Scuttlebutt Europe #4082 - 1 May
In This Issue
Blasting into Fever-Tree Race Day
The First Nacra 15 Worlds
Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Ohana wins Newport to Ensenada Race
IRC European Championship
Owner-drivers in the majority for 2018 GC32 Racing Tour
FAST40+ Class Circuit Round One: Rán takes Round One
2018 Melges 24 European Sailing Series in Portoroz
New Interactive Website Maps Ireland’s Historic Shipwrecks
Industry News
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: Tapan Ghosh
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
Blasting into Fever-Tree Race Day
Strong trade winds continued for Fever-Tree Race Day at Antigua Sailing Week where the rodeo ride upwind was rewarded with double-digit boat speed downwind, blasting through warm Caribbean surf. Sailors from 37 different countries have come to Antigua Sailing Week for the legendary sailing conditions and for the second day in a row, that was delivered in aces.
Antiguan flagged yachts are leading in five classes and three yachts with a perfect scoreline have deep Antiguan roots: Peter Harrison's superyacht Sojana, Jonty Layfield's Swan 48 Sleeper X and Antigua's National Sailing Academy racing Cork 1720, Spirit skippered by Jules Mitchell.
Congratulations to all of today's winners including: Stephen Murray Jr's Modified Volvo 70 Warrior, On Deck's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno, skippered by Arran Chapman, Oyster 82 Starry Night of the Caribbean, Jean Michel Figueres' Farr 40 Perseverare Diabolicum, Alexander Pfeiffer's KH+P La Bella Vita, Rainer Kamrath's Vanuatu, Thorsten Meyer's Rubens, Canon & Harvey's KHS&S Contractors, Robert Szustkowski's HH66 R-SIX, and Grahame Williams Bavaria 42 Full Monty.
Tomorrow's racing on the third day of Antigua Sailing Week is all about celebrating youth sailing in Antigua and Antigua & Barbuda Sailing Association's (ABSA) new Youth to Keelboat Programme (Y2K), sponsored by the Global Bank of Commerce.
The First Nacra 15 Worlds
Congratulations to Henri Demesmaeker and Frederique van Eupen and their coach Sebbe Godefroid for winning the 2018 Nacra 15 World Championship in Barcelona.
Over the last week in Barcelona, 60 eager Nacra 15 youth teams representing 18 Nations and four continents sailed their inaugural Nacra 15 World Championship. Competitors came from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, US Virgin Islands, Holland, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.
Friday saw excellent conditions with the building breeze testing the sailors and giving the older more powerful sailors the opportunity to push on, twin trapezing and really getting the best from the Nacra 15. The breeze built in the first three races and dropping again for the fourth of the day. Although a predominantly light regatta, there was something for everyone giving a balanced, hard earned result.
Top three:
Henri Demesmaeker & Fredrique van Eupen (BEL)
Doran Gouran Le Rich & Kenza Coutard (FRA)
Thomas Proust & Martineau Clement (FRA)
The best team under 16 was the French team Thomas Proust (11 year) & Martineau Clement (14 year). After the first 2 days they were leading the fleet, but could not consolidate this during the final racing day with more wind. We expect a lot of this team in the future!
Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:
Steve Benjamin (USA)
If you want to win this thing get on the Yale sailing team, those guys can vote... 'Of course I'm biased, he's my young brother' - Park Benjamin III; 'A lot of great sailors were given their first break by Benj over the years, as was I' - Matt Cornwell; 'One of the nicest guys out there and a huge supporter of young sailors' - Luiz Kahl; 'An incredibly effective champion for countless initiatives that have made our sport stronger' - Robert Hopkins; 'He's also always helping us with our inner city programme' - Robert Burke.
This month's nominees:
Taylor Canfield (ISV)
Before this year only three sailors had won four Congressional Cups in Long Beach (and the blinding crimson blazer that accompanies it) - Rod Davis, Peter Holmberg and Gavin Brady... and they went on to do OK. Now there's a fourth name on the list after Canfield saw off Terry Hutchinson's American Magic Cup squad 3-1 in the final of this year's event. Any America's Cup teams looking to boost the match race talent... we'll put you in touch
Paul Goodison (GBR)
Not being in the Artemis race crew last year must have lit some kind of a fire under the 2008 Laser gold medallist, who has won his third straight Moth world title (Moth, foiling monohull, AC75, just saying - ed). Runner-up this year was Luna Rossa tactician Francesco Bruni while last year on Lake Garda Goody topped what felt like half the Cup sailors from Bermuda. In that one it went Goodison, Burling, Jensen and Slingsby. Enough for you?
Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Henri Lloyd, Harken McLube & Dubarry. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!
Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month/vote-for-sailor-of-the-month
View past winners of Sailor of the Month
Ohana wins Newport to Ensenada Race
Ensenada, Mexico: Although trophies won in the annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race honor those who have bested their competitors by hours, minutes and seconds, it was the difference between years that garnered the most cheers at the 71st awards ceremonies today.
For the second time in three years, 91-year-old skipper Richard McNish was on stage collecting the City of Ensenada Trophy for Best Corrected Time, PHRF G, and the New York Yacht Club Trophy for Best Elapsed Time, Single Hull/Divided Rig.
McNish has sailed Cheerio II, a 46-foot, 1931 yawl, in N2E for almost 20 years. Each year before the race, the certified State Historical Vessel is hauled out and checked over to make sure nothing is going to break.
With all fleets getting underway from Newport Beach, CA on April 27, McNish said they got a good start and were making great time until 2:30 am. Then the wind shut off, he said. Prior to that time, the YB Tracker was predicted an awards sweep for the boat. But it took a while to build to 2 knots, before finally catching a bigger breeze and Cheerio was happy again, McNish said.
For years, only “men of a certain age”, AKA over 50, crewed on Cheerio II. Recently though, McNish started taking on a couple of younger, yet experienced sailors as crew members. The collaborative group has worked really well, he said.
Conversely, the minimum age requirement to crew on Joe Markee’s Ohana is three. It was only the second time the classic 1982 Swede 55 sailed in N2E and the first with his grandson, Liam Hardesty.
Mighty Merloe, the ORMA 60, may not have claimed the record this year, but as a consolation prize, they took home four trophies: Best Elapsed Overall, Best Corrected Overall, Best Elapsed and Corrected Orca-Maxi Class.
Full story in Scuttlebutt: sailingscuttlebutt.com
IRC European Championship
A grand gathering of IRC boats is expected in Cowes mid-June for the first IRC European Championship ever to be held on the Solent. This stretch of water represents the spiritual home of IRC, the rating rule which the Royal Ocean Racing Club runs jointly with its French counterpart, the Union Nationale pour la Course au Large. It is also historically significant - Cowes Week was first held here in 1826 and the first America's Cup (as it would become) in 1851. The Round the Island Race, today one of the largest participation events in sailing, starts from here as does the RORC's own Rolex Fastnet Race, first held in 1925, and now the world's largest offshore race. Running over 10-16th June, the IRC Europeans, the most prestigious title to win under the RORC/UNCL's rating rule, will mark a new chapter in Solent yacht racing history.
British and French boats are traditionally strongest competitors under IRC: A British boat has won the RORC Seasons Point Championship for the last two years, but in 2015 France owned the entire podium. French boats have won the last three Rolex Fastnet Races and are the present holders of the Commodores' Cup, which a British team last won in 2012.
The IRC Europeans schedule follows the same well-refined format as the Commodores' Cup with eight inshore races (windward-leewards, round the cans, some reaching starts), an Around the Isle of Wight (1.5x coefficient) and a 150 mile/30-36 hour offshore (2x coefficient).
The 2018 IRC Europeans is open to yachts with IRC Endorsed certificates and TCCs of 0.995 up to 1.270.
The RORC IRC Europeans takes place over 10-16 June 2018 with a race around the Isle of Wight on Monday 11th June and the overnight race over the Wednesday-Thursday, 13-14th June. -- Trish Jenkins
Owner-drivers in the majority for 2018 GC32 Racing Tour
For its fifth season, the GC32 Racing Tour will feature seven teams from six nations and four continents fighting it out in their ultra-high performance one design foiling catamarans.
All of the most successful GC32 teams are returning. This includes Realteam, winner of the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour. Back for its third season, the Swiss crew has two replacements for 2018 with the experienced Benjamin Amiot and Arthur Cevey joining from Team ENGIE and Team Tilt respectively.
Returning too is the 2016 winner, NORAUTO powered by Team France, skippered by multihull legend, Volvo Ocean Race winner and America’s Cup skipper Franck Cammas.
For 2018 the majority of teams have owner-drivers. Leading the charge is likely to be Argo of American two time Melges 32 World Champion Jason Carroll. Argo won the GC32 Racing Tour owner-driver prize in 2016 and in 2017 was runner-up on both the overall and owner-driver leaderboards, winning the GC32 Villasimius Cup outright.
British PRO Stuart Childerley will be setting windward-leeward courses with either upwind or reaching starts, depending upon conditions.
Racing on the GC32 Racing Tour gets underway with the first GC32 World Championship, where the Tour will go head to head with the Extreme Sailing Series off Riva del Garda, Italy over 23-27 May.
2018 GC32 Racing Tour teams
1. Argo, Jason Carroll, USA
2. Codigo Rojo Racing, Federico Ferioli, ARG
3. .film Racing, Simon Delzoppo, AUS
4. Frank Racing, Simon Hull, NZL
5. NORAUTO, Frank Cammas, FRA
6. Realteam, Esteban Garcia, SUI
7. Zoulou, Erik Maris, FRA
www.gc32racingtour.com
www.gc32worlds.com
FAST40+ Class Circuit Round One: Rán takes Round One
Ten teams contested Round One of the 2018 FAST40+ Race Circuit, hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in the Solent. The FAST40+ fleet enjoyed eight races over three days in a variety of conditions. Making their debut in the FAST40+ Class, Niklas Zennstrom's Carkeek designed Rán VII, showed impressive speed to win the regatta and the Henri Lloyd Trophy.
Peter Morton's CF40+ Girls on Film, with Graham Deegan on the helm, had a consistent regatta to take second place despite not taking a single bullet. Stewart Whitehead's Carkeek MkIII Rebellion scored to race wins to take third, just ahead of Ker40+ Pace, chartered by Niall Dowling. Of the ten teams, seven made the podium, proof that close, intense racing is in the DNA of the FAST40+ Class.
Round Two of the FAST40+ Rasce Circuit will take place 26-28 May, 2018 as part of the Poole Regatta.
2018 Melges 24 European Sailing Series in Portoroz
Portoroz, Slovenia: It has been a weekend of light sea breeze in the bay of Piran and Portoroz, but still the Melges 24 fleet, composed for this occasion of twenty-five boats from eleven countries, managed to complete a whole series of scheduled nine races for the second event of the 2018 Melges 24 European Sailing Series.
The fight for the podium has been tough until the very last race of the series, when the top teams were all tied in a bunch of points: with partial scores of 6-3-2, the American entry War Canoe (USA841) of Mike Goldfarb, at the first experience in the 2018 Melges 24 European Sailing Series, managed to defend the first place obtained in the previous days of racing affirming itself as a winner of the event of Portoroz.
The next big event of the Melges 24 fleet will be in a month time in Victoria, Canada - the 2018 Melges 24 World Championship, while the Melges 24 European Sailing Series will resume on June 29th to July 1st in Torbole, where the crews will have the possibility to start testing the race course for the Melges 24 Europeans to be held in Riva del Garda on August 3-10.
Final top five:
1. War Canoe - Mike Goldfarb, Corinthian Club Seattle, USA, 31 points
2. Lenny (COR) - Tonu Toniste, Kalevi Jahtklubi, EST 34
3. Maidollis - Gian Luca Perego/Carlo Fracassoli, YC Cortina, ITA, 38
4. Taki 4 (COR) - Marco Zammarchi/Niccolo Bertola, YC Italiano, ITA, 44
5. FGF Sailing Team Domonkos Rozsnyay/Robert Bakoczy, HUN, 60
Full results: www.melges24.ycmp.eu/results/
New Interactive Website Maps Ireland’s Historic Shipwrecks
Heritage Minister Josepha Madigan yesterday (Wednesday 25 April) announced the launch of a new website with an interactive map of the thousands of historic shipwrecks in Irish waters.
The Wreck Viewer has been developed to facilitate free and easy access to the Wreck Inventory of Ireland Database compiled by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The database holds information on over 18,000 known and likely wreck sites both off the Irish coast and in Ireland’s inland waterways.
These wrecks span the entirety of maritime travel around and within the island, from prehistoric logboats to medieval trading vessels, warships and ocean liners.
Detailed are exact locations for approximately 4,000 of the recorded wrecks. The map also provides summary information on individual wrecks and their history, voyage, cargo, passengers and, if known, the circumstances of their loss.
Industry News
Dentons announced today that it will be a Presenting Sponsor of the Volvo Ocean Race Finish
From June 24 to July 1, 2018, The Hague, as the ultimate destination, will be the epicenter of the Dutch and international sailing community, where the boats will finish this epic contest and the final points of the race will be awarded. The Race Village at the Volvo Ocean Race is open to the public and the event is free of charge. In addition to watching the race, there will be numerous attractions, social events and sporting activities for the spectators. The event organizer, TIG Sports, expects between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors over the week.
Dentons is the world’s largest law firm
www.dentons.com
www.volvooceanrace.com
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Group Beneteau’s Boat Division generated revenues of €378m for the first half of its financial year ended February 2018, an increase of 7.5% over the same period last year (+10.5% at constant exchange rates).
France’s leading builder said the strong results were driven by 22% growth in European markets. Invoicing for fleet sales was flat through the first half, although the company said its order book for this segment was up nearly 21% through the end of March. Similarly, invoicing for sales in North and Central America reflected a softening of -7.5% for the first half, while the order book for the region is up more than 6%.
South American sales remained depressed, down more than 22% for the period, while Asia-Pacific was up 4% and Rest of World sales improved 13%. Overall, Beneteau reported its order book up 15%, with a steady split between the motorboat and sailboat business of 56:44.
Given the favourable market environment, Beneteau raised its revenue target to €1.5bn for the year (versus €1.4bn previously). The current operating margin has also been revised upwards and is expected to reach 8.5-9%.
The Boat Division’s outlook for full-year revenue growth was also confirmed at between +8-10% at constant exchange rates, outpacing the market.
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The organisers of the 9th La Grande Motte International Multihull Boat Show in the South of France have described this year's event as a success, with excellent weather helping to draw around 14,000 visitors to the port of Occitanie.
According to the organisers, the show (April 18-22) met the requirements of those in the industry, confirming the thriving nature of this branch of the boating sector. Around 60 catamarans and trimarans were displayed on water on over half a mile of pontoons.
An even bigger event is promised for next year’s 10th edition, which is scheduled to run from April 24-28 in the same location.
Featured Brokerage
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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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2008 Oyster 655 Larette. 1,350,000 GBP. Located in France.
Larette is a luxurious modern sloop with contemporary design. She offers great volume for a 65 foot yacht whilst offering outstanding performance due to her carbon mast and boom, combined with performance sails.
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2010 Oyster 655 Blue Horizon of London. 1,500,000 EUR. Located in West Med.
Young 655, cutter rigged with hydraulic in mast furling. Well equipped with generator, watermaker, dishwasher, washer/dryer. She presents as new, with beautiful teak interior with cream leather upholstery. Sensibly priced.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Banning something is the easiest way to make it desirable. -- Tapan Ghosh
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html
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