In This Issue
Slow start as Volvo Ocean Race fleet drifts into Leg 10 to Gothenburg
Earendil Wins Atlantic Cup by One Point
UBS 20th Jersey Regatta
IRC European Championship & Commodores' Cup
J/70 Armada all set in Vigo
Fire destroys the former Groupama Team France base
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Rolex Giraglia Cup
Light Air 80th Bol d'Or
New chairman for the Yachting Journalists' Association
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: Preet Bharara
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
Slow start as Volvo Ocean Race fleet drifts into Leg 10 to Gothenburg
The Volvo Ocean Race fleet had a slow start to Leg 10 as a high-pressure system brought bright sunny skies and warm weather but very little breeze to Cardiff on Sunday afternoon.
With nearly no wind at the scheduled 1500 UTC start time, the Race Committee pushed a short postponement to allow the tide to turn, so the strong tidal flow would assist in pushing the fleet out to sea.
The inshore portion of the race start was also cancelled in an effort to get the fleet out of the Bristol Channel before the tide turned again on Sunday evening and the boats would have to fight the current to clear the channel.
The Spanish team MAPFRE led across the starting line in a slow motion ballet, with Team Brunel, Vestas 11th Hour Racing, team AkzoNobel and Dongfeng Race Team alongside them.
Both SHK/Scallywag and Turn the Tide on Plastic found themselves too close to the start line with the current pushing them over early. As they manoeuvred to get room to start on time, Scallywag was penalised for not keeping clear of Turn the Tide on Plastic and needed to offload a penalty turn putting them at the back of the fleet.
Leg 10 is a 1,300 nautical mile sprint – at least it will be once the wind picks up – from Cardiff to Gothenburg, Sweden.
The results of this leg could be critical in determining the overall winner. Skipper Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team leads MAPFRE by just one point, with Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel a further two points adrift.
Despite the light winds during Sunday's start, the pace is expected to pick up and the ETA into Gothenburg is Thursday night and into Friday.
Earendil Wins Atlantic Cup by One Point
French/Italian team #145 Earendil, skippered by Catherine Pourre and Pietro Luciani, captured the 2018 Atlantic Cup as they dominated the two offshore legs and held on to a narrow advantage as #128 Toothface II closed the gap with exceptional racing in the inshore series. The Portland-based #127 Amhas, skippered by Micah Davis and Rob Windsor, placed third after a consistent performance throughout the two-week event.
Pourre, the first female skipper to win the Atlantic Cup, and co-skipper Pietro Luciani of Venice, Italy, used the impressive lead they built by besting the field during the first offshore leg (Charleston, S.C. to Jersey City, N.J.) and the second leg (Jersey City, N.J. to Portland, Maine). During the inshore series, Boston-based Toothface II put the pressure on Earendil by winning two out of the five races and placing second twice. Eärendil hung on by just one point, beating Toothface II 77-76 on total points.
Final results
1. Earendil, 77
2. Toothface, 76
3. Amhas, 72
4. Dragon, 62
5. Angola Cables, 57
6. Oakcliff Racing, 43
7. Privateer, 40
8. Talanta, 37
9. Power of One, 33
10. Esprit Scout, 23
11. First Light, 16
UBS 20th Jersey Regatta
The Regatta schedule provides racing for sportsboat, IRC and NHC cruiser/racer, Quarter Ton, dayboat, dinghy, sport catamaran and windsurfer classes, a veritable 'catch-all for both local and visiting sailors alike. In this special year, the fifth Spinlock IRC Channel Islands Regional Championships for IRC-rated Classes 1 & 2 cruiser/racers will be a major feature of the programme.
The event opens on the Thursday evening with a welcoming reception followed by a distance race for the sportsboat and cruiser/racer classes on Friday morning. Saturday and Sunday sees these classes racing in and off St Aubin's Bay over round-the-cans and Olympic-type courses. The 'small boat' classes race over Olympic-type courses entirely within this beautiful Bay.
As ever, Jersey Marinas will be providing complimentary berthing for competitors during the lead-up to the Regatta whilst Condor Ferries is offering discounted fares for those competitors wishing to ship their boats to the Island to join in the event.
The Regatta is an open event to which visiting boats are assured of a very warm welcome.
The Notice of Race is available on the website, www.jerseyregatta.com. Enticingly low entry fees are made even more attractive with an 'early bird' fee for those entering no later than 6th August. The definitive closing date is 7th September.
For further information, e-mail .
IRC European Championship & Commodores' Cup
With such a light forecast, the Royal Ocean Racing Club's on-the-water officials, led by PRO Stuart Childerley, did well to complete one race on the opening day of the IRC European Championship, incorporating the Commodores' Cup. Unfortunately the 5-7 knot north-northeasterly wind, all but disappeared just prior to the final IRC Two and Three boats finishing. After sending the fleet back to port, the PRO called it a day just before 1500 BST.
While only one race was held on the central Solent, there were some shining performances, none more so than the X-37 Hanson of Dane Michael Mollmann. Hansen not only beat all of her IRC Three rivals, but finished amid the front-runners in IRC Two.
IRC Two also had a run-away leader on the water in the Blair family's King 40 Cobra, however they lost out a lot as the wind shut down on the final leg. This allowed their rivals on Roger Bowden's sistership, Nifty to live up to her name, sidestepping the stationary Cobra.
There was another run-away winner and an on-the-water lead change in IRC One, where James Neville's HH42 INO XXX led around the top mark only to be rolled by South African Mike Bartholomew's former GP42 Tokoloshe II on the first downwind. "We split from them and were going a bit quicker," explained Bartholomew. "It was pleasant enough, very shifty and the breeze was up and down, but we like that light stuff - the 40s are all quick in that." The FAST40+ yachts romped around the course and also benefitted from completing the last run before the breeze subsided.
Seven three boat teams have emerged to compete in this year's Commodores' Cup, being scored jointly with the IRC Europeans. After one race it is close, with the Celtic Team (Shaitan-Adventurer-Keronimo) tied at the top with Lastminute.EU (Hansen-Fargo-Juno) and just one point ahead of Haribo (Oui-Tilt Racing-Selma Racing). The Celtic Team, supported by Aberdeen Standard, benefitted today from podium finishes by both Adventurer and Keronimo.
Results: www.rorc.org/racing/race-results/2018-results
J/70 Armada all set in Vigo
Over 70 teams from 15 countries will contest the 2018 J/70 Class Open European Championship and 2018 J/70 Corinthian Class European Championship. The reigning Open and Corinthian J/70 World Champions will be competing, and the entire podium from the 2017 J/70 European champions, plus a galaxy of stars from the world of sailing. 13 races are scheduled over five days, in the stunning Ria de Vigo on the Atlantic coast of Northwest Spain. The Real Club Nautico de Vigo is providing a warm welcome to competitors with social occasions throughout the regatta.
Reigning J/70 World Champion, Peter Duncan's "Relative Obscurity" will be representing the USA with 2018 Congressional Cup and Argo Gold Cup winner, Victor Diaz de Leon.
The host nation Spain has the largest entry by country with 22 teams entered, eight proudly representing the host club, Real Club Nautico de Vigo. Hot contenders for the European crown will be Pichu Torcida's "Noticia", which was runner up for the 2017 event.
11 teams are entered from Italy. Claudia Rossi's "Petite Terrible" will be gunning for a hat-trick of European titles, having won the event for the last two years, the Italian women helm will be one of the favourites. Claudia's father, Alberto Rossi, will be racing "Enfant Terrible". Alberto is a past Farr40 World Champion and three-time ORC World Champion. Reigning J/70 Corinthian Class World Champion, Gianfranco Noe's "White Hawk" will be racing. Vincenzo Onorato will be representing the Yacht Club de Monaco, under the name of his well know America's Cup Syndicate "Mascalzone Latino".
12 teams from Great Britain form the largest group from overseas. Olympic sailors and World Champions will be racing with owner drivers including Graham Clapp's "Jeepster" with reigning Nacra 17 World Champion Ben Saxton. 2015 Corinthian J/70 World Champion, Simon Ling's "Team Spitfire" will also be in action, with past J/24 World Champion Ian Southworth. Martin Dent's "Jelvis" will be racing with past J/80 World Champion Ruairidh Scott.
Racing begins Tuesday June 12th.
Fire destroys the former Groupama Team France base
In the early hours of Saturday morning (9 June), a fire broke out in Lorient, Brittany, in Groupama Team France's former base utilised during the 35th America's Cup.
It is extremely fortunate that there were no victims to lament. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
The material damage didn't affect Team France's equipment as this is now stored at their sports activity premises rather than in this base.
Moreover, the AC 50, the boat used in the 35th edition of the Cup was not stored in the base.
The sports programme led by Franck Cammas in 2018 (GC32 Racing Tour with Norauto powered by Team France and the Youth Team France programme supported by Suzuki) will therefore continue as normal.
Seahorse June 2018
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
The will to change
Vendee Globe competitor Conrad Colman has been among a handful of committed early adopters
Prime location
The 11th Yacht Racing Forum is scheduled to be hosted at Lorient in Brittany in October 2018
This will be interesting
There has been America's Cup trickledown... it just never seems to trickle down very far. This time could be different. Burns Fallow and James Boyd
No end in sight
(Multiple) America's Cup-winning sparmaker and composites pioneer Eric Hall has been at it again
A club worth joining
Nautor's Swan are boosting their three one-design classes with a new calendar of races
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Rolex Giraglia Cup
The fleet is back in port after the Sanremo- Saint Tropez race, with victory in the first leg of the RG going to the crew of Hebe V in ORC and of Rossko in IRC. In the Gulf of Saint Tropez a magnificent day of stiff breezes welcomed the crews who took advantage to fine tune their yachts for the coastal races.
Saturday was interpreted in different ways by the crews who started filling the Gulf of Saint Tropez. With the 80 yachts entered for the Sanremo-Saint Tropez who began arriving over the morning – 7h45m
was the uncorrected time for Vera, the Maxi yacht that was first across the finish line in Saint Tropez, and it was a "foreign" double in the ORC and IRC divisions with the Victoria in compensated time of Hvelka Jakub's M37 Hebe V (11h00m45s) in ORC and Zhbankov Timofey's very fast JPK 10.80 Rossko (10h30m39s) in IRC.
An afternoon's rest for these crews who had been battling all night in a long and soaking wet beat up to Sanremo, with seas running and a south-westerly wind. But it was a day of intense training in the Gulf for the rest of the fleet, which took advantage of a good stiff breeze for a final tweaking of yachts and crew.
So the games start tomorrow, with the gun at 11 o'clock to start three days of coastal racing and the spectacle of 241 boats that from tomorrow will be filling the Gulf of Saint Tropez with colour.
The Rolex Giraglia demonstrates once again it's a real spectacle, increasingly appreciated by yachtsmen and enthusiasts: an increasing number of foreigners and very high level crews for this regatta which, since 1953, has continued to innovate while remaining faithful to its nature.
Updated rankings on www.rolexgiraglia.com
Light Air 80th Bol d'Or
The decision 35 Mobimo, skipped by Christian Wahl, brilliantly won this 80th edition of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud after more than 14 hours of sailing. The "Wizard of Lake Geneva" made a fantastic comeback of the entire fleet from the entrance to the Petit Lac, to finish in a pocket handkerchief and headdress Okalys Youth Project post. An incredible arrival in the Geneva night coupled with an unbearable suspense.
This is the boat blocked by the young Arnaud Grange with Loick Peyron and Nicolas Grange aboard, which completes the podium of the scratch classification three minutes apart. Follow Ylliam Comptoir Immobilier and Alinghi.
After seventeen hours on the water, TBS first monohull
The first monohull crossed the finish line at 03:30 Sunday morning, after 17 hours 30 minutes and 57 seconds of a real thought between light breezes and no wind.
TBS, skippered by François Thorens, managed a master stroke by taking the lead of operations off Hermance. After leading the return trip, the Hungarian Libera Taxiphone Premium Raffica, skippered by Kiraly Zsolt, was polite to TBS at the entrance to Petit Lac.
The monohull regatta was as exciting as that of the multi. Exciting, but long enough, laborious and difficult because of the weak winds prevailing almost the whole course.
New chairman for the Yachting Journalists' Association
He was elected as new chairman at the Association's annual meeting, held at the Naval Club in London's Mayfair on Wednesday. (June 6) to succeed Barry Pickthall, former Times and Sunday Times Yachting correspondent.
Presently founder and CEO of 1080 Media TV, an award winning broadcast production company established ten years, which is mid-production with the third edition of the successful 'The Race of Their Lives' TV series. This is seven one hour adventure documentaries about the people taking part in the 2017-18 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, and which has grown to reach a global audience over the past five years. The company also covers other sports of all types, and offers audio visual services to it's international roster of clients.
The Yachting Journalists' Association has a long tradition of promoting leisure boating in all its forms, and is internationally recognised for its 'Yachtsman of the Year' award that dates back to 1955.
Cliff's earlier career included 12-years as a photo-journalist covering, among other sports, the windsurfing world tour as the official photographer, the same for Wembley Stadium and for other major sporting events. He then became the international media director for the windsurf world tour for a four year period before leaving to establish an events management and TV production company. This he ran for many successful years, which included covering all of the Rolex international sailing events as their official broadcast company, and the World Match Racing Tour as host broadcaster, where he was able to innovate with live coverage concepts. The company also covered countless other international events across all aspects of sailing, including the live 'in-house' coverage for BMW Oracle during the 2010 America's Cup in Valencia. He then moved on to help establish Team Korea, South Korea's first ever entry into the America's Cup where he took the role of Media Director.
He is married with two children in their late teens.
The full YJA Committee elected are Digby Fox (vice-chairman), John Roberson, Amanda Fisher, Mark Jardine, Dave Selby, Michael Ford (hon treasurer) and Chris English (hon secretary)
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The Last Word
I have come to really love the sound of nervous laughter. -- Preet Bharara
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