In This Issue
• Hempel World Cup Series Genoa
• SSL Gold Cup: The Football World Cup...In Sailing
• Yacht Racing Forum 2019
• Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association 2019 Series
• Inaugural Hong Kong to Puerto Galera Yacht Race
• FSE Robline becomes Robline
• 10th Edition Of Les Voiles De St. Barth Richard Mille Is Underway
• Industry News
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage
• The Last Word: Kurt Vonnegut
Brought to you by Seahorse magazine and YachtScoring.com EuroSail News 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
Germans off to the perfect start as Hempel World Cup Series Genoa opens
Germany's Tim Fischer and Fabian Graf got off to a perfect start in the Men's Skiff - 49er as the first ever Hempel World Cup Series event in Italy commenced in Genoa with racing in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17.
In a split 65-boat 49er pack, the Germans won both of the day's races in the blue fleet and were the standout performers across the three Olympic events on the water. Meanwhile, in the yellow fleet, New Zealand's Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie picked up a race win and a second to occupy the second podium spot in the early stages of the event.
Sweden's Julia Gross and Hanna Klinga lead after two races in the Women's Skiff - 49erFX and in the Mixed Multihull - Nacra 17, Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface (GBR) and Italy's Lorenzo Bressani and Cecilia Zorzi share top spot with a win apiece.
Following racing, World Sailing President Kim Andersen joined the Mayor of Genoa, President of FIV and other local officials in the famous Piazza De Ferrari to officially open the event.
Sweden's Gross and Klinga top the 49erFX leaderboard on four points after a third and a first in the blue fleet. Fellow blue fleet racers, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA), sailed their way to a second and a sixth which positions them in second. Helene Naess and Marie Rønningen (NOR) took the remaining blue fleet race win.
Wins in the yellow fleet went to Stephanie Roble and Margaret Shea (USA) and Tanja Frank and Lorena Abicht (AUT).
In the Nacra 17, the yellow fleet completed two races with one in the blue. Saxton and Boniface took the blue fleet win and Bressani and Zorzi the first yellow. The second yellow fleet race will apply once the blue race is completed on Tuesday. The race win in the second yellow fleet went to Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (NZL).
The qualifying series in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 continues on Tuesday at 11:00. The Men's and Women's 470, Laser, Laser Radial and the Finn will also start their opening series. -- Daniel Smith - World Sailing
SSL Gold Cup: The Football World Cup...In Sailing
A new era in competitive sailing dawned today with the official launch of the Star Sailors League Gold Cup. This will see each nation's top sailing athletes team together into a single crew and then race against one another aboard high performance 47 foot long one design monohulls to establish 'the world's best sailing nation'. Boats are supplied to ensure that, as in the Olympics, it is the sailors who make the difference and not the boats. The SSL Gold Cup also aims to create household names of each nation's top sailing heroes on the basis that sports fans are more likely to support their national teams than the club teams in their country
Designated by the sport's governing body, World Sailing, as a 'Special Event', the SSL Gold Cup is the ultimate event conceived by some of international sailing's most accomplished athletes and the Star Sailors League (SSL), the organisation that created the SSL Ranking, the SSL Grand Slams and the annual SSL Finals. The SSL Gold Cup is set to occur biennially, taking place for the first time in Switzerland during September and October 2021.
The best sailors in the world compete for significant prize money in Star Sailors League events. These have attracted top world champions and America's Cup sailors, plus over 70 Olympians, with 17 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 18 bronze medals between them. These athletes will form the core of their national teams competing in the SSL Gold Cup.
The SSL Gold Cup is open to any nations of the 144 Member National Authorities recognised by World Sailing. As the chances for developed sailing nations will be significantly better than for emerging nations, the format has been designed to boost the chances for emerging nations. To achieve this, the SSL divides the world into three zones: Europe, Africa-Americas, Oceania-Asia. This is then reflected in the number of entries from each - so at each stage of the qualifying rounds the fresh influx of entries will comprise 50% from Europe and 25% each from Africa-Americas and Oceania-Asia.
The first group of nations has been revealed today:
Brazil - Represented By Robert Scheidt
Canada - Represented By Richard Clarke (C)
Croatia - Represented By Igor Marenic On Behalf Of Sime Fantela (C)
Estonia - Represented By Tonu Toniste (C), Tommas Toniste And Andrus Poksi
Germany - Represented By Frithjof Kleen (C), Jochen Schumann, Philipp Buhl
Great Britain - Represented By Matthew Cornwell On Behalf Of Ian Williams (C)
Greece - Represented By Sofia Bekatorou (C), Michail Pateniotis
Hungary - Represented By Zsombor Berecz (C)
Italy - Represented By Vasco Vascotto (C) And Francesco Bruni
The Netherlands - Represented By Roy Heiner (C)
Norway - Represented By Eivind Melleby (C)
Poland - Represented By Mateusz Kusznierewicz (C)
Portugal - Represented By Joao Rodrigues (C) And Afonso Dominguez
Slovenia - Represented By Vasilij Zbogar (C)
Spain - Represented By Roberto Bermudez On Behalf Of Luis Doreste (C)
Sweden - Represented By Freddy Loof (C)
Switzerland - Represented By Eric Monnin (C)
Turkey - Represented By Alican Keynar (C)
United States Of America - Represented By Paul Cayard (C)
High expectations for Yacht Racing Forum 2019 - November 25-26 - Bilbao (ESP)
The 12th edition of the Forum will once again provide a unique opportunity to network, debate the future of the sport and make business.
The event promises to be fantastic again, with a quality programme that will be revealed after Easter, top speakers and a social programme that we can look forward to.
Shirley Robertson, Andy Rice, Dobbs Davis and Luca Rizzotti will lead the conferences and presentations.
A very beautiful exhibition space, bright and airy, will highlight the exhibitors' stands and provide top level hospitality standards to our delegates.
The Forum is the only conference in the world that brings together all the actors of our sport: designers and builders, sailmakers, technical suppliers but also sponsors, marketing managers, sailors, yacht clubs, regatta organisers etc.
The conference venue, located near Bilbao's famous Guggenheim Museum, also offers great tourist opportunities and will allow Forum delegates to discover a region of the world with great potential for the maritime and yacht racing industry.
Registrations are open (with an early bird discount) : www.yachtracingforum.com
Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association 2019 Series
We have a full and exciting schedule of races in the ISORA 2019 Series with a total of 16 races which will include the two Coastal Series, Night Races and, of course, our traditional Offshore Races. The series has been designed to combine with many top-class regattas and the classics races in the Irish Sea catchment area.
The 2019 series starts with the Viking Marine Coastal Races in Ireland and the Global Display Coastal Race in Wales, both on Saturday 27th April. The coastal race weekend wil be follwed by the by the first Offshore race on 4th May from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead where a warm welcome is awaiting us.
We have again this year teamed up with other races in the Irish Sea and arranged the racing so that deliveries are minimised. This includes the Classics Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race (D2D) and the 100th edition of the Liverpool to Douglas Midnight Race.
The Royal Dee Yacht Club, in conjunction with ISORA are running the RDYC Irish Sea Offshore Championship again this year as part of the VDLR. This includes the Race from IOM (Race 9) and the four coastal races in the VDLR.
ISORA has also been working with ICRA to set up a good programme of day offshore races that will be exciting. Quite a lot of effort and planning has been made to offer boats that are more interested in offshore day racing a quality programme of demanding day races. More Information about the ICRA Championships (7th - 9th July) here.
Inaugural Hong Kong to Puerto Galera Yacht Race
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's inaugural Hong Kong to Puerto Galera Yacht Race will start this week in Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbour. The Club has introduced staggered starts for the race with three of the smaller yachts will heading off on Tuesday 16 April and the rest of the fleet setting off on Wednesday 17 April. The sequence acts predominantly as a safety factor; with the bigger boats coming up behind the smaller fleet for support should they get into any trouble and the added feature is having all the boats converge as they head into the finish in Puerto Galera, Philippines.
To prepare for the event, competitors go through a stringent preparation period, during which all participants are scrutineered to ensure that they satisfy the World Sailing Category 1 Offshore Sailing Regulations (with RORC prescriptions). 15 local and overseas yachts including entries from Philippines and Singapore will participate including Fred Kinmonth's and Nick Burns' GTS 43 Mandrake III, winner of the 2018 Rolex China Sea Race.
The race will have a similar, yet more southern track to the Rolex China Sea Race which traditionally starts in the cooler climate of Hong Kong, then after a bumpy first night, competitors are greeted by clear skies and a full moon as they reach towards the Philippines. As the fleet approaches the northern coast of the Philippines, tactics become supremely important as boats do their utmost to keep moving in the light air that is often found off the coast with the ever present Luzon Hole.
The current forecast is showing a variety of conditions in the various weather models with Wednesday looking like the most stable day with crossing the South China Sea proving more challenging as the race progresses.
The Hong Kong to Puerto Galera Yacht Race 2019 will start at 1120hrs (HKT) on Tuesday 16 April (HKPN Divisions) and Wednesday 17 April (IRC Racer 0, IRC Racer 1, IRC Racer 2, IRC Premier Cruising). Armchair enthusiasts can follow the action by checking the Yellowbrick trackers which update twice an hour.
FSE Robline becomes Robline
For those who did not realize it yet, there is a new brand name at the market - Robline. Having its heritage in the 1990s where company TEUFELBERGER acquired FSE, the German yachting brand, and the yachting line segment of Roblon, the Danish rope manufacturer. Together they became FSE Robline back in the days.
To not stop moving forward TEUFELBERGER decided to give this brand a new appealing look - Robline features now the colours monsun grey and cucuum instead of red and blue. Why? Because we want to be forerunners and stand out from the crowd!
www.roblineropes.com/en/
www.teufelberger.com/en/
10th Edition Of Les Voiles De St. Barth Richard Mille Is Underway
Picture-perfect conditions greeted the fleets to kickstart the 10th anniversary edition of Les Voiles de St. Barth Richard Mille as the nine classes raced around the west side of St. Barth on racecourses ranging from 24 - 36 nautical miles in 15 - 20 knots of breeze.
In CSA 1, Kuka3 (Cookson 50), leads the fleet of seven, followed by Pata Negra in 2nd, and Triple Lindy, the second Cookson 50 of the fleet, in 3rd.
CSA 5: Credit Mutuel - SGS begins 2019 event in the same form they finished the 2018 edition - sitting in first. Team Island Water World, the smallest boat in the regatta, is in 2nd, and Maelia Caisse d'Epargne Cepac Antilles is in 3rd.
Currently in 4th, the J105 Sunbelt Realty Jenk team hails from Caracou and Bonaire, and is thrilled to be racing at Les Voiles de St. Barth Richard Mille for the first time.
Om CSA 3, John Vincent, skipper of the chartered TP42 Phan is sailing with his long-time crews that he races with between California on a J111 and Florida on his Aerodyne 38.
Across the eight-boat fleet in CSA 4 is Holding Pattern (ST 37), Liquid (J122), El Ocaso (J122), followed by Touch2Play Racing (Reflex 38) in first through fourth, respectively.
In the three-boat fleet of Maxi 1, currently Sorcha sits in 1st, and is skippered this year by Les Voiles de St. Barth Richard Mille 2019's ambassador, Pierre Casiraghi. SHK Scallywag, the Dowell 100 is in 2nd, followed by Ambersail 2 in 3rd.
Miles Seddon, navigator for SHK Scallywag, was pleased with their first day out. "What a nice day - we had great wind, a few small squalls came through which made it a bit gusty and shifty," he said. "It was a really nice course, and a really good effort."
In Maxi 2, the Swan 80 Selene owned by Wendy Schmidt, sits in 1st, followed by Windfall and Sojana.
lesvoilesdestbarthrichardmille.com
Industry News
Edinburgh Marina, Scotland's new waterside destination development, has been granted a marine works licence by Marine Scotland. The licence paves the way for the construction of a new 373-berth marina located less than 2.5 miles from Edinburgh city centre in Granton's Western Harbour. Once complete, it will provide 24/7 access to the sea at all states of tide.
The new Edinburgh Marina has been specifically designed to surpass the Yacht Harbour Association's 5 Gold Anchor rating, complete with a purpose-built clubhouse with brasserie restaurant and bar, and a chandlery. There will also be a fully serviced boatyard and dry-stack operation.
The clubhouse has recently been granted detailed planning permission for its relocation adjacent to Edinburgh Marina's new Hyatt Regency Spa and Conference Hotel. Yacht owners and visitors will be able to benefit from onboard food and drink, concierge services, as well as access to the hotel spa and gym.
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Doyle Sails is proud to announce another impressive name from global sailing has joined their team. Effective immediately Andrew Lechte has joined the Doyle Sails Design Department working alongside Richard Bouzaid, Director of Design, and the rest of the company's expert designers based at the Doyle Sails Headquarters in New Zealand.
Sail design and software development around new and existing sailing technologies has always been at the core of the Doyle Sails operation. Now, the company's central design team has been furthered strengthened with the appointment of Andrew Lechte and his invaluable experience.
Over his long career, working as a sail designer for North Sails on some of their highest profile projects, Lechte's name will be deservedly familiar to many in the sailing industry. Coupled with his work as a sail designer, Lechte has led the logistics on several Olympic, Volvo Ocean Race and America's Cup campaigns. Currently, Lechte is the Technical Advisor for Australia Sailing, collecting performance data on Olympic class yachts and advising on technical projects
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The long running saga of the Greek Cruising tax, known as the TEPAI, was due for implementation on 2 April 2019 following the first attempt to introduce it in 2014. However, the Cruising Association (CA) reports that there has at last been a breakthrough regarding the TEPAI, with the Greeks agreeing to delay this new tax until 2nd May.
They have also published important concessions, namely: Yachts hauled out of the water are automatically deemed "Out of Use" - in their description, "Not in Greek Waters". There is no need to file your ship's papers when hauled out. This will remove a significant issue.
Note: Yachts "Out of Use" but still in the water are required to file their ship's papers with Customs (Transit Log) or Port Police (DEKPA).
Initially, you can back-pay tax if you "willingly" go and pay it, if you are found to be unpaid - and will therefore avoid a fine. Christopher Robb of the CA, who has worked tirelessly to get some concessions from the Greek government, comments, "There are still further issues needing clarification, but the main issues of initial fines has been passed. We still expect that there may be queues at the Port Police at the end of each month, but much of the pressure has been lifted from them." -- Peta Stuart-Hunt
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The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has announced that Grahame Robb Associates (GRA) has been appointed to deliver a bespoke leadership development programme, specially designed to hone the leadership and team development skills of its professional Skippers and Mates ahead of the twelfth race edition.
Winchester based Grahame Robb Associates are experts in providing people and organisational development training programmes on a global scale. They have over 30 years' experience supporting corporate organisations and sports teams with practical, results-focused programmes that produce better leaders, and more effective teams. They deliver strategic leadership development, high performing team training and assist behaviour and culture change initiatives.
The Clipper Race is not only one of the planet's most extreme endurance events, but also one of its toughest leadership challenges. Racing a 70 foot yacht around the globe, whilst taking on Mother Nature's harshest environments for almost a year, is not a job for the faint hearted. Add in a non-professional multinational crew of varied, age, backgrounds, cultures and experience levels to the mix and Skippers and Mates need to be outstanding instructors, exceptional motivators, and strong role models.
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A 252-berth extension to Waikawa Marina on New Zealand's South Island has received approval from the Port Marlborough Board.
The marina already has 600 berths from 8m-20m (26ft-67ft). The marina extension, to the north-west of the existing marina, will provide an additional 252 berths ranging from 10m-25m (33ft-82ft), some of which will cater to multihulls.
The growing waiting lists for both Picton and Waikawa marinas supported the Port's decision to extend, with both marinas having operated at capacity for several years.
Testing of the engineering design concept has been thorough and has included physical modelling of options at the Queensland Government Hydraulics Laboratory.
Other specific considerations include future sea-level rise, coastal processes, water quality and marine ecology including a Kaimoana management plan; and effects on landscape, visual amenity and natural character.
Detailed design of the marina will reflect the style of the newer areas of Picton Marina (near the launching ramp) and will include a public amenity area at the northern end, where aesthetic design has been assisted by Te Ātiawa.
At this stage, the first few berths are expected to be available by early 2021, ahead of the America's Cup.
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.
* From Alexander Meller
Regarding "From the "Should Be Forcibly Sterilized" Department: Flat Earth Cruise Scheduled for 2020"
My prediction is that during the voyage they will announce that they were unable to go far enough to find the wall of ice, but hope to return in a couple of years (pending new funding) for a new search, so as to go further and find the wall.
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The Last Word
There is a tragic flaw in our precious constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. -- Kurt Vonnegut
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