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Tenth Annual Wight Vodka Best Sailor's Bar competition is OPEN. Supported by Latitude Kinsale and Seahorse Magazine.
VOTING CLOSES AT 2359 GMT 28 JANUARY
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In This Issue
• Wild Oats XI takes line honours
• The Race for the Tattersall Cup
• Wight Vodka Best Sailor's Bar
• Ocean Safety’s Jonbuoy range gets a design makeover
• Ocean Safety’s Jonbuoy range gets a design makeover
• Palamos Christmas Race
• Seahorse for the Holidays
• ORCV Melbourne to Hobart
• World Sailing invites bids for 2021 and 2022 Youth Sailing World Championships
• The World Sailing Show - January 2019
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage
• The Last Word: Aleister Crowley
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
Wild Oats XI takes line honours
Val Oatley described Wild Oats XI’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours victory perfectly alongside the dock in Hobart this morning: “Three years of misery to this moment,” and you could not wipe the smile from her face or that of her sons, Sandy and Ian, as they waited for their super maxi to moor alongside Kings Pier.
Three years of trauma for the Wild Oats family when the yacht retired from the 2015 race with a torn main followed by Bob Oatley’s death in January 2016. Another retirement in 2016, this time with hydraulic ram issues. Then came last year’s much publicised finish when Wild Oats XI was penalised one hour after an incident with Comanche and lost her line honours crown and a new race record to Jim Cooney’s ‘aircraft carrier’.
This year’s victory makes it a new record of nine line honours for Wild Oats XI, which broke the seven years of line honours stranglehold of Kurrewa/Morna in 2014 with her eighth line honours crown.
Perennial skipper Mark ‘Ricko’ Richards generously handed the helm over to the Late Bob Oatley’s grandson, Daniel (Ian Oatley’s son), on his third Sydney Hobart on the family yacht, before they crossed the finish line after gybing all the way up the River under Code Zero.
Wild Oats XI won the hard-fought battle between four of the five super maxis entered in the race. Until 6.30am this morning, the four were still locked in a tight fight for honours - just 4 nautical miles separating them before Wild Oats XI came into her own.
Peter Harburg’s Black Jack from Queensland was second over the line at 8.35.06am, followed by Comanche at 8.36.09am, after the two went gybe for gybe to the finish after rounding the Iron Pot. Christian Beck’s InfoTrack finished at 08.51.17am.
Never before in the history of the race have we witnessed four yachts fight for supremacy throughout the entire race. It kept us all on tenterhooks the most exciting Sydney Hobart line honours stoush since Bob Bell’s Condor of Bermuda beat Jack Rooklyn’s Apollo over the finish line by seven seconds in 1982.
The Race for the Tattersall Cup
The IRC battle is ever-changing at this stage with the home-grown Tasmanian heroes aboard Alive currently battling it out with defending Tattersall Cup holder Ichi Ban
The all-female team aboard Wild Oats X are also in close contention and are well within sight of the overall win - not to mention holding clear favourite for the Jane Tate Memorial Trophy for the first female skipper across the line.
Voodoo, Chutzpah, 2 Unlimited, Gun Runner, Sail Exchange, PYR Jarhead Wot Eva and Relish IV are also currently holding divisional wins
Tonight's featured bar is our 2013 Winner ONE Sailors Bar de Navegantes in Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Some comments submitted to us over the years:
- It is a dreamed refuge after sailing in the wildest and toughest area in the world.
- The shot and knot contest is the best: It’s where I learned to tie a very fast bowline while increasing my shot drinking speed!
- There are pictures of us doing big, awesome sailing all over the world on the walls!
- Best Gin Tonics and Martinis served by Claudia, the Queen of all the Atlantic Crossers.
- The bar is an old bus and you can dance with just about anyone in the sand.
- Good-natured race-week-ribbing turns to black eyes and split lips late at night.
- You can step into the bar with all your gear and Wellies on, your Leatherman still on your belt and feel absolutely normal.
- Great pints of Doombar!
- TODO, en especial Claudia!
- Es mi bar.
Tell us about YOUR favorite bar. Voting ends at 2400 GMT December 28
scuttlebutteurope.com/sailors-bars
wightvodka.com
latitudekinsale.com
Ocean Safety’s Jonbuoy range gets a design makeover
An easy-grab handle is moulded into the top of the casing while the aesthetics of the slimline profile bring the styling right into the twenty-first century. The Jonbuoys are easier to grab and launch in an emergency, lightweight, and will look stylish and slick on any transom.
The four are the Jonbuoy Danbuoy, the Jonbuoy Rescue Sling, the Jonbuoy Horseshoe and the Jonuoy Danbuoy and Horseshoe combo.
The tough ABS shell casing will withstand intense UV fatigue and the extreme ocean conditions. The transom mounting bracket is very easy to fit and there’s a carbon effect casing choice for the high tech look too.
Inside the new casing the recovery items are just as they were before so users will be familiar with the tried and tested products. A pull-down instruction ‘tag’ is easy to access from the base of the product.
World Sailing Council confirm Keelboat vote
The minutes of the controversial Council meeting at World Sailing’s AGM in Florida last month were approved in an extraordinary conference call Friday.
Tom Ehman editor of the US-based sailing website Sailing Illustrated has published a report that:
"The vote was 22 to accept, 11 to reject, and 2 abstentions - thereby confirming the disputed decision that effectively replaced the Finn Class with “mixed gender keelboat offshore” for the 2024 Olympics."
The controversy arose following the publication of the draft minutes of the meeting at the World Sailing Annual Conference in Sarasota, Florida, that changed the Olympic event and thus the classes to be used at the Paris Olympics.
Four members claimed that their votes were incorrectly recorded by the electronic voting system - this effected the result of the vote and changed the event/equipment to be used at Paris 2024.
Palamos Christmas Race
On the penultimate race day the wind came back in strength to the bay of Palamos providing spectacular racing in all racing areas.
Big waves and strong SW winds, 15 to 20 knots, caused many capsizes and saw part of the fleet struggle to finish the races.
But no wind on final day in Palamis
The Christmas Race crowned its winners on a final day with no racing due to the absolute lack of wind.
This 43rd edition welcomed 260 nations from 22 nations with Italy, Croatia and Germany claiming two victories and Great Britain and Austria with one.
Top three by class:
Finn (25 participants)
1 Milan Vujasinovic (CRO), 13 points
2 Alex Muscat (ESP), 11
3 Joan Cardona (ESP), 12
Laser Standard (26 participants)
1 Joseph Mullan (GBR), 11
2 Jordan Giles (GBR), 16
3 Ben Flower (GBR), 17
Laser Radial Femenino (31 participants)
1 Elena Vorobeva (CRO), 8
2 Clementine Thompson (GBR), 13
3 Matilda Nicholls (GBR), 18
Laser Radial Masculino (36 participants)
1 Pirmin Sablatnig (AUT), 9
2 Arthur Fry (GBR), 14
3 Nicholas Welbourn (GBR), 18
470 (30 participants)
1 Matteo Capurro/Matteo Puppo (ITA), 7
2 Alexandre Demange/Paco Lepoutre (FRA), 21
3 Diogo Costa/Pedro Costa (POR), 29
470 Women
1 Luise Wanser /Helena Wanser
420 (95 participants)
1 Sophie Steinlein/Jonas Royla (GER), 11
2 Demetrio Sposato/Gabriele Centone (ITA), 12
3 Ricardo Sepe/Ettore Cirillo (ITA), 12
Full results: www.christmasrace.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall
Seahorse for the Holidays
For a limited period on they are offering their best available price on a Seahorse subscription and have also bundled in a 'great night in on them' with a free rental copy of Coyote - the excellent Mike Plant story (it's one not to be missed).
This great offer can be accessed on this link - bit.ly/SECOY19
ORCV Melbourne to Hobart Fleet Safely Across Bass Strait
The fleet is approaching north west Tasmania after the yachts safely crossed Bass Strait in light conditions on their way to Hobart. Overnight, northerly winds kept the fleet heading slightly west of the rhumb line that passes between King Island and Tasmania.
During the night the yachts experienced changeable weather conditions, including rain fronts and no wind ‘holes’ that have been predicted to plague these race. How you manage low wind is often the difference between winning and losing the race. Sail selection becomes crucial and even keeping crew movement around the boat to a minimum can make a big difference to the boatspeed.
Overnight, the ORCV tracker showed the fleet spread out to the west of the rhumb line to benefit from the morning's westerly winds, with leader Oskana being chased by Tevake II (Angus Fletcher) but by daybreak Fletcher has been surrounded by Alien (Justin Brenan) and Addiction (Richard McGarvie) along with Whistler (David Aplin).
Taking up the rear is Escapade (Robert Bradley) who had more boat speed on his nearest rival, Maverick, sailed by double-handers Rod Smallman. Favourite and race leader, the canting keel Cookson 50 Oskana is currently past King Island and nearing the mandatory declaration point at 41 degrees south. This is a declaration by HF radio to say that all is well onboard and they are fit and able to enter the west coast and continue racing. The rest of the fleet is bunched up behind Oskana abeam of King Island.
Their 435 mile “West Coaster” course will take them south to experience the swells of the Southern Ocean as they pass few places of refuge – only the infamous Hells Gate entrance to Macquarie Harbour at Strahan and then further south the beautiful wilderness of Port Davey before rounding SW Cape and the east coast of Tasmania for what is arguably Australia's most challenging yacht race.
World Sailing invites bids for 2021 and 2022 Youth Sailing World Championships
World Sailing is inviting Member National Authorities and Host Cities to bid for the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Youth Sailing World Championships.
The Bid Guidelines outline the specification of requirements for bidding.
To help bidders to fully understand what the Championship is, World Sailing produced a presentation on the event
World Sailing recognises that different venues have different needs and facilities and encourages MNAs and Host Cities interested in bidding to contact Event Manager, Pedro Rodrigues (), to seek clarification on requirements related to the event.
In addition, an Event Manual, a document that provides full guidance to event organisers, is available upon request.
The 2021 and 2022 editions of the Youth Worlds will feature the same Events and Equipment as the most recent editions of the Championships with a Boy's and Girl's Laser Radial, Boy's and Girl's 420, Boy's and Girl's RS:X, Boy's and Girl's 29er and an Open Nacra 15.
MNAs and Host Cities can bid to hold the event in 2021 from 11-18 July or 12-19 December and in 2022, 10-17 July or 11-18 December.
An MNA or Host City interested in hosting the event shall inform the World Sailing Executive Office by 15 February 2019 of their intent to bid.
All bids must be received by the World Sailing Executive Office by email by 17:00 UTC on Monday 15 April 2019.
www.sailing.org/news/88270.php#.XB3S3M9Ki3C
The World Sailing Show - January 2019
An Italian cat, an American mule and a British pocket rocket are breaking new territory in the quest to create an extraordinary new generation of machines for the 36th America’s Cup. We head to Monaco to find out more.
The boat busting start to the Route du Rhum was only the beginning of a fascinating race across the Atlantic - we pick up where the story left off last month.
The Extreme Sailing Series fleet took the results down the wire in Mexico plus, we hear from an Olympic medallist and former Volvo Ocean Race winner about what lies in store when the Olympic Games head offshore.
Plus, Susie Goodall’s dramatic Southern Ocean rescue.
Meet the Mule - American Magic’s trial horse
America’s Cup latest news
Extreme Sailing Series - The Mexican finale
Crash & Burn in the Route Du Rhum
Olympic sailing heads offshore
Southern Ocean rescue
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.
Featured Brokerage
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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats
+64 277733717
+442380 016582
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Smart blue-hulled performance cruiser from X-Yachts in Denmark. Comprehensive spec including upgraded larger engine. Ideal for both blue water cruising or racing.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
GRABAU INTERNATIONAL
Lead broker - Michele Antonini
Tel: +39 333 74 89 281
Email:
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Super Series Specification TP52. Fully kitted out and ready to play. Has IRC sail configuration as well as class. Designed by Judel/Vrolijk in 2011. Formerly RAN racing and hugely successful in the TP class. Built by Green Marine to exacting standards and in excellent condition.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679 222
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall! -- Aleister Crowley
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html