In This Issue
Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 Highlights
World Sailing Presidential Update
Don't follow the pack
Andalusia Olympic Week - Closed by weather
Laureus World Sports Awards 2018
2018 Youth Sailing World Championships
Karl Kwok returns to the Rolex China Sea Race
24-hour America's Cup 'Grind-athon' for Sport Relief
Ron Holland has Former Shipmate Johnny McWilliam to Help Him in Australian Launch of Memoirs
Australian Sailing offers condolences to Thomas and Owen families
Letters to the Editor
Featured Brokerage: Tartan 41 - AURORA, Nautor Swan 68 - SEA EAGLE OF SHIAN III, 2007 Oyster 655 - ROULETTE
The Last Word: Gary Snyder

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

Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 Highlights
Leg 6 had everything from wet, high-speed dashes to drifting in soaring temperatures of the Doldrums in the 6100 nautical miles to Auckland.

World Sailing Presidential Update
World Sailing President Kim Andersen offers an overview of the process that will select the 2024 Olympic events along with a look forward to other issues World Sailing is working on.

Recently, I read an article by Craig Leweck at Scuttlebutt where he quoted Charles Darwin. Darwin said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change." Both Darwin and Leweck were right!

While change has never been easy, I believe that as sailors we cannot sit back on our accomplishments. But rather, we must force ourselves to evaluate our events and ensure they in turn keep our Olympic status intact, develop our sport and continue to attract new sailors.

Make no mistake, the process at hand is not about the International Olympic Committee but rather about sailing and our ability to adapt and remain a relevant and exciting sport – now and in the future.

Why is a new decision process being done?
In November 2014, at the World Sailing Annual Conference, a submission was approved to introduce a new Olympic Events and Equipment decision process. The reason for this new process was to improve the predictability and continuity of World Sailing Olympic decisions.

What is the decision process based on?
The decision process is based on Regulation 23 in the World Sailing Statutes which states that a minimum of four events need to be reviewed for the 2024 Olympic Games. As per the regulation, World Sailing will make two important decisions in the coming months: deciding on the event types and the equipment used for the 2024 Olympic Games by May 2018 and November 2018, respectively.

However, should new equipment be recommended, then the decision for new equipment should be selected no later than November 2019 following equipment trials.

Full article in Scuttlebutt:
www.sailingscuttlebutt.com

Don't follow the pack
It is no great surprise that when fast-growing Australian performance clothing innovators Zhik turned their attention to the creation of a new high-performing offshore seaboot the result would be a little different...

It wasn't the best of legs for Team AkzoNobel. Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race was a 6,500-mile sleigh ride through the Southern Ocean from Cape Town to Melbourne. Things went wrong for the Dutch crew when they mistimed a gybe in strong winds and big rolling seas. Laying the boat on its side out of the gybe led to damage to the mainsail battens and the mast track and forced the crew to make running repairs while trying to maintain as much speed as they could.

It's at times like these that you want everything working in your favour, which is why Team AkzoNobel – as well as Dongfeng Race Team, who finished second on this leg – opted for Zhik as their technical apparel partner. Recently voted Best in Class by Yachting Monthly magazine in the UK and Dutch sailing magazine Waterkampioen, Zhik's ZK Seaboots don't look like anything else on the market. In fact, Zhik's design team started with a blank slate to come up with something that looks and performs quite differently in several key respects.

Full article in the March issue of Seahorse: www.seahorsemagazine.com

Andalusia Olympic Week - Closed by weather
The Andalusia Olympic Week in Cadiz, Spain, was wrapped up Tuesday due to the very poor weather forecast for the rest of the week.

In the 470 event, overnight leaders Hannal Mills and Eilidh McIntyre did not race and the event went to Spain's Silvia Mas and Patricia Cantero.

In the Finn class, Alican Kaynar of Turkey was the overall winner. Britain's Callum Dixon finished in 16th and Cameron Tweedle in 18th.

The Finn European Championship will take place here in ten days time.

In the men's RS:X, winner was Piotr Myszka was the winner three points ahead of Britain's Tom Squires after six race. Pavel Tarnovski pf Poland was third.

In the women's RS:X, Spain's Blanca Manchon was the winner with second Zofia Noceti-Klepacka and third Malgorzata Bialecka, both of Poland. Emma Wilson of Britain finished in fourth place.

In the 49er Diego Botin and Iago Lopez of Spain won all nine races.

The women's 49erFX was won by Patricia Suarez and Julia Ritaof Spain. Vikki Payne and Alice Masterman GBR finished fourth.

In the women's Laser Radial the winner was Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark. Filip Ciszkiewicz of Poland won the men's Laser Standard. -- Gerald New in SailWeb

www.sailweb.co.uk

Event site: www.facebook.com/carnavalrace/

Laureus World Sports Awards 2018
The annual Laureus World Sports Awards honor individuals and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year. The 2018 Awards Ceremony, held February 27 in Monaco, recognized Vendee Globe winner Armel Le Cléac'h in the Action Sportsperson category.

The Awards presented included best Sportsman, Sportswoman, Team, Breakthrough, Comeback, Disabled Sportsperson, Action Sportsperson, plus Lifetime Achievement and Spirit of Sport Awards, both of which are given at the discretion of the Laureus Academy.

America's Cup winner Team New Zealand had been nominated in the Team category but lost out to Four-time F1 Constructors Champions Mercedes-AMG Petronas.

www.sailingscuttlebutt.com

List of winners

awards.laureus.com

2018 Youth Sailing World Championships
The entry deadline for the 2018 Youth Sailing World Championship, which will be held in Corpus Christi from 14 to 22 July, is fast approaching.

Entries made before the 15 March 2018 can benefit from lower entry fees. All entries made after this date will have to pay the late entry fee and equipment cannot be guaranteed for these entries.

Member National Authorities (MNA) shall enter competitors, team leaders and coaches by following the entry process set out in the Entry Guide and paying the required fees.

Full information, including eligibility and entry details can be found in the Notice of Race.

www.worldsailingywc.org

Karl Kwok returns to the Rolex China Sea Race
One month until the start of the 2018 Rolex China Sea Race and two-time Rolex China Sea Race Overall and Line Honours winner Karl Kwok is set to return to the event on his newest edition of Beau Geste, a MOD70 one-design trimaran.

Hong Kong native and successful businessman, Karl Kwok is the only owner in Rolex China Sea Race history to have won both Overall and Line Honours in two editions of the race. Kwok started competitive sailing when he joined the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in 1975 and embarked on his first Rolex China Sea Race on a Dubois 37 HINYUAN II with partner Gaston Chan in 1982.

In the 2000 edition, Kwok bested his own Farr ILC40' Beau Geste 1996 record by an incredible 28h 10m 49s on his Whitbred 60 Beau Geste. He held this epic Rolex China Sea Race record of 47h 43m 07s for an incredible 16 years until Alive, a Reichel/Pugh 66, broke it by a mere 11m 59s in the 2016 edition.

Joining Kwok on board will be his regular team of experienced world class sailors who have been on the MOD over the past six month including tactician (New Zealand America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailor) Gavin Brady, navigator (British five time Volvo Ocean Race sailor) Matthew Humphries as well as RHKYC sailors Margaret Chan and Patrick Kong.

This year Beau Geste will be sailing under the HKPN rating (Hong Kong Performance Number) instead of IRC and will be in contention for the race record and line-honours.

MOD Beau Geste will join the already 32-strong entry list with boats hailing from six territories including Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Mainland China, USA and Hong Kong. Among the 2018 lineup are Alive, the 2016 Line Honours and 2nd Overall winner; the famous classic yacht Dorade, built in 1929 and which recently completed the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race; several China entries including Seawolf, Shanghai 141237, Tong Ran and UBOX; and a father-son double-handed team on AYA.

The Notice of Race for the 2018 Rolex China Sea Race starting on 28 March 2018 is available online at www.rolexchinasearace.com

24-hour America's Cup 'Grind-athon' for Sport Relief
Britain's America's Cup Challenger, Land Rover BAR, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, is supporting Sport Relief by hosting a 24 hour America's Cup 'grind-athon' and 12-hour disco 'Spin-athon' led by Bestival Founder Rob da Bank and Longplay founder, Tim Weeks at the team's Portsmouth HQ.

The challenge starts at 2200 on Thursday 22nd March, with team members keeping the grinding going for 24 hours non-stop. The 'spin-athon' will come into play from 1000 on Friday 23rd and both activities will finish at 2200 Friday evening. Throughout the challenge the team will be looking to 'power the tower'; Portsmouth's iconic Emirates Spinnaker Tower will light up blue over the 24-hour period, as the clock counts down to 2200 on Friday.

The Portsmouth based team has also partnered with the 1851 Trust, the official charity of Land Rover BAR, as well as Pompey in the Community, to invite community groups, local businesses and sailing and sport clubs, to take part and get involved.

Sport Relief is a nationwide campaign to encourage the nation to get active alongside raising money to help vulnerable people in both the UK and the world's poorest countries. The team has set a fundraising target of £18,510k. 1851 is a significant date for the team, the year America's Cup first started with a race around the Isle of Wight. A British Challenger has never won the America's Cup.

Support the team and donate to their Sport Relief efforts HERE You can follow the team's journey to Sport Relief on the @landroverbar social media pages. On Friday 23rd March, Lady Georgie Ainslie will be documenting the activity with live updates. Interested in getting involved email us at .

Ron Holland has Former Shipmate Johnny McWilliam to Help Him in Australian Launch of Memoirs
International yacht designer Ron Holland of New Zealand became renowned in 1973 when he won the Quarter Ton Worlds in England with the 24ft Eygthene, which he'd designed himself and then skippered to success writes W M Nixon. The first of hundreds of winning designs, the original Eyghthene is now lovingly-maintained and sailed in Poland, but Ron's success has been such that today you'll find Holland designs of all types and lengths up to super-mega-yacht size in every corner of the world where special boats gather.

Ron's own career saw him based for many year in the Cork area, first in Crosshaven and then in Kinsale, while more recently he has operated his worldwide design business from Vancouver in Western Canada. It has been a long and complex story, involving many remarkable people and hundreds of fabulous boats - it would take a book to do it justice. So most appropriately, the man himself has been giving some time in recent years to put his multiple memoirs in order, and they recently appeared in book form: All The Oceans, intriguingly sub-titled "Designing by the Seat of My Pants".

It's intriguing because Ron and his notable team were pioneers in the use of Computer-Aided Design (CAD), yet despite that use of the latest technology, you can nearly always tell a Ron Holland design by some sixth sense. Like all great designers, he has his own individual trademark style which shines through the potentially anonymising effects of computers.

WM Nixon's feature article in Afloat: afloat.ie/resources/book-review

Australian Sailing offers condolences to Thomas and Owen families
Australian Sailing and Yachting Western Australian, on behalf of the sailing community, offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of Rob Thomas and Paul Owens, who passed away during racing off the coast of Western Australia.

Matt Allen, President of Australian Sailing expressed the feelings of many sailors saying, "I'm sure I speak for all of our members in offering our sympathies to the families and friends of Rob and Paul, who were lost on the weekend. Our thoughts are also with their four crew and to all those who assisted in the rescue, particularly fellow competitors who were quickly on the scene.

"We also express our thanks for the outstanding work of the many volunteers from the local Clubs, emergency services, search and maritime authorities who worked tirelessly over the weekend", Matt added.

President of Yachting WA Mark Fitzhardinge said both men were experienced and respected sailors, "Rob and Paul were great friends to many here in the west, and will be sorely missed. At Fremantle Sailing Club, Rob was Vice Commodore and had been an engaged member of the Club and contributed over many years. Paul has been sailing for many years and we mourn his passing. Sailing is a strong community and will pull together to help the Clubs and their members during this sad time".

Australian Sailing and Yachting WA are assisting Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and the relevant authorities with their investigations into the incident.

www.sailing.org.au

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 Gordon Davies, Bray, Wicklow, Ireland

Re: "Water Olympics"

I am delighted that this idea seems to be on to the agenda at last.

A huge advantage of running a Water Olympics is that there is a real logic in providing infrastructure for all the events on one site, which would remain as a functioning watersports centre for all water sports. Marina, rowing and canoeing basins, pools are all equipment that would be put to real use after the games. The slalom course might require some imaginative engineering - using wind, solar and tidal enrgy to pump water on to the course perhaps.

The holding of a Water Olympics could also be used to solve another recurring problem for the Summer Olympics. An event held at sea level and at a coastal venue with a climate tempered by the proximity with the sea would also be ideal for the equestrian events. These event, which have along Olympic tradition are often difficult to stage at some of the Summer Olympic venues.

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The Last Word
Three-fourths of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into entering. -- Gary Snyder

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