In This Issue
• Rum Runners at Antigua Sailing Week
• Peters & May Round Antigua Race
• First European Leg of the 2019 Melges 20 World League
• Everything in it’s right place - UBI Maior
• SNIM 2019: an undisputed success!
• Hong Kong claims Nations Cup Victory
• World Sailing Show
• Dragon Lady steals the show in final race of Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series
• Paris 2024: World Sailing wants to stop 'Arms Race' in Offshore Keelboat
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Swan 105 RS Child of Lir
• • Farr 51 'Bob'
• • Maxi 86 'Windquest'
• The Last Word: Ronnie Lane
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
Rum Runners at Antigua Sailing Week
Brilliant sunshine, solid trade winds and Caribbean surf made for the perfect start for the 52nd edition of Antigua Sailing Week. The cocktail of heaven-sent conditions was very apt for English Harbour Rum Race Day. The six CSA racing classes were on the Windward Course enjoying some epic downwind legs straight off the front of the brochure!
Ker 46 Lady Mariposa won today's race in CSA 2. British Lombard 46 Pata Negra, skippered by Adrian Fisk was second, and Vittorio Biscarini's Italian Mylius 15E25 Ars Una was third.
Sir Peter Harrison's Farr 115 Sojana, holder of the Lord Nelson Trophy, started their campaign with a win in CSA 1. Fully powered-up, the British supermaxi completed the 20-nautical mile course in under two hours. TP52 Zingara (Conviction) with Canadian Richard Reid at the helm, was second. Lithuanian Volvo 65 Ambersail, skippered by Simonas Steponavicius was third.
In CSA 3, Ondeck Antigua's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno, skippered by Arran Chapman won today's race and celebrated loud and proud at the English Harbour Rum Race Day prize giving! Adrian Lee's Irish Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners II was just 20 seconds behind Spirit of Juno after over two hours of racing. Mark Jagger's British Bordeaux 60 Theia of London, skippered by James Richman was third.
In CSA 4, British Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster won today's hotly contested race by just 16 seconds on corrected time from Pamala Baldwin's Antiguan J/122 Liquid. Diego Aguirre's J/122 Team Inka from Peru, was third by just 18 seconds from the Canadian Reflex 38 Touch2Play Racing, skippered by Rob Butler.
CSA 6 produced the closest race of the day, with Jules Mitchell's young Antiguan team racing 1720 NSA Spirit to victory by just 7 seconds from Raymond Magras and Patrick Bernier's St.Barths' team racing Dufour 34 Speedy Nemo. Tough luck for Raymond Magras who was celebrating his birthday on the stage with his team. Raphael Magras racing x-34 Maelia CEPAC Antilles, also from St.Barths was third, and led the chant of Happy Birthday!
Racing continues at Antigua Sailing Week on Monday 29 April, with Fever-Tree Race Day 2. -- Trish Jenkins
Peters & May Round Antigua Race
The Bajan TP52 Zingara (Conviction), chartered by Canadian Richard Reid, won the Peters & May Round Antigua Race in dramatic style. The team including Olympian and Volvo Ocean Race winner Richard Clarke, took Line Honours and the Peters & May Trophy for the overall win, after a tangle with the 100ft SHK Scallywag right at the start. Second overall was Pamala Baldwin's J/122 Liquid, with a young team skippered by Jules White. Ker 46 Lady Mariposa, skippered by two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Jesper Bank, was third.
The Peters & May Round Antigua Race is the spectacular prequel to Antigua Sailing Week. The five-day regatta with a full cast of entries will start on Sunday 28 April. Thirty three yachts entered the 53-mile race around Antigua, with high drama right from the get-go. The Dovell 100 SHK Scallywag tore their enormous mainsail after a tangle with TP52 Zingara (Conviction). The magnificent 115ft Farr ketch Sojana was noticeably absent after fouling their propeller before the start.
Pamala Baldwin's J/122 Liquid, skippered by Jules White, put in a great performance, scoring second overall and winning CSA 2 ahead of two well sailed teams; Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster and Bernie Evan-Wong's RP37 Taz.
In CSA 1, Zingara (Conviction) was the winner, with Lady Mariposa, a newcomer to Antigua Sailing Week, in second place. On Deck's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno, skippered by Arran Chapman was third; a great start to the defence of their class win at last year's Antigua Sailing Week.
In CSA 3, Michael and Chloe Hough's Spirit 64.5 Chloe Giselle, class winner at last week's Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta was the winner, ahead of Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners II, skippered by Adrian Lee who has won class several times at Antigua Sailing Week with his former yacht, a Cookson 50. Mark Jagger's Bordeaux 60 Theia of London, skippered by James Richmond, was third.
In the Double-Handed Class, Philip Asche's Swan 44 Freebird was the winner, racing with Ronald Canizares, representing the New York Yacht Club
Full Results for the Peters & May Round Antigua Race
First European Leg of the 2019 Melges 20 World League
Villasimius, Cagliari, Italy: Igor Rytov, at the helm of Russian Bogatyrs, is the winner of the first leg of the long European season of the Melges 20 World League, confirming himself as one of the top teams in the fleet.
Igor Rytov is not new to these results as he has always been, with great continuity, at the top of the Class in which he won the title of Melges World League Champion and European Champion in 2017. With today's victory Rytov does nothing but add a new success to his long and great collection.
The placement on the top step of the podium for the Russian team has matured all through the weekend and in the extreme and spectacular conditions of yesterday in which Rytov took the lead with a perfect performance.
In today's only regatta, Russian Bogatyrs was able to control the opponents, keeping them at a safe distance scoring an excellent second place in the race that saw the success of the Argentinian Boogie by Pierluigi Giannattasio (with Giulio Desiderato on tactics).
The spotlight of the Melges 20 World League is now moving on Asia, Japan, where the sixth round of the 2019 international circuit will be held (in Akya from 18 to 19 May) while Europe will return to be the protagonist from 24 to 26 May with the appointment of Puntaldia, North-Eastern Sardinia.
Final top five:
1. Russian Bogatyrs, RUS, Igor Rytov, 11 points
2. Boogie, ARG, Pierluigi GIannattasio, 16
3. Brontolo Racing, ITA, Filippo Pacinotti, 25
4. Pirogovo Sailing, RUS, Alexandr Ezhkov, 27
5. Fremitod'Arja, ITA, Dario Levi, 28
Full results on YachtScoring.com
Everything in it’s right place - UBI Maior
When the builders at Vismara were approached to use their well-honed skills in crafting a beautiful new luxury performance yacht designed by Axel De Beaufort/Guillame Verdier, they needed to be assured their suppliers to the project met their own high standards. They chose UBI Maior as the supplier for most components of the deck hardware and sail-handling systems.
The vision for this new 69-footer called Nacira 69 was one not yet attempted in this genre: take the best elements of the Imoca 60 class yachts and adapt them for shorthanded luxury racing and cruising. Built in pre-preg carbon with a deck-stepped mast placed well aft towards the longitudinal centre of the yacht, Nacira has a more open interior for cruising along with the very latest in offshore performance design from the creators of many Imoca 60s as well as larger ocean greyhounds such as Comanche.
Full article in the May issue of Seahorse
SNIM 2019: an undisputed success!
The 54th International Nautical Week of the Mediterranean (SNIM) organized by the Societe Nautique de Marseille gathered 139 boats including 98 crews in IRC, others in monotypes, 1000 sailors, a record participation for 4 days of intense and windy regattas in Marseille, future venue of the 2024 Olympic Games. This is a significant growth with many young sailors joining !
Two major points should be highlighted: the unusual weather and the strong and very competitive Russian contingent.
Blocked between a Nordic high pressure ridge covering Europe which gave a superb weather for the Spi Ouest and an African depression moving north, Sailors had 4 days of warm Easterly wind, very shifty and gusty from 0 to 30 knots within minutes! It included holes of wind at some marks, redistributing cards all along the races. Tacticians have never been so useful but lots of them got serious headaches!
The offshore race was quite windy in choppy waters out of the bay towards the islands of La Ciotat or Les Embiez depending of the class. The overall winner has been Bogatyr, the JPK 10.80 of Igor Rytov who also won the IRC 3 class despite a very strong opposition of Chenapan helmed by Dimitri Deruelle, in charge of the upcoming Sail GP event in Marseille.
In IRC 2, Adrenaline crewed by Russians as well won by one point after the very last race against Sloughi, the First 40 of the Riva family from Palavas which had already won brilliantly the Massilia Cup 2 weeks ago.
IRC 1 went to Imagine, a Sydney 43, Confluence Sopra (GP42) following and Tonnerre de Glen completing the box. This very well-known boat will be participating to major British races including the Round the Island Race and major RORC races, IRC nationals, Cowes Dinard, the Channel Race and the Fastnet.
Finally in IRC 0, Team Visions Future made it ahead of Alizee, both of them training for the TP 52 season.
Special mention for the Solo and Duo sailors who had to face these difficult and windy conditions and some serious boat injuries. Ultimately, the local beer brewery, La Cagole, will use its bar benefits to plant 1 000 trees in close by hills ravaged by fires, highlighting the contribution of SNIM to reduce its CO2 impact. -- Philippe Serenon
Full results: lanautique.com/regate/snim-2019/
Hong Kong claims Nations Cup Victory
Monty Python's favorite nationality: the Belgians. Photo by Guy Nowell. Click on image for photo gallery.
By all accounts, everyone enjoyed the day’s racing out in the harbour. Over 60 sailing crews representing 17 nations namely Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, England, Sweden, Turkey, New Zealand, Scotland, Germany, USA, Ireland, Belgium, France, Italy and Japan competed in the Harbour. Besides winning a trophy, the winning nation’s bragging rights includes the right to have their nation’s flag in the Club’s Main Bar for a year.
First held in 2011, the Nations’ Cup is different from the Club’s usual sailing races with crews formed along the lines of their nation of origin or allegiance - or just simply dressing up in anything they like.
Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen set a course that was “easy to handle for teams that are not used to sailing together, one that was interesting enough without being too long and one that could be shortened if necessary.” Strompf-Jepsen said “the weather conditions were pretty good; perfect almost. We had 10 to 15kts of breeze and it was all good despite the finishing mark being dragged away from us.”
There were all sorts of costumes out on the race track today. One boat carried Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and Barack Obama lookalikes along with their bodyguards whilst another team representing France sailed in yellow vests. Still others dressed up as mahjong pieces. Best dressed boat award went to Helios.
Another nod to politics came from Nick Atkinson who had an English flag and an EU flag strapped to his Flying Fifteen Uffa Fox Ache. Said Atkinson, “we went as Brexit basically” and when asked how he thought he fared in today’s racing he quipped "really badly actually, much like Brexit; we couldn't decide which way to go to save our lives".
In the end Hong Kong was crowned top nation for the first time in the history of the Nations’ Cup. In second place was Ireland followed in third by England. Then came Belgium, Australia and New Zealand rounding off the top six. Best Dressed Crew was Hong Kong’s Karina and Best Dressed Boat was Helios.
World Sailing Show
It has taken two years to create and has required absolute secrecy throughout. As Thomas Coville’s new 32m trimaran was rolled out into the open we got to see why his team had been so tight lipped about their new beast of a boat. This is an Ultime like no other.
We also take a look at another high performance multihull, but this one is for cruising. The Eagle 53 was inspired by the America’s Cup and designed to fly.
A new plan for the road to the America’s Cup is laid out as this year’s opening event is postponed.
How a sailing club in San Diego with an unorthodox approach to racing is grabbing the support of a new generation of young sailors.
Plus, alternative ways to get your kicks on foils.
- Coville’s secret revealed: The new Sodebo
- The Un-Regatta
- The Eagle has launched
- A new route to the America’s Cup
- Alternative foiling for fun
Dragon Lady steals the show in final race of Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series
Henrietta McRae steered her Dragon keelboat, ‘Dragon Lady’, to two wins from three races at the Brighton Ladies Skippers Series (BLiSS) today - it was the final race of the Port Phillip Women’s Championship Series (PPWCS) held on Port Phillip.
Hosted by the Royal Brighton Yacht Club, the day consisted of three windward/leeward races of two laps each, starting from 10am on a cold and wet Melbourne day, with gusty 25 knot winds kick-starting the day. It was a challenging day for the crews in the 24-boat fleet.
McRae, a member of the host club, was thrilled to learn she had won the day overall, with wins in the opening and closing races and a 12th in Race 2.
The BLiSS brought the 2019 PPWCS to an end. RBYC will also host the official prize giving for the series and the Nautilus Range Series, in which some PPWCS sailors have also been competing, on Friday 24 May. -- Di Pearson
Full results: www.topyacht.net.au
For all information on the PPWCS, please visit: womenandgirlsinsailing.com.au
Paris 2024: World Sailing wants to stop 'Arms Race' in Offshore Keelboat
World Sailing's Board has made another "Urgent" submission to be considered at the Mid-Year Council meeting to facilitate the inclusion of the new Mixed Two Person Offshore Keelboat in the 2024 Olympic Sailing Regatta in Marseille.
It used the same process to bring in a Submission at the Annual Conference in late 2018, to say that the "Mixed One Person Dinghy" event that it had selected at its May 2018 Meeting was six months later not considered to be viable, and instead should be replaced by a new event - the Mixed Two-Person Offshore Keelboat.
The proposed Regulation change establishes a system where World Sailing's Council will prescribe a list of different classes that it says will meet the key criteria for the Event, and may be used at later dates for qualification for the Event. The Class List must be announced by December 2019.
Four years later, by December 2023, the Submission says the Council shall select the class to be used for the new Mixed Two Person Offshore Event at the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
The process has been introduced by World Sailing to head off what it prophesies will be an "Arms Race" for the Offshore keelboat event.
There is nothing in the submission which specifies why the world body has only just realised that an "Arms Race" will develop, or indeed what one would look like in this context. The information was known at the time of the Offshore Keelboat event being selected in November 2018. Nothing has changed.
Full story by Richard Gladwell in Sail-World.com:
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The Last Word
I can be in a crowded football stadium, completely alone. -- Ronnie Lane
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