In This Issue
Day 1 RC44 Marstrand Cup - Igor Lah's CEEREF dominates in Marstrand
France rules the waves in Lagos
Class49 Eärendil competing at the AAR Bermuda Hamburg
The case of the Missing Barometer
Snipe World Masters
Fifth Edition Of The Resolute Cup Set For Newport In September
Full House
Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta Expands For 2019 Edition
Louis Smyth 1937–2018
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: Firesign Theater

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

Day 1 RC44 Marstrand Cup - Igor Lah's CEEREF dominates in Marstrand
Igor Lah's Team CEEREF, which went into this regatta as the leading boat after the first two events of the 2018 RC44 season, carried on its excellent form off Marstrand today, posting the fleet's best results.

On a day of light winds but with big shifts and a generally unstable pattern, Team CEEREF started well, winning Race 1 and followed that with a fourth place in Race 2 and a third position in Race 3.

Second overall in the sunshine on Marstrand Fjord, on a day of tight racing in this highly competitive one-design fleet, was John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum.

Despite being caught out by a big windshift in Race 1, Bassadone's crew finished just one point behind Team CEEREF, following a sixth place in the opener with a race win and a second place in races two and three.

Rounding out the podium today was Bronenosec Sailing Team from Russia skippered by Kirill Frolov who were making their debut in the class this season, having missed the first two events. But Frolov and his team were on it from the start and showed excellent downwind speed, compiling a scorecard of 3,2 and 6.

For full results visit: www.rc44.com/results

France rules the waves in Lagos
If regatta success comes down to posting consistently good results, the two French teams held a masterclass in this on day one of the GC32 Lagos Cup, the second event of the 2018 GC32 Racing Tour.

Lagos, making its debut on the GC32 Racing Tour, laid on great conditions today with solid breeze and flat water – ideal for the GC32 catamarans to foil at high speed. With a shifty wind, building from, and eventually dropping back to, 14 knots, Principal Race Officer Stuart Childerley laid courses with reaching starts for the first three races before changing to conventional windward starts after the wind began gusting to 20+ knots.

In these the French teams dominated: Franck Cammas' NORAUTO powered by Team France and Erik Maris' Zoulou, helmed today in her owner's absence by F18 and GC32 veteran Gurvan Bontemps. NORAUTO won two races and was never off the podium, while Zoulou claimed one and her worst result was a fourth. Interestingly these two teams are related, most of Zoulou's crew sailed aboard Cammas' last America's Cup challenger.

Cammas got off to a great start winning the first race by one of the biggest margins ever recorded in the GC32 Racing Tour history and looked like a different team compared to last month's GC32 World Championship in Riva del Garda. "In Riva we had some bad races with OCSes. Here the goal is only to do good races. Today the goal is not to lose too many points." Nonetheless NORAUTO's peak speed was still more than 37 knots. "We were at the cavitation speed of the boat, so that was the maximum I think! It was great, but the boat was moving around a lot!"

Unfortunately the conditions took their toll with Federico Ferioli's Codigo Rojo Racing capsizing shortly after the top mark rounding in windy race three.. No one was hurt in the incident, but the red GC32's mast broke. This evening, the GC32 Racing Tour community has rallied and Ferioli's team has received three offers of replacement masts. They have successfully secured one kindly offered to them by INEOS TEAM UK which will get the Argentinean team racing again tomorrow.

The big conditions allowed the teams to put in some high average speeds in the opening round of the ANONIMO Speed Challenge where Frank Racing tops the leaderboard with 25.26 knots.

Racing continues Friday with five more races starting at 1300 local time.

www.gc32racingtour.com

Class49 Eärendil competing at the AAR Bermuda Hamburg
The Class40 Division of the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta, organized in the 150th anniversary of Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, is coming. The latest entry of the AAR Bermuda-Hamburg Race is Eärendil with Skipper Catharine Pourre. The Class40 Division now includes 4 competitors.

Catherine is the first female Class40 Skipper in this division. Besides the German Melanie Aalburg, Skipper of the SKWB youth team :Bank von Bremen", Catherine is the second female skipper in this race.

The French skipper has won the Class40 division for the RORC Caribbean 600, setting a new record for the 600-mile race around 11 Caribbean islands.

Eärendil took line honours for the eight-strong Class40 Division in an elapsed time of 2 days 13 hours and 15 seconds and has won the first leg of the Atlantic Cup to New York.

"Eärendil" will compete at the AAR against Arnt and Soenke Bruhn's "ISKAREEN", Mathias Müller von Blumencrohn's "Red" and the US team "toothface".

With 17 yachts confirmed the AAR Entry List heats up again. Who's next ?

AUDIO interview dockside with Catherine Pourre by RORC Race ReporterLouay Habib

anniversary-regatta.com

The case of the Missing Barometer
Abhilash Tomy (IND) has found himself embroiled in the strange case of the prodigal barometer 'borrowed' from the Chain Locker pub in Falmouth within hours of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston presenting it to the hostelry, 50 years after he too had 'borrowed' it for his solo non-stop circumnavigation. It transpires that the distinctive 'Lovely Day for a Guinness' branded weather indicator was lifted from the wall of the pub early the following morning by Don McIntyre, the GGR Race Founder, who then smuggled it on to Tomy's Suhaili replica yacht Thuriya before she sailed for France.

McIntyre admitted today. "The temptation was just too great: Abhilash is the only Indian to sail around the world non-stop solo like Sir Robin and we couldn't let the fabulous story of the barometer just stop there. So now it's on its way around the world again on a replica of Suhaili and history is repeating itself!!"

James Staughton, CEO of St Austell Brewery, owners of the Chain Locker pub and a keen yachtsman, added, "When we first heard about the disappearance of the replica, we and the team at the Chain Locker were all naturally concerned, but who doesn't love a good story and this really is one of the best. We wish Abhilash the very best of luck on his voyage and look forward to welcoming him back, hopefully with the barometer, for a pint of Tribute beer at the Chain Locker on his return."

* Golden Globe Race start: July 1, 2018 - 12:00 PM (CEST) from Les Sables D'olonne, France

goldengloberace.com

Snipe World Masters
Villamoura, Portugal: A layday today in Vilamoura. Two more races are scheduled for Friday June 29th, and then on the final day, Saturday June the 30th, only one race will be sailed. The PRO will decide the racecourse each day among the ones approved for World Master Championship as published on the SCIRA website.

78 boats from 15 Nations will battle it out to be crowned Snipe World Master Champions 2018. Among them some really strong teams like World Champion Augie Diaz from the States, with crew Kathleen Tocke, from Portugal Tiago Roquette with Tiago Morais, from Spain Damian Borras with Jordi Triay and from Italy the Class Commodore Pietro Fantoni with Bridget Wiatrowski. The above mentioned teams were all in the top spots of today's practice race.

Four divisions of medals will be presented for trophies for the top three places in the following divisions:

Apprentice Master Division (45-54years)
Master Division (55-64 years)
Grand Master Division (65-74 years)
Master Legends Division (75years old and onwards)

The Id Crook Memorial Trophy will be presented to the top placing team for the Overall Master World Champion.

Full results:
snipeworlds.org/files/6815/3012/0709/SWM_D2_R4.pdf

Fifth Edition Of The Resolute Cup Set For Newport In September
Teams of amateur sailors representing more than two dozen yacht clubs from all over the United States will take to the waters of Narragansett Bay next September to compete in the fifth edition of the Resolute Cup, the country's premiere Corinthian keelboat championship. The regatta, which will be hosted by the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, September 10 to 15, 2018, is also the only pathway for an American yacht club to earn an invitation to the 2019 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, the first edition to be run in the new IC37 yacht.

The Resolute Cup event was first run in 2010, as the U.S. Qualifying Series, in response to the overwhelming interest from United States yacht clubs looking to participate in the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. However, the regatta quickly developed its own identity as the de facto amateur national club keelboat championship.

"The enthusiasm for the Resolute Cup grows with every edition," says event chair Sarah Gochberg. "And it's easy to see why. The sailing conditions in Newport and competition are top-notch and the shoreside hospitality is on par with some of the best regattas around the world. The New York Yacht Club strives to make this regatta a memorable experience for all competitors, including the many sailors who return every other year to compete."

The 2018 Resolute Cup will be sailed in the New York Yacht Club's fleet of Sonars. Equalized rig tuning and provided sails will ensure this is a one-design regatta in the truest sense of the term, where the skill of the sailors on the boat decides the outcome of each race. Two days of qualifying will split the fleet into gold and silver groups. Scores from qualifying will not carry over to the championship and consolation rounds.

The process to request an invitation to the Resolute Cup is open, with a deadline of January 15 for clubs to complete their application.

nyyc.org

Full House
Nine new TP52s launched in 2018 with nine new Southern Spars rigs, but each of them carefully tailored to individual crew requirements…

With nine new yachts on the startline for the 2018 TP52 Super Series, it's a testament to the health of the class and the commitment of owners and teams who continue competing at the highest level. Adding to the excitement is the fact that teams gearing up for the 2021 America's Cup will be using the TP52 circuit to hone their skills in preparation for the new class of Cup monohulls.

Sir Ben Ainslie's British syndicate has partnered with Tony Langley's British Gladiator Sailing team, while Challenger of Record Luna Rossa have a new build for the series. Quantum Racing, with their connections to the New York Yacht Club challenge, are also a leading contender in the fleet.

First of the new boats launched was Sled, built in New Zealand for Japanese owner Takashi Okura. Sled has a number of Kiwi sailors onboard, including senior Emirates Team New Zealand member Ray Davies as tactician. Commenting on the evolution of the class, Davies notes: 'Most teams have made changes to the positions of the appendages and the masts have been changed, the evolution being the stiffness of the mast and the position of the deflectors. Most of the new boats seem to be heading in the same direction. Everything is stiffer and more locked in.'

Full story in the July issue of Seahorse magazine

Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta Expands For 2019 Edition
The renowned Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta is expanding for the 2019 edition, with invitations extended to the Melges 24 and Viper 640 classes, who will join the J70 Class and Star Class.

Celebrating over nine decades of Star Class racing, the fleets will once again congregate at Coral Reef Yacht Club and Biscayne Bay Yacht Club for the 92nd Bacardi Cup, which is incorporated within the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta from March 3rd-9th 2019.

Building up to the finale of the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta, a brand new Bacardi Invitational Winter Series is launched for the J70 and Melges 24 Classes. The first race weekend for the Bacardi Invitational Winter Series will be 1st-2nd December 2018, with the next face-off on 19th-20th January 2019.

"Miami has always been a home for Star Class racing, and the growing interest for an equally strong winter series for the best sailors in the J70 and Melges 24 Classes motivated the launch of these two new Bacardi Invitational Winter Series events," said Sara Zanobini, Event Director of the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta.

"In 2018, we couldn't invite all the usual classes to the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta because of the damage caused by Hurricane Irma. Now with the waterfront virtually 100% repaired, it was a natural step to respond to the demand for more class racing, and we are really excited to launch the new Winter Series and expand the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta race programme.

For nearly one century, the Bacardi Cup has continued to attract the world's top sailors and fans with its popularity and intrigue and in 2019 will celebrate its 92nd anniversary on Biscayne Bay, the event's home for the past 57 straight years. What started out as a 3-day event with less than 10 boats in 1927 in Cuba, is set to attract well over 160 boats in 2019 from 4th-9th March. Racing for the J70, Melges 24 and Viper 640 Classes will unfold from 7th-9th March.

The venerable Bacardi Rum brand and the Bacardi family, who have been active patrons since the inaugural Bacardi Cup was presented in 1927 will continue their active partnership in 2019, bringing their unique style to the event.

bacardiinvitational.com

Louis Smyth 1937–2018
Louis Smyth who has died at the age of 81 was an inspirational figure in dinghy racing in Ireland. Born in Birmingham in 1937 Louis first went to sea with his father at the age of eight in a torpedo boat which his father bought cheaply from the British Navy who were decommissioning and selling off vessels in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Louis dinghy adventures started in 1975 initially with a Heron but then in 470s initially coached by Alistair Rumball of INSS and sailing with his son Hugo and daughter Anna. When the 470 class faded away in Ireland Louis' attention turned to the Fireball which he described as initially terrifying but ultimately exhilarating. An owner of a succession of Fireball designs Louis became the spiritual father of the Fireball fleet in Ireland.

Despite declining health, Louis continued to work on behalf of the local community tending to the public park near his home in Dun Laoghaire. He raced on into his 81st year in his beloved Fireball, his latest boat named "Licensed to Thrill" inspired by the sail number IRL15007. Louis remained stoic to the end which came on Sunday 24th June in palliative care at the Beacon Hospital in Sandyford with his beloved Rosemary by his side. Louis is survived by his wife Rosemary, son Hugo and daughter-in-law Annica, grand-daughter Louvisa, and sisters Rhona, Jennifer, Janet and Sandra. His loss is deeply felt by his very many friends in the Fireball fleet in Ireland and around the world.

A humanist event to celebrate Louis' life is planned for July.

afloat.ie/resources/

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The Last Word
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