In This Issue
• Sojana Retains the Lord Nelson Trophy
• Australia wins U.S. debut of SailGP
• Grant Gordon Claims 24th HM King Juan Carlos Trophy 2019 in Cascais
• A Game of contrasts - Van Isle Race
• Redshift Wins Cervantes Trophy
• Farr 40 Struntje Light Wins Overall Yachting Cup Title
• Solo Maitre Coq
• Picon confirms golden comeback year in Hyeres
• Alejandro Fresneda and Javier Lopez are the 2019 Snipe European Masters Champions
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Whitbread Maxi ROTHMANS.
• • Finot Open 40 ANASAZI GIRL
• • Johan Anker 49Ft Q-Class Sloop
• The Last Word: James Salter

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

Sojana Retains the Lord Nelson Trophy
The 52nd edition of Antigua Sailing Week will be remembered for a cocktail of superb sailing, thrilling racing and a great party atmosphere ashore. Teams from 21 different countries from all over the world chose Antigua Sailing Week as their destination. The trade winds blew for all six days of racing; mixed in with tropical heat and a rollercoaster ride of Caribbean swell, Antigua delivered world class sailing. Racing was incredibly close with the majority of the classes enjoying thrilling competition.

New marks introduced provided the opportunity for longer coastal courses, allowing the boats to stretch their legs and take in the beautiful west and rugged east coasts of Antigua. The introduction of new top and bottom marks on the Windward Course allowed for better windward-leeward race tracks, testing the technical abilities of the international fleet.

Sir Peter Harrison's Farr 115 Sojana was the overall winner of Antigua Sailing Week, retaining the coveted Lord Nelson Trophy. It has been 20 years since Larry Ellison's Sayonara achieved the last successful defence.

Sojana was the best boat racing in CSA Overall, winning the Corum Cup, second overall in CSA winning the Peter Deeth Trophy was Scarlet Oyster, and third overall winning the Catamaran Marina Cup was Lady Mariposa. The Bareboat Overall Champion, winning the Dream Yacht Charter Trophy, and a voucher for one week's bareboat charter from Antigua Sailing Week 2020, was Hans Steidle's KH+P Barbuda.

Sojana was the winner of CSA 1, scoring six race wins. Lithuanian Volvo 65 Ambersail2, skippered by Simonas Steponavicius won the last race to take runner up. With Jean-Pierre Dick's French JP54 The Kid in third.

In CSA 2, Ker 46 Lady Mariposa, skippered by Jesper Bank, scored six bullets to lift the English Harbour Rum Trophy. Lombard 46 Pata Negra, skippered by Adrian Fisk's Itchenor SC team won the last race to claim second, a point ahead of Jeremy Thorp's British GP42 Phan.

In CSA 3, Adrian Lee's Irish Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners II scored five bullets and was also declared Best Swan at Antigua Sailing Week. Mark Jagger's CNB 60 Theia of London was second, and OnDeck Antigua's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno was third.

In CSA 4 Ross Applebey's British Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster won arguably the most competitive CSA Class, lifting the Sanhall Trademarks Trophy and the Hinckley Cup for best racing charter yacht. Pamala Baldwin's Antiguan J122 Liquid was second and also the winner of the CSA Travellers' Trophy. Andy Middleton's British First 47.7 EH01 was third in class.

CSA 5 featured close racing with races won or lost by seconds. Jonty and Vicki Layfield's Antiguan J/11s Sleeper battled to a class win, lifting the Governor General's Cup.

The 53rd edition of Antigua Sailing Week will take place on April 25th - May 1st, 2020. -- Louay Habib

Full Results

www.sailingweek.com

Australia wins U.S. debut of SailGP
Thousands of spectators waved their favorite teams’ colors from the packed Marina Yacht Club Peninsula Race Village as they witnessed the Australia SailGP Team repeat as champions with victory over Japan, to win the U.S. debut of SailGP.

After two full days of thrilling racing at San Francisco SailGP, the Australia SailGP Team, helmed by Olympic gold medalist Tom Slingsby, took the top honor. Proving the ultimate come-back kids after struggling in training and a disappointing day of racing on Saturday, they defeated the Japanese team in the final match race to win the event and go two points up in the overall season rankings and a step closer to the $1 million prize.

After dominating the opening day, winning all three races in an impressive showing, Outteridge’s team couldn’t hold off Slingsby’s charge. Despite a close battle in the final match race, Outteridge later noted that a software issue meant that they were ‘sailing blind’ around the race course.

With two wins out of two, the Australian team takes top spot on the overall Season 1 leaderboard, with just two points separating the top two teams going into the next event in New York, June 21-22.

Taking its first SailGP race win, Great Britain was one of the standout performers of the weekend, finishing third overall and maintaining the same position on the overall leaderboard.

Results

SailGP Season 1 // Leaderboard
1st // Australia // 93pts
2nd // Japan // 91pts
3rd // Great Britain // 79pts
4th // United States // 68pts
5th // France // 61pts
6th // China // 60pts

San Francisco SailGP // Overall
1st // Australia // 47pts
2nd // Japan // 46pts
3rd // Great Britain // 43pts
4th // United States // 37pts
5th // France // 28pts
6th // China // 27pts

sailgp.com

Grant Gordon Claims 24th HM King Juan Carlos Trophy 2019 in Cascais
The 24th King Juan Carlos Trophy, the second leg of the International Dragon European Cup Series 2019, came to a nail biting conclusion in Cascais with a two race showdown of epic proportions. Going into the day just three points separated the top five boats and the air of anticipation as they left the dock was palpable. Anatoly Loginov (RUS27) led the regatta overnight with 25 points, Jens Rathsack (MON2) had 26 points, Hugo Stenbeck (SUI311) and Dmitriy Samokhin (RUS76) were each on 27 points, Grant Gordon (GBR820) 28, Pedro Rebelo de Andrade (POR 84) 30 and Pieter Heerema (NED412) 31 points.

Initially the fleet was held ashore awaiting the sea breeze, putting the Race Committee under pressure to achieve two races before the 14.00 last warning signal. Fortunately clear blue skies and hot sun brought the wind in early and at 11.30 the first race was underway in 10 knots and building. For only the second time in the series the fleet got a clean start at the first time of asking and Heerema rapidly put his stamp on the race to win comfortably. Behind him Gordon held off the pack for second place with Stenbeck third, Samokhin fourth and Loginov fifth.

The week's top Corinthian performers were Miguel Magalhaes (POR56) and his team of Jorge Pinheiro de Melo and Jose Magalhaes, who gave some of the pros a good run for their money. The fight for second and third place in the Corinthian Division came down to a single point with second place ultimately going to Guy Gelis (BEL88), who narrowly beat Manuel Rocha (POR47).

Overall Top Five
1. Grant Gordon, GBR820, 31
2. Hugo Stenbeck, SUI311, 33
3. Pieter Heerema, NED412, 37
4. Dmitry Samokhin, RUS76, 38
5. Jens Rathsack, MON2, 39

Full results www.cncascais.com

A Game of contrasts - Van Isle Race
Two classic races in the Pacific northwest that between them offer virtually every experience that the sport of offshore racing can deliver

The great oceans of this planet invite us to sail great ocean races, with most having long and storied histories. In the Atlantic these include the Transatlantic, the Newport- Bermuda, the Route du Rhum and the Cape Town-Rio Race, among others. In the Pacific there are several, including the Transpac, Pacific Cup, the LA-Tahiti Race and various races to Mexico. Most of these are biennial and start or end in the southern half of North America. Yet there two other great offshore races in the Pacific that start (and one ends) in the northern half of this continent: the Vic-Maui Race and the Van Isle 360.

These are two very different races yet they both celebrate a rich heritage of Canadian yachting in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The Van Isle 360 is the younger of the two, in its 20th year this year, and has a fascinating format that is driving its growing popularity. Rather than being a point-to-point ocean race, this race is actually a tour and has its roots in a clever idea developed in 1986 among some adventure-seeking multihull sailors who planned to race around Vancouver Island in eight legs. That event had a title sponsor, an entry fee of $1,000 and encouragement for teams to find sponsors to support them on this odyssey. The problem was that Corinthian attitudes prevalent in the hierarchies of the sport in this era were not yet ready to support sponsored sailing, so the event died despite having a respectable count of 25 entries.

Full article in the May issue of Seahorse

Redshift Wins Cervantes Trophy
The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Cervantes Trophy Race provided a challenging start to the European season for the RORC Season's Points Championship. A bitter northerly wind, with squalls gusting over 30 knots, produced a challenging race for the impressive fleet of 108 boats. Starting from the Squadron Line, the fleet headed east out of the Solent passing No Man's Land Fort and into the open waters of the English Channel. After passing south of the Nab Channel, the fleet headed east, blast reaching to Owers, followed by an upwind leg to Littlehampton Outfall. Cracking sheets and hoisting downwind sails, the fleet headed south for a 77 mile dead-run across the English Channel. An energy sapping upwind leg of over 20 miles, from Cussy Buoy to the A5 Buoy, further tested the fleet, before a downwind section to the finish.

Ed Fishwick's maiden offshore race in British FAST40+ Redshift winning the 2019 RORC Cervantes Trophy Race. With a top class crew including Hannah Diamond and Dave Swete from the Volvo Ocean Race, along with Figaro skipper Nick Cherry. Redshift completed the 160nm course in just under 15 hours taking Line Honours and the overall win after IRC time correction. Lars & Birgitta Elfverson's Swedish Ker 40 Keronimo was second overall. Dutch Ker 46 Van Uden, skippered by Gerd-Jan Poortman, was third.

33 teams started the race in IRC Two-Handed, and two thirds of the fleet completed a tough test of shorthanded boat handling and tenacity. Louis-Marie Dussere's French JPK 10.80 Raging-bee² took class line honours in just under 20 hours, and was the winner after IRC time correction. Deb Fish & Will Taylor racing Sun Fast 3600 Bellino was second in class, and Julien Lebas' French A31 Gaya was third.

In IRC Zero,Van Uden was the class winner, Windward Sailing's British CM60 Venomous, sailed by Derek Saunders was second, and Lance Shepherd's Volvo 70 Telefonica Black third. In IRC One Redshift, and Keronimo took the top two places, Mark Emerson's British A13 Phosphorus II was third.

In IRC Two, Thomas Kneen's British JPK 11.80 took Line Honours for the class, and after time correction won the class, also placing fourth overall. In IRC Three, Raging-bee² was the class winner. Peter Butters' British JPK 10.10 Joy, sailed by Dave Butters, was third.

In the Multihull Class, two teams racing 30-something footers completed a tough challenge. Joel Malardel's French Normanni 34 Tancrede took Line Honours and the win after time correction. 2018 Multihull champion, Ross Hobson's Seacart 30 Buzz, was second.

RORC Transatlantic and RORC Caribbean 600 Champion, Catherine Pourre's Eärendil, was the winner in the Class40 Division, beating Christophe Coatnoan's Partouche.

The fourth race of the 2019 RORC Season's Points Championship is the Myth of Malham Race, starting from the RYS Line on Saturday 25 May (0800 BST). The 256nm course mirrors the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race, as far as the Eddystone Lighthouse, followed by a return leg to a Solent finish. A substantial international fleet is expected.

Results and standings in the points championship

www.rorc.org

Farr 40 Struntje Light Wins Overall Yachting Cup Title
San Diego, CA (May 5, There were plenty of high-fives, handshakes and celebratory cheers back on the docks after the final day of the San Diego Yacht Club’s Yachting Cup. Congratulations were exchanged and camaraderie was shared, but one class stood out this weekend and made its mark on the 2019 Yachting Cup. The Farr 40 class, fielding an international fleet of seven for their season opener, made the most of three ideal Pacific ocean sailing days at SDYC’s premier multi-fleet regatta.

Wolfgang Schaefer, owner of Struntje Light, dominated over eight races this weekend, earning him and his crew the title of Overall Yachting Cup winners.

Tim Fuller, Yachting Cup Chair, congratulated the Overall Yachting Cup winner for their outstanding performance. “In the eight races over three days, Struntje Light showed their worth in a large, competitive class. They truly dominated the course,” Fuller commented.

Struntje Light took the most bullets on the scoresheet in the Farr 40 class with five first place finishes. When they weren’t taking first, they were not far behind in second or third place. The boat started off the weekend with two bullets and a second on the first day, two bullets and a third on the second day, and one bullet and a third on the final day.

Rick Goebel’s Insanity took second place in the class by three points

Full results of all classes: yachtingcup.com/results

Solo Maitre Coq
Tired, slightly disappointed but nonetheless armed with a number of valuable lessons which he will take forward to next month’s La Solitaire URO Le Figaro, Ireland’s Tom Dolan finished 28th into Les Sables d’Olonne on Smurfit Kappa yesterday afternoon (Saturday) at the end of the 380 nautical miles offshore race, so completing the Solo Maitre Coq in 24th position overall.

Dolan, from County Meath, finishes almost exactly mid fleet after the three races - two short inshores and the longer offshore which started on Thursday afternoon and took the 47 strong fleet south to the Ile de Re off La Rochelle, north to Belle ile to the NW of Nantes and back to finish in Les Sables d’Olonne.

A mediocre start, which left him towards the back of the white hot fleet of France’s top solo racers at the first turning mark, left Dolan with a mountain to climb. Although he pulled up more than 20 places over the ensuing legs, and spent 24 hours racing side-by-side with three times La Solitaire winner Yann Elies a final finish in the top 20 eluded Dolan.

Final top ten
1. Group SNEF, Xavier Macaire, 40 points
2. Queguiner, Tanguy Le Turquais, 42
3. Avec Vous Sur La Solitaire, Morgan Lagraviere , 42.5
4. Action Contre La Faim, Benjamin Schwartz, 50
5. Banque Populaire, Armel Le Cleac'h, 62.5
6. 57, Adrien Hardy, 72.5
7. Skipper Macif 2017, Martin Le Pape, 85
8. Le Hub By Oc Sport, Yoann Richomme, 85
9. Teamwork, Justine Mettraux, 87
10. Skipper Macif 2019, Pierre Quiroga, 88.5

tomdolanracing.com

www.solomaitrecoq.com

Picon confirms golden comeback year in Hyeres
France’s Charline Picon, the Rio 2016 Olympic Champion, made sure it was a golden finish for the hosts, winning the women’s RS:X windsurfing to close the 51st edition of the Semaine Olympique Francaise.

There could not have been a better concluding day as the Medal Races played out in perfect Côte d’Azur conditions with a golden sun, clear skies and 15-knot westerlies.

Leading by 14 points overnight, Picon finished the medal race today in third and confirm her expected victory.

Italy’s Mattia Camboni and Australia’s Matthew Wearn had already won the men’s RS:X and Laser respectively on Friday. But there was a shock in the first medal race of the day as Hungary’s rising star Maria Erdi, leading the Laser Radial by nine points overnight, finished last in the medal race having been outmanoeuvred by Finland’s Tuula Tenkanen, who took gold.

The 197 sailors from 49 nations have been tested to their limits in all different conditions over an a long racing schedule (12 for the Lasers and 16 for the RS:X, only the RS:X women lost one race because the Mistral was blowing too hard on Friday evening).

Women’s RS:X
Gold - Charline Picon (France) - 49 points
Silver - Peina Chen (China) - 59
Bronze - Yunxiu Lu (China) - 79

Men’s RS:X
Gold - Mattia Camboni (Italy) - 57
Silver - Thomas Goyard (France) - 87
Bronze - Piotr Myszka (Poland) - 90

Laser Radial
Gold - Tuula Tenkanen (Finland) - 59
Silver - Maria Erdi (Hungary) - 62
Bronze - Emma Plasschaert (Belgium) - 84

Laser
Gold - Matthew Wearn (Australia) - 16
Silver - Sam Meech (New Zealand) - 49
Bronze - Tom Burton (Australia) - 55

Full results: evenements.ffvoile.fr/sof2019gbr/results.aspx

Alejandro Fresneda and Javier Lopez are the 2019 Snipe European Masters Champions
After three days of competition at sea and much entertainment ashore, the curtains closed tonight on the Snipe Master European Championship at the Real Club Nautico de Valencia, after three days of great racing that gathered some of the most outstanding teams in the class in the Master category.

With an impeccable score sheet, that left them on top of the rankings at all times, the duo from Almeria Alejandro Fresneda and Javier Lopez won the overall trophy, followed by the Portuguese Tiago Roquette and Dries Crombe and with the third place for Jose Luis Maldonado and Alexandre Tinocco, from the RCN Valencia.

The requirement to take part at the Master championship is for the skipper to be older than 45 years and that the sum of the ages of both crew members is always 80 years or more. In addition to the absolute title, the regatta has prizes for the Apprentice Master categories, with skipper between 45 and 54, Master, 55 - 64, Grand Master, 65 -74 and Legend Master, over 75 years of age.

The sailors of the Club Maritimo de Mahon, Fernando Rita and Juan Magro have managed to get the win off their club mates Damian Borras and Jordi Triay, claiming the title of Master Champions and fourth overall. Borras and Triay are runners-up Master and fifth in general, and the Italians Alberto Schiaffino and Giuseppe Prosperi take the bronze in the Master category and 12th overall.

The Grand Master category champions are Jose Palacio and Francisco Palacio of the Real Club Astur de Regatas, 11th overall. The second position in this category is occupied by Jorn Haga of RCN Motril, sailing with Esperanza Pereza from Cartagena, and with the Italians Roberto Tozzi and Giuseppe Borelli completing the podium.

The winners in the most senior category of the championship, the Legend Master, are Jose Perez and Jorge Juan Soriano, of the CN Los Nietos, followed by the Portuguese duo formed by Daniel Fins and Cristina Domingos and with the third place for the Belgians Andre and Eric Callot.

snipe-rcnv.es

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 Alistair Skinner: To add to Alan Veestra’s letter:

Not to take away from Alan Veestra’s point at all but the absence of the Finn & the Star from the Olympics s rather more fundamental than just two long serving classes being excluded. Rather, the exclusion of ANY class for the athlete over 85kg really shows World Sailing’s lack of concern for what must surely be a large portion of their constituency.

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The Last Word
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