate its 49th season. One year away from the 50th and 3rd major evolution with the arrival of the Figaro Beneteau 3 monotype equipped with foils

The great summer classic will make a leap in the calendar to take place from August 20 to September 16. Changes too with the cities themselves with a big departure from Le Havre, two stops at Saint-Brieuc and Ria de Muros - Noia in Spain, and for the first time a final finish leg at Saint-Gilles-Croix de Vie to salute the "stage exit" of the Figaro Beneteau 2.

Stage one: 570 nm
Stage two: 520 nm
Stage three: 440 nm
Stage four: 165 nm

www.lasolitaire-urgo.com

Marine Weather and Sea State symposium
Understanding weather and sea state are important for both racing and safety. On Saturday, February 10th at MITAGS located at 692 Maritime Boulevard, Linthicum Heights, Maryland an impressive array of speakers will present an all-day symposium on marine weather and sea state forecasting and analysis.

Preliminary speaker list includes world-famous navigator Stan Honey, Gulf Stream expert Frank Bohlen, Ken McKinley of Locus Weather, Ken Campbell of Commander's Weather, Lee Chesneau of Chesneau Weather, Joseph Sienkiewicz of the National Weather Service Ocean Prediction Center, Jim Corenman and Ralph Naranjo.

Topics to be covered:
- Marine Weather Fundamentals, mid-latitude, tropical, extratropical conditions
- 500 mb conditions - significance and analysis
- Ocean currents, waves, and sea state
- Forecasts and forecasting
- Communications VHF to Inmarsat
- The Role of the Navigator - Information processing and routing
- Questions from floor - Roundtable Discussion

Register: sas.cruisingclub.org/course/wx18

New cruising regatta in the wake of Vikings
Norwegians has sailed west for centuries. Now they want sailors from all countries along the North Sea to join them in a true Viking cruising event from Bergen to Iceland - with stopovers.

The cruising regatta will follow in the wake of the Vikings and be in excess of 1000 nautical long, and be open to both shorthanded and full crew, as well as the opportunity to participate in one or more stages.

Many of the thousands of sailors who have competed in the Pantaenius Shetland Race from Bergen to Lerwick have wondered how it would be to keep going west after Lerwick. In 2018 they will have the opportunity to sail even further west. The Norwegian Ocean Racing and Cruising Club has decided to act on an idea that surfaced many years ago:

Northern Europe's longest and toughest race - Bergen-Shetland-Faroe Islands-Iceland.

The first edition of the race will kick of June 27th 2018 with the 200 miles long Pantaenius Shetland Race as the first leg. This classic North Sea Race starts every year around midsummer allowing the sailors to enjoy the long white nights at sea.

After a stopover of a few days in Lerwick the fleet continues to Torshavn in the Faroe Islands. It is 220 nautical miles to the colourful little capital with the stunning scenery.

The next, and certainly most challenging stage is Torshavn to Reykjavik. It is 660 nautical miles between the two capitals, and the possibility of bad weather is definitely present. But statistically July is a rather quiet month in the North Atlantic. The shortest distance between the Faroe Islands and Iceland is 230 nautical mils. This means that some thirty-six hours to get from coast to coast - and then there will be a long and fascinating cruise along the south side of the Island before rounding in to Reykjavik. -- Jon Amtrup

www.havseilerklubben.no
www.facebook.com/vikingoffshorerace/

Seahorse December 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Seahorse Magazine

Behind the scenery
Seen off the boat the mechanics always look to operate pretty seamlessly onboard the modern J Boat. But all that glistens... Ted Street

When lower is higher
The foiler Moth has hit new highs of technical performance and the focus swings back on sailing technique. Between them the Cup guys and Olympic champions have it nailed. Current design no1 Kevin Ellway talks to Andy Rice

Strong foundations
After running America's Cup 35 Iain Murray is home overseeing Australian racing. But his own Cup hopes never went away... Blue Robinson

Fast boats just got faster
Fast enough for Franck Cammas and tough enough for all you lot!

RORC - Almost straight swap
Eddie Warden-Owen

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Launchings
SEAir SEAir has announced construction of its first flying 40ft (12m) monohull will begin in 2018 with a late 2018/early 2019 launch.

The monohull is designed to be well-suited to both record attempts and offshore races and already has six potential major clients globally.

Having recently announced the design of the 'fully flying' AC75 monohull, which will be the new boat for the next America's Cup, the New Zealand America's Cup team has helped pave the way for SEAir to develop in the field of foil design and build.

Mr Castelnerac added: "The future AC75 'Full flying' monohulls as announced by the New Zealand America's Cup team reinforces SEAir's efforts in foil research, particularly when it comes to canting. Because we are swinging the foil and not retracting it, we can achieve better stability with a lower centre of gravity.

"Given the complexity of the foils on the AC75, you then have to ask, who can build them? This is where SEAir's experience in automated manufacturing of carbon foils comes into play. We have already discussed these issues with three different America's Cup teams."

seair.fr/en/

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Zurn

Zurn Yacht Design presents the high performance Marblehead 22, epoxy built. This model bears the classic lines and charm of a traditional wooden boat, without the upkeep.

Above the waterline, the Marblehead 22 appears as a true classic: a narrow beamed hull accented by a nearly plumb stem, sweeping sheer, counter transom, and varnished coaming boards. Below the water she's all performance. A fine entry gracefully transitions to a powerful mid-section that finishes with just enough rocker to bring the sea peacefully back together.

The low center of gravity and efficient lift of the bulb keel combined with the balanced spade rudder contribute to the Marblehead 22's ability to effortlessly climb to weather. The weather deck is open and uncluttered, featuring wide flat surfaces around the cockpit to comfortably accommodate several crew-members.

Control lines from the North mainsail are all led to the middle of the cockpit where either the helmsman or crew can adjust the mainsheet, cunningham or outhaul (a.k.a. "snotter" to wishboom traditionalists).

The 11' 9" of usable cockpit space is nestled between lockers aft and a small cuddy forward used for stowing gear. Speed, stability, "easibility", and charming looks combine to ensure hours of pleasure on the water whether single-handing or sailing with a crowd.

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Baltic Foil

Finnish yard Baltic Yachts has released the first details of its 43.3 metre sailing yacht project the Baltic 142 Custom, which is currently under construction and due for delivery in 2019.

Built from a carbon composite hull, this sloop-rigged performance cruising yacht features naval architecture and exterior styling by Farr Yacht Design. Lucio Micheletti will collaborate with the in-house team at Baltic Yachts on the interior styling and has also worked on the exterior lines and deck styling, while Mattia Belleri will provide project management services.

As well as the high standard of luxury on board, the Baltic 142 Custom will be notable for its innovative use of sailing technology. A key part of this is the dynamic stability system, developed in collaboration with Gordon Kay from Infiniti Performance Yachts, which employs a sliding foil that can extend up to nine metres athwartships.

Roland Kasslin, head of research and development at Baltic Yachts, said: "The foil will run on four sets of 25 composite roller bearings contained in titanium cassettes. The outboard cassettes will bear the upward load and the inner cassettes the downward load when the foil is deployed."

www.boatinternational.com

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Farr 280

Following the successful launch of the Farr280 Grand Prix One Design, the new Club Race version has been developed to increase the accessibility of this fantastic race boat, to a broader sailing community, by making the entry cost of the boat significantly lower.

The Farr280 Club Racer is pitched at yacht clubs and Corinthian owners, looking for a light displacement high performance racing boat. The boat is designed to be attractive to teams wanting to compete in high performance mixed sportsboat fleets, including HP30 or ORC Sportsboat classes.

The Farr280 Club Racer continues to offer dynamic performance on all points of sail and the boat is built using the same vacuum infusion technology from identical moulds, to the original Grand Prix version.

New features on the Farr280 Club Racer, include a new solid foredeck hatch, closed jib track slots and offshore compliant stanchions and guard wires. The main price differences though come from the choice and selection of spars, auxiliary power packages and the removal of hydraulic controls as standard, from the base boat price.

The ideal crew size remains five or six, although the boat can be sailed with less crew, depending on the sail plan, making family racing a viable proposition too.

The boat represents an "inexpensive" route ti high performance sailing and is easy to campaign. Importantly, it can be towed behind most large cars or SUVs as the combined boat and trailer weight is only 2,150Kgs, which means getting to and from weekend regattas or even relocating the boat for international events is highly achievable.

farr280.com

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TFA

The sea trials of DNA's new TF10 foiling trimaran didn't quite go according to plan off the coast of Spain although there was plenty of performance

Sea trials are designed to push a new boat to the limits and this certainly was the case for the new TF10 foiling trimaran.

The multihull, which has been built by the Dutch boatyard, DNA Performance Sailing, suffered a dismasting during testing off Barcelona in northerly breezes.

The TF10 was pushing past 25 knots in quiet, flat water when the high-modulus carbon fibre mast suddenly crumpled to the deck, breaking in parts on the way down.

Multiple catamaran racing world champion and DNA adviser Mischa Heemskerk, who was helming at the time, said he was surprised to see the mast let go in such light air.

"It seems we may be quite a bit faster than the simulations predicted, which means we could be developing too much power for the mast design," said the Dutch racer, who stressed that breakages have been an important part of the development of all foiling boats - especially the big ones.

"Foiling in big yachts has only been possible for a few short years, so sea and sail trials are an extremely important tool to find the weak links in these cutting-edge designs," he added.

Heemskerk said the yacht's designers and builders are already investigating the breakage to determine what modifications are needed before the production run gets fully underway, and they're confident the fix isn't complicated.

"The silver lining here is that we had a great month of sailing with a respectable showing for the (European) Yacht of the Year competition, we learned a ton about the boat, and aside from the mast and a couple of insignificant bits and pieces, the boat performed flawlessly," he stressed.

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Raceboats Only 2011 Comar 100 RS - SHADOW. 4250000 EUR. Located in Cyprus.

Epic sailing yacht with metallic livery and totally sparkling sailing. Below decks she is light, airy and comfortable for her guests and crew.

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+44 (0) 1590 679 222

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Raceboats Only 2014 Jeanneau Sun Fast 3200. 99000 EUR. Located in Lelystad.

Very well maintained and fast Jeanneau Sun Fast 3200 ready to go. She is treated with hard antifouling (black). Every year she is taken outside on the hard. Every two year she is put on the hard for 4 months. The other year they sail winterseries.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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

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