In This Issue
Extreme Sailing Series San Diego opener
Rolex Middle Sea Coastal Race
Cat 2 Special Regulations requires personal MOB AIS beacons for every crew member
Reigning Melges 32 World Champ Kuznetsov Sits On Top
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
The F50s first flight
Hong Kong to Hainan Race Starts
An end the use of red diesel for private pleasure craft in the UK?
Launchings
Dave Christensen
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: George Gordon Byron
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
Extreme Sailing Series San Diego opener
San Diego Bay and its banks were buzzing with activity today as the Extreme Sailing Series came to town for the penultimate stop on its 2018 global tour.
The Californian crowds swarmed to Harbor Island as the world-class international fleet of seven GC32s, including a US team, hit the water with force, flying on their foils before the impressive San Diego skyline.
Although glorious sunshine drenched the city from early on, the wind played hard to get in the morning. A slow building breeze caused Race Director John Craig to postpone racing until 15:00 local time
The first day of the Californian competition did not disappoint, with the teams launching themselves off the start line with vigour. True to form, current Series frontrunners Alinghi took four wins out of six, cementing themselves as the ones to beat in San Diego.
Not content in the shadow of the Swiss, Phil Robertson's Oman Air seized every opportunity to snatch precious Series points from their opponents. The Omani squad, who have consistently ranked third overall throughout the year, saw day one in San Diego as their time to shine; the team took five podiums out of six, closing the day in second place.
The GC32 racing at Extreme Sailing Series San Diego, presented by SAP, is scheduled to continue Friday from 14:00 local time. An extensive Race Village offering complements the racing, with kiteboarding, Go Sea Quest simulators and ICON Aircraft displays bolstering tomorrow's action on the water.
Standings after six races:
1. Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothe Lapauw, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey: 68 points
2. Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Stewart Dodson, Nasser Al Mashari: 60
3. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Kostner, Adam Minoprio, Julius Hallstrom, Pierluigi de Felice, Richard Mason: 56
4. INEOS Rebels UK (GBR) Will Alloway, Leigh McMillan, Oli Greber, Adam Kay, Mark Spearman: 55
5. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Dan Morris, Rhys Mara, Micah Wilkinson: 55
6. Element Spark Compass (USA) Taylor Canfield, Sam Hallowell, John Wallace, Matt Noble, Mateo Vargas: 44
7. Team Mexico (MEX) Erik Brockmann, Tom Buggy, Alex Higby, Tom Phipps, Danel Belausteguigoitia: 40
Rolex Middle Sea Coastal Race
The Rolex Middle Sea Race will start this Saturday, 20th October. However, the traditional warm up race, the Rolex Middle Sea Coastal Race, was held on Wednesday 17th October. 34 Yachts started the Rolex Middle Sea Coastal Race, divided into IRC Classes. Principal Race Officer, Peter Dimech, set a course of approximately 30 nautical miles from Marsamxett Harbour, around the Valletta Harbour Fairway Buoy, the island of Comino, and the same course back to the finish, which was in sight of the Royal Malta Yacht Club.
The overall winner of the 2018 Rolex Middle Sea Coastal Race was Stefan Jentzsch's German Carkeek 47 Black Pearl. Pietro Moschini's Italian Cookson 50 Endlessgame took line honours and was second overall.
Maltese First 45 Elusive 2 sailed by Christoph, Aaron & Maya Podesta was the winner of IRC 4 and third overall.
Congratulations go to all of the Class winners, including: Sergey Bryuzga's Russian Ker 40 Frogfoot, Ross Applebey's British Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster and David Latham's British Pronavia 38 Seawolf of Southampton.
Cat 2 Special Regulations requires personal MOB AIS beacons for every crew member
If you've been taking part in Cat 2 Offshore races this year you'll have already studied World Sailing's 2018-2019 Offshore Special Regulations. But tomorrow is the start of the Rolex Middle Sea Race and if this is your first or only offshore race for 2018 you'll have noted the new 2018 requirement for every crew member sailing a Category 2 event or above to carry a personal AIS man overboard device.
The Ocean Signal rescueME MOB1 exclusively supplied in the UK by Ocean Safety is exactly designed for this purpose. The award-winning MOB1 has integrated AIS and DSC and can be fitted to the latest racing lifejackets like Ocean Safey's Kru range. Equally it can be kept in a pocket or fitted to a growing number of foul weather jackets that feature personal MOB pockets.
The rescueME MOB1 is automatically triggered providing two methods of communicating the person's location, plus strobe light for visual indication. Firstly an alert goes to all DSC receivers in the vicinity, and then an AIS target appears on the chart plotter, giving an accurate course and distance to the casualty.
More information www.oceansafety.com
World Sailing/RORC Special Regulations www.rorc.org/racing/race-documents
Reigning Melges 32 World Champ Kuznetsov Sits On Top
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Cagliari, Italy: Defending Melges 32 World Champion Pavel Kuznetsov at the helm of TAVATUY declared today at Worlds in Cagliari that he absolutely refuses to go quietly. After a stormy-day delay on Wednesday and two races on Thursday, Kuznetsov marched to the front of the fleet with a 4-1 performance putting him in first place overall and, on the path to potentially capturing his second World Championship title.
With massive waves and 15 knots of breeze out of the East, the first round of racing brought Germany's Christian Schwoerer's at the helm of LA PERICOLOSA with tactician Nik Asher to the front of the pack at the first weathermark, then extended to make it an awesome race win. Right behind, a fierce battle between Matteo Balestrero's GIOGI (Branko Brcin, tactician) and reigning World Champ Kuznetsov resulted in respective second and third place finishes.
Race Two went decisively to Kuznetsov, who had no difficulty dominating fleet newcomer and second place finisher Roberto Monti on AIR IS ESSENTIAL, followed by Martin Reintjes' CAIPIRINHA with Gabriele Benussi on tactics in third.
Only six points separate the top five teams with Kuznetsov ahead by one.
Racing continues on Friday, October 19 with a warning signal at noon.
Top Five Results (Preliminary - After Two Races)
1. (RUS) Pavel Kuznetsov/Evgeny Neugodnikov, TAVATUY; 4-1 = 5
2. (ITA) Matteo Balestrero/Branko Brcin, GIOGI; 2-4 = 6
3. (ITA) Martin Rientjes/Gabrielle Benussi, CAIPIRINHA; 3-3 = 6
4. (ITA) Edoardo Pavesio/Manu Weiller, FRA MARTINA; 6-5 = 11
5. (ITA) Edoardo Lupi/Massimo Pessina/Lorenzo Bressani, TORPYONE; 5-6 = 11
Full results: yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=6012
Seahorse November 2018
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Gaining (serious) international traction
Looking back at this year's Nations Trophy Mediterranean League series, it's clear that ClubSwan's big idea of injecting friendly patriotic rivalry into one-design racing is making headway... and there's more to come
Ain't no stoppin' me now
Ingrid Abery
Operation success (way to go)
Guess what... after a long war of words the results turned out mostly the same. Rob Weiland
Really, truly this time?
The latest initiative for a grand prix sailing circuit starts with one big (enormous) advantage. Russell Coutts and James Boyd
No space for wimps
Tough days on the water followed by a bit of bare-knuckle fighting over the prizes. Just another day in the Sandbagger fleet. Tom Price
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The F50s first flight
Milestone moment for the entire SailGP family this week, as the first supercharged F50 catamaran launched in New Zealand for sea trials. The launch represents months of tireless work by our design and build teams, and it is truly incredible to see their vision take flight!
Hong Kong to Hainan Race Starts
The Hong Kong to Hainan Race got away this morning, in an easterly breeze of around 12kts. With a rather long start line, the fleet stuck to the committee boat end and played it safe as the gun sounded ensuring no boat was over the line.
First through the Lei Yue Mun Gap was Karl Kwok's MOD Beau Geste 70 followed by Meitatsu Fukumoto and Seng Huang Lee's Orma 60 SHK Scallywag Fuku.
At 1400hrs MOD Beau Geste and SHK Scallywag Fuku were flying along at around 28kts and had knocked 51nm/49nm off their 390nm journey to Sanya on Hainan Island in China.
At 1436hrs however, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club received a call from SHK Scallywag Fuku which regretfully had to retire due to a broken foil. They are expected to return to Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club between 2000hrs and 2100hrs tonight.
The first of the IRC fleet is Sam Chan's TP52 Free Fire, who at 1400hrs have the peddle down and are sending it at 18kts. They are followed by Joachim Isler and Drew Taylor's Mills 41 Ambush and Fred Kinmonth and Nick Burn's GTS 43 Mandrake III. Keeping up the rear are Joshua Cole's A40RC Avante Garde, Emmanuel Pitsilis' Beneteau Sense 50 Sea Monkey and Michael Lunn's Azuree 40 Lion Rock.
The first of the fleet are expected to arrive early Friday morning and are on pace to break the 2016 record, which stands at 23h 31m 52s and was set in 2016 by Seng Huang Lee's other boat, the 100ft Super Maxi Scallywag.
www.chinacoastraceweek.com/news
An end the use of red diesel for private pleasure craft in the UK?
At the moment almost all diesel sold in British marinas is red diesel, taxed either at a lower rate if some of the fuel is used for heating the boat, or at 100% for the fuel that is used only for propulsion by the engine. In a case launched last year, the EU has argued that the UK should not allow red diesel to be used in this way.
Under EU rules, Member States must apply a "fiscal marker" (red dye in the UK) to diesel which is not taxed at the full rate. The Court of Justice of the European Union has now concluded that Member States may not apply that marker also to diesel which is taxed at the full rate for propulsion, without undermining the purpose of the marker.
Its judgment declares: "that by allowing the use of marked fuel for the purposes of propelling private pleasure craft, even where that fuel is not subject to any exemption from or reduction in excise duty, the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its obligations... on fiscal marking of gas oils and kerosene". The Court dismissed the evidence from HMRC that ending the use of red diesel would be impracticable, some of which was provided by the Cruising Association.
Judith Grimwade, CA President, said: "We are delighted that the Court has finally delivered a judgment in this case, but given the uncertainties of Brexit, it remains to be seen what the impact will actually be. Whatever the outcome, we will continue to campaign for cruising yachtsmen to be able to travel between countries without being penalised for buying a fuel which is very often the only option available."
No deadline is specified in the judgment and member states are usually given a reasonable period to make the adjustments necessary - which in this case could mean white diesel going on sale in UK marinas - bearing in mind many craft may continue to use red diesel for heating.
However, no-one knows what may happen as a result of Brexit. HMRC is examining this judgment and will announce how and when the UK will adjust its practices in due course. -- Peta Stuart-Hunt for The Cruising Association
Launchings
The Vismara 69 Nacira arrived this morning at the gates of the Viareggio shipyard … ready to be completed.
Vismara is working with the best professionals to offer an engineered platform on which you can develop and build a fast cruiser. The brand new Nacira 69 is a collaboration between the Parisian designer Axel de Beaufort for the concept of style, Guillaume Verdier for the design of sail plans, the structural design of Pure Engineering in New Zealand and Vismara Marine for construction, engineering and the installation.
Using the IMOCA 60 as inspiration, Nacira V69 benefits from design choices to create a boat with lower loads and easier maneuverability, thus increasing safety for the entire crew and greatly aiding movements inside and outside the marinas. The hull is built entirely of carbon pre-preg to achieve the light weight possible in addition to a sustained increase in speed.
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The Beneteau First 18 was designed to be the springboard for every sailor from future America's Cup skippers to those who just want to feel the freedom of being on the water. Her racing genes are evident when you first take the tiller. Twin rudders and a five-foot lifting keel make her quick, fast, and fun, but she makes no concessions when it comes to safety, comfort and easy handling.
Length overall - 7.40 m / 24'3"
Hull length - 5.55 m / 18'3"
Hull beam - 2.38 m / 7'10"
Air draft - 8.52 m / 27'11"
Draft - 1.50 - 0.18 m / 4'11" - 7"
Design - Manuard YD
Interior layout / design - EP Studio
CE certification - C2
www.beneteaulife.com/sailboats/first/#first18
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Construction on the 30 metre sailing yacht Vagante, which is being built at the Turkish yard Huzur Yacht, has now entered the outfitting stage. Most of the deck gear and electrical systems aboard the yacht have been installed while work has also begun on the crew areas and galley. Two guest cabins have been fitted while the remaining cabins and saloon are also in progress.
The yacht's hull is set to be painted a custom grey next week while the fin keel and bulb have been fabricated and are also due to be painted.
Featuring exterior design and naval architecture by Taka Yacht Design, Vagante is inspired by the classic Turkish gulet "but with finer lines, modern underbody, bulb keel and spade rudder."
Vagante is set to be delivered by the end of 2018. Featuring a 6.4 metre beam, Vagante will have a top speed of 10 knots under power and cruising speed of seven knots.
Accommodation is for eight guests across three double ensuite cabins and a master cabin equipped with its own saloon. The crew quarters meanwhile will allow for a staff of three.
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Discover the Pinassot by Philippe Saint-Arroman, inspired by pinnace created for the sites of Capbreton and Vieux-Boucan. This 5-metre sailing-rowing boat is easy to launch and can be used with a sail or oars thanks to the slender design of the hull. A 60-litre ballast is provided for those who sail alone, not to mention a watertight chest for sleeping and picnic gear. 100% French construction.
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The brand new neo 350 fast cruiser sailing yacht entirely developed in Italy.
Neo Yachts & Composites is proud to presents is new born 350 IRC ORCi fast cruiser.
Neo 350 is a fast light cruiser / racer designed and built with a special eye to the latest ORCì rules to be the largest yacht ( gph) of the C group with attention of not paying extra penalties under IRC as well. The yacht may have an ORC or IRC dedicated keel and rudder configuration.
Dave Christensen
David Christensen, founder of Christensen Shipyards in the US, passed away on Monday from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 87.
After a successful career as a real estate developer and homebuilder, Christensen retired at age 50 and gifted himself with a 95ft custom yacht. After its maiden voyage to Mexico, he decided he could build a better yacht, and Christensen Shipyards was born.
Fearing retirement might be boring led Christensen to start his shipyard in 1983. The yachts - known for their composite hulls - are all lavish deep-water, ocean-going vessels that attracted the likes of golfer Tiger Woods and other celebrities who could afford a multimillion-dollar custom built yacht.
In 2006, the company opened a second, larger facility on Tellico Lake in Tennessee, which has capacity for yachts up to 225ft.
Featured Brokerage
2003 Swan 48-153 'Montrachet'. 354,000 VAT Paid EUR. Located in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Montrachet is one of the latest builds of the Swan 48 performance cruiser and is in premium condition. During the past eleven years she has only been lightly used for cruising and west med regattas. During 2016 Montrachet has been refitted at the Nautor’s Swan Service Yard in Scarlino. A new engine, saildrive and instrumentation are installed, new sails and general upgrades are taken care off.
Due to meticulous and continued maintenance she is in exceptional good condition. The interior of Montrachet provides a superb stateroom aft with air conditioning and it’s own ensuite head & shower area. Forward of the saloon is a triple cabin – with double bed set low to port, and a single bed raised up on starboard side (lockers and stowage under both), and has it’s own head & shower forward. Of course she has a proper galley and a well-equipped chart table.
This is an ideal family boat and a true Swan offering the cruiser-racer concept. Ready for new adventures with a new owner.
See listing at Nautor Swan Brokerage
Contact
Nautor's Swan Brokerage - Art Hiddinga
Tel. +377 97 97 95 07
http://nautorswanbrokerage.com
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2008 GP42 - "JUBILEE". 270000 GBP. Located in Hamble, UK.
JUBILEE is a Farr designed GP 42 that has been IRC and FAST 40 optimized. The boat is living proof that you don't have to spend the kids inheritance in order to play with the big boys in the exciting FAST 40 class and she has taken more race wins off the newest 2015/16/17 designs than any other boa
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats
+64 277733717
+44 2380 016582
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2011 Ker 40 - "Hooligan VII". 260000 GBP. Located in Hamble, UK.
Want an IRC or ORC winning boat, capable of Inshore and Offshore success?... Look no further Hooligan VII is now available at a fraction of the new boat cost and with recent optimization is back at the front of the rating game! Very strong inventory and recent cosmetic improvements too.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats
+64 277733717
+44 2380 016582
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. -- George Gordon Byron
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Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html