In This Issue
Team AkzoNobel wins Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 in Auckland
Snakes and Ladders
Nick Jerwood wins Viper 640 World Championship
New international children's regatta in Optimist class OptiOrange
2018 National Sonata Inland Championship March 10th -11th Windermere
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Industry News
Featured Brokerage: Oyster 825 Maegan, Oyster 82 Raven, 2006 Swan 100-202 Virago
The Last Word: George Whitman
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
Team AkzoNobel wins Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 in Auckland
Team AkzoNobel has won the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race after nearly three weeks of racing on the 11,000-kilometer passage from Hong Kong, China across the equator to Auckland, New Zealand.
The victory is the team's first offshore win in the 2017-18 edition of the eight-month round the world race and comes on the back of a third place in the last offshore leg - Leg 4 from Melbourne to Australia - and a first-place performance in the in port race on Hong Kong Harbor.
The result moves teamAkzoNobel from sixth to fourth in the overall rankings with five legs left to race before the finish at The Hague in the Netherlands in June.
As the two most western boats, team AkzoNobel and Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (HKG) reaped the benefits of consistently stronger winds and a better wind angle and the pair gradually pulled away from the rest of the fleet.
The tit for tat battle between the leading duo raged the entire way to Auckland with the two boats racing neck and neck down the New Zealand coastline and into the Hauraki Gulf on the final day.
In the end team AkzoNobel was able to prevail and crossed the Leg 6 finish line off the Auckland Viaduct at 12.17.26 UTC (13.17.26 CET) completing the 11,000-kilometer course in 20 days, nine hours, 17 minutes and 26 seconds.
Scallywag finished just two minutes and 14 seconds later.
Team AkzoNobel crew list for Leg 6:
Simeon Tienpont (NED) - skipper
Brad Farrand (NZL)
Justin Ferris (NZL)
Martine Grael (BRA)
Cecile Laguette (FRA)
Luke Molloy (AUS)
Chris Nicholson (AUS)
Jules Salter (GBR)
Nicolai Sehested (DEN)
Results Leg 6
1. Team AkzoNobel (NED) - 8 points
2. Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (HKG) - 6 points
3. Mapfre (ESP) - 5 points
4. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN) - 4 points
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic (UN) - 3 points
6. Team Brunel (NED) - 2 points
DNS - Vestas 11th Hour Racing (USA/DEN) - (did not start)
Overall results after Leg 6 of Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18
1. Mapfre (ESP) 39 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN) 34 points
3. Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (HKG) 26 points
4. Team AkzoNobel (NED) 23 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (USA/DEN) 23 points
6. Team Brunel (NED) 20 points
7.Turn the Tide on Plastic (UN) 12 points
Snakes and Ladders
The fleet battled strong upwind conditions for the first half of the leg, and then endured mind numbing calms for the second half. Cyclone Gita, rampaging through the South Pacific, literally sucked the wind out of a thousand mile area leaving the whole fleet searching for puffs. Most sailors will tell you that the gales are tough, but calms can make an average person go mad and all the boats floated on a glassy ocean for days. In conditions like this you need to send a person up the mast to search for darker patches on the water that might indicate wind and a good breeze spotter is worth their weight freeze dried food.
The leaders rounded Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand and sailed down the east coast toward the finish. The scenery is stunning but it's likely no one was paying attention to it. Darkness fell and the cat and mouse game between the front two boats continued, but unlike in Hong Kong where the Scallywag team pulled out a surprise win, this time even their lucky Dubarry Crosshaven boots could not help them pass AkzoNobel.
Nick Jerwood wins Viper 640 World Championship
Applecross, Australia: Australians Nick Jerwood, sailing with Brian DeVries and Matt Jerwood, completed their victory today at the Schweppes Viper 640 World Championship 2018, conducted by Western Australia's South of Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River.
The Jerwood/de Vries family combination is well known at Australian Sailing headquarters, where Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries are Australian representatives in the 470 class. They jumped back to 420's in January to claim the World Women's title in that class, and this time it is their parents in the spotlight. Nick, Nia's father and a former world champion in the Flying Fifteen class, teamed up with her brother Matt and Monique's father Brian for the win.
Justin Scott (USA) repeated his success at last year's Worlds by finishing second with two third placings in the last two races today. The American stated at the start of the campaign that he came to Perth expecting a top five finish, so he would have been delighted with his performance. Sailing with young local guns Conor Nicholas and Luke Elliot, the combination improved steadily throughout the regatta, with no worse than a third place in any of the final six races.
Match racer Keith Swinton, originally from Perth but resident these days in the USA, held down second place until the final day, bombing out with an early start in the last race of the series and allowing Scott to relegate his team to third.
Racing at the 2018 Viper 640 World Championship was from February 19 to 23 with a layday on February 21.
Top five
1. Nick Jerwood, Brian DeVries, Matt Jerwood, AUS
2, Justin Scott, Conor, Nicholas, Luke Elliot, USA
3. Keith Swinton, Arlyn Mattinson, Ben Marler, Bruce Mattinson, AUS
4. Lawrence Crispin , Hector Cisneros, Luka Crispin, GBR
5. Murray Howson, Jorman Mears, Mark Lovelady, Sue Howson, AUS
Full results:
www.topyacht.net.au/results/sopyc/
New international children's regatta in Optimist class OptiOrange
The new sailing project, organized by Sailing Academy of Saint Petersburg Yacht Club and Real Club Nautico de Valencia, with the support of Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Valenica Region and AMICS Association, will take place on March 7-11, 2018 in the premises of Valencia Training Center.
The children's regatta will be called OptiOrange International Regatta.
The invitations to participate in the sailing regatta were sent to young athletes from Spain, Russia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Estonia, and Finland. The organizers are waiting for participants from all European countries. You can send your application for participation to until March 3.
Within the framework of sports battles on water, the organizers haven't forgotten about entertainment as well. On one of the days, the sportsmen will visit a famous museum – The City of Arts and Sciences (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències), and there will be sweet prizes and presents for young athletes on the shore
www.instagram.com/optiorangeregatta
2018 National Sonata Inland Championship March 10th -11th Windermere
The first of the 2018 Sonata Area Championships, the "Inlands", will be held on Lake Windermere over the weekend of 10th – 11th March. A strong turn-out is expected with, in addition to the local Windermere fleet, owners from as far afield as the Clyde and the NE coast competing against the current Sonata National Champion, Steve Goacher for the Inland Area Trophy. Competition will be fierce with some of the top UK Sonata sailors participating.
The event is being run by the Windermere Cruising Association and will consist of up to six short windward/leeward races per day. The WCA has extended a warm welcome to the Sonatas as part of their other class racing over this and the following weekend.
The National Sonata Association holds Area events throughout the UK every year in addition to their National Championships which rotates around the country. Last year, the Nationals were held at Strangford Loch, NI. In 2016, Poole, Dorset. The Inlands are the first of the 2018 Area Championships. More Area events are planned for the North, South and East coasts. Scotland will hold the Scottish Championships over the Bank Holiday weekend of 25th – 28th May on the Clyde.
Seahorse March 2018
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Hot stuff (but cool)
A new racer-cruiser emerges one side of the yard, from the other side appears a new carbon Wally
Meeting of the minds
When some of the world’s smartest sailmakers get together in Nevada the ideas soon flow
Don’t follow the pack
Australia’s high-performance sailing clothing innovators were never going to do that, were they?
Not just boatbuilders
From high-pressure hydraulic tanks to high-performance skis for the Winter Paralympics...
Dog days
America’s Cup cold war... Andy Claughton
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Industry News
The RS Tera Sport has been made an official British Youth Sailing recognised class after impressing with its potential for progression at junior level.
The RYA's Youth Racing Committee voted overwhelmingly to add the 9ft single-hander to its list of recognised classes that also includes the 29er, the Topper and the Optimist.
Recognised classes are those deemed important to British Youth Sailing's aims and ambitions to develop young racing talent towards a lifetime in the sport.
The single-sail RS Tera has become a hit at sailing clubs around the country thanks to its blend of simplicity and performance.
The Sport version of the dinghy boasts a smaller rig and soft dacron sail, making it ideal for youngsters whether they are beginners or experienced racers.
It will play a key part in British Youth Sailing's mission to develop the best young racing sailors in the world through its Junior and Youth pathways.
The class boasts an established programme of racing in the UK and around the world that will culminate in 2018 with the RS Tera World Championships held at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy from 4-10 August 2018.
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As the demise of the UK sailing yacht brand Oyster continues, two further events have unfolded. Firstly, the yard's administrators, KPMG, have set a deadline for expressions of interest in buying the assets of the brand. Secondly, an account of what happened to the Oyster 825-02 sailing yacht, Polina Star III, has been published online by the yacht's owner, Alexander Ezhkov. The sinking of Polina Star III in 2015 is what eventually led to Oyster entering administration earlier this month.
In its statement, KPMG invites interested parties to come forward. The joint administrators, Neil Gostelow and Mark Orton, are calling for initial offers by Friday 2 March.
Interested parties should contact Andrew Stone at or Will Lewis at .
Oyster Marine Ltd is the primary trading company of the group, operating out of two sites in Southampton and Wroxham. The joint administrators are marketing the following assets for sale:
Brand name and trademark
Technical designs and drawings and associated IT hardware
Build manuals
The hull and other production mouldings
Shares in subsidiary companies
The plant and machinery
As to the sinking of Polina Star III, an account of what allegedly happened can be found at oysterstory.info. The website contains the history of the yacht and the events that led to her sinking, in July 2015, off the coast of Spain. There is also information regarding insurance claims. The website was devised by the yacht's owner, Alexander V Ezhkov, and includes input from the captain of Polina Star III, Alessio Cannoni, and from professional yacht surveyors Ward & McKenzie.
David Tydeman, CEO of Oyster, issued a statement regarding oysterstory.info as follows: "This has been a long and distressing story for all parties. I flew to Moscow after the incident as soon as I could obtain a visa and in a personal capacity, apologised sincerely to Mr Ezhkov for the incident and the distress that I was sure that he had suffered.
"During the following months," the statement continued, "Mr Ezhkov and I tried to find a solution to build him a new Oyster 885 although that proposal failed to develop. I was personally pleased to see that Mr Ezhkov was paid out by his insurers and, in my capacity as CEO of Oyster, we were waiting for those insurers to present their subrogated claim against Oyster."
Tydeman adds: "The fact that this was not presented was outside Oyster's control, but at no point did Oyster seek to avoid its liability or legal responsibilities. I again express my apology in a personal capacity to Mr Ezhkov for all that he has experienced. I am unable to comment on Oyster's behalf since the Company is now in administration."
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Newport, Rhode Island - The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) is pleased to announce the addition of offshore multihull sailor Larry Rosenfeld to the organization's Board of Directors.
Rosenfeld is an experienced software entrepreneur and has a strong sailing resume, having been the Navigator n many successful offshore racing boats, including Team Adventure, a 110-foot, 44-knot Multiplast catamaran in The Race, a non-stop, no-limits race around the world held in 2001. He is also Executive Director of the Team Adventure Educational Foundation which sailed the Route of Discovery, a transatlantic odyssey with school teachers on board. Both voyages form part of Team Adventure's educational curriculum which integrated sailing, history and education in a dynamic program of interactive learning.
More recently Rosenfeld has been working closely with the Offshore Multihull Association (OMA), an organization that seeks to increase regatta participation by promoting fair and accurate ratings for purposes of scoring race events. He led the development of the MultiRule, a new handicap system that seeks to use large performance data sets, modern polar curve refinement methods and Performance Curve Scoring to establish ratings and scoring across multihulls of varied performance characteristics. He has been working on technology for the MultiRule and has developed both a mobile app for PCS and a highly accurate immersion measurement system for calculating the weight of large boats quickly and inexpensively.
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Groupe Beneteau president and CEO Herve Gastinel today revealed ambitious plans to develop the group's activities in the Middle East. On the opening day of the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS), with 12 Groupe Beneteau boats on display - the largest display ever by the group in Dubai - Gastinel and business development director Francois Rodrigues spent time with IBI to outline the team's strategy to grow the brand in the region.
"Our display at the Dubai International Boat Show is designed to show our serious intent to enter the Middle East market and build our brand identity in the region, which is currently not strong," said Gastinel. "When I took over my role as president and CEO with Beneteau in 2015, I established transformation committees with the objective of thinking out of the box. I have termed this 'Transform to Perform'.
"My team, including Francois Rodrigues who also takes the role of international sales coordinator, identified the Middle East as a key market to focus on and felt that we should launch our strategy by exhibiting as a group at DIBS rather than a collection of different brands. Our intention is that we are in the Middle East market for the long haul and this will include modifying our boats to meet the local market requirements where necessary."
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Garmin Ltd has reported fourth-quarter sales of US$888m, up 3% compared to the same period a year ago. Net income for the quarter was US$138.8m compared to US$136.6m a year ago.
Its Marine division had sales of US$83.6m, up 24% compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company said in a statement that growth came from its updated line of chartplotters and fishfinders as well as its recently acquired Navionics product line. "We expect marine to be a growth segment in 2018 as we focus on market share gains and new product innovations,"said Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble in a statement.
Garmin reported US$3.08bn in sales for fiscal 2017, up 2% compared to fiscal 2016. Its Marine division had sales of US$374.0m for the year compared to US$331.9m in 2016.
The company expects 2018 sales to be about US$3.2bn, with an 18% sales gain in Marine. It expects that division to be its best sales performer this year.
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 Cam Lewis:
The RORC 600 Report once again ignored the fastest boat around the course. It is a grand insult to all involved in the sport and especially Paradox.
Paradox started behind Rambler 88 and finished in front and first. Paradox is not a Grand Prix racing machine, she is a fast racer cruiser and her owner cruises thousands of miles every year on her.
I bet also that Elvis set a new catamaran course record as well. A slightly different way to look at Multihulls.
Featured Brokerage
This is the first time this Swan 100S, VIRAGO, has been presented for sale on the brokerage market. Still under original ownership, in recent months, a new set of ECsix standing rigging was fitted plus a B&G H5000 upgrade, new Furuno chart plotters and much more.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Nautor's Swan Brokerage - Jeremy Peek
Tel. +377 97 97 95 07
nautorswanbrokerage.com
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Absolutely stunning 82 with black hull and spars. Five cabins finished in exquisite maple joinery with contrasting walnut fiddles and cabin soles. Her push button hydraulic furling rig makes her easy to handle, and she is ready to go sailing.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
T: +44 (0)23 8083 1011
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Maegan is Hull #3 of the incredibly successful 825 built by Oyster in Southampton, UK. Winner of the 2016 International Yacht & Aviation Sailing Yacht Interior Design Award.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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