In This Issue
Sled Lead But Azzurra Achieving Their Goals On Home Waters
Test match at the Azimut Challenge
Registration Open! St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR)
Thousand Islands Race: Rijeka - Porto Montenegro - Rijeka
Melges 32 World League Finals: First Time In Barcelona
Itchenor Solent Sunbeam heads to the South of France for the Classic Yacht Regattas
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Emirates Team New Zealand pushes the wind limits
Barcolana 51
Letters to the Editor
Featured Charter
Featured Brokerage:
• • 1944 Ciclon Sparkman & Stephens 52 Ft Sloop
• • Luca di Rosa Pinguin 38 IRC
• • Nautor's ClubSwan50 'Skorpios'
The Last Word: Robert Plant

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

Sled Lead But Azzurra Achieving Their Goals On Home Waters
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

SUPER SERIES Sailing Week Porto Cervo Porto Cervo, Italy: Although it is Takashi Okura's Sled which holds a narrow lead of just one point after the first three races of the Audi 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week Porto Cervo 2019, the home club favourites Azzurra bolstered their bid to secure the 2019 circuit with an excellent opening day during which they added five points to their circuit championship lead.

After losing the first scheduled day to a Mistral wind which was too strong, conditions proved excellent for the first three races of the regatta, the NW'ly wind remaining steady in direction and blowing between 16 and 27 knots to provide fabulous sport for this showdown title decider.

Regatta standings after Day 2
1. Sled, Takashi Okura, USA, 9 points
2. Azzurra, Alberto/Pablo Roemmers, ARG/ITA, 10
3. Bronenosec, Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS, 15
4. Alegre, Andres Soriano, USA/GBR, 15
5. Quantum Racing, Doug DeVos, USA, 15
6. Phoenix 11, Tina Plattner, RSA, 15
7. Platoon, Harm Müller-Spreer, GER, 16
8. Provezza, Ergin Imre, TUR, 17
9. Gladiator, Tony Langley, GBR, 24
10. Team Vision Future, Jean Jacques Chaubard, FRA, 30

52superseries.com

Test match at the Azimut Challenge
After a year of fine tuning and her first win this summer in the Rolex Fastnet Race, Jeremie Beyou's IMOCA, Charal with the sailor from Marseilles Christopher Pratt aboard, shone at the 2019 Azimut Challenge this weekend in Lorient. With just over a month to go to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the event was a test for many of the boats, whether they were old or new, foilers or not. There was a lot to see at every level and the weather conditions were ideal.

Out of the twenty boats ranked at the finish, there were 12 foilers and 8 non-foilers, three of which made it to the top ten. We take a look at what happened, the lessons that were learnt and hear from some of the 42 IMOCA skippers who took part in this contest.

Everyone was watching to see how the VPLP designed Charal would do against the two new boats, Thomas Ruyant's Verdier designed Advens for Cybersecurity and Sebastien Simon's Kouyoumdjian designed Arkea Paprec. Neither of the two latter boats would however end up in the top 10 in the 48-hour race, as the two monohulls so recently launched this summer have not yet had time to try out all the set ups to be able to compete with the leader. The Top 10 was therefore dominated by Charal, which was clearly in control, winning all three races in the event: the speed runs, the 48-hour race and the race around Groix.

Further back, among the other nine IMOCAs in the top 10, we should stress the fantastic second place obtained by Kevin Escoffier/Nicolas Lunven aboard their 10-year old PRB (designed by Verdier-VPLP in 2009) which has also been fitted with foils. Kevin Escoffier was pleased with the result and being going through a wide range of points of sail, but kept a critical eye on performance: "When reaching, we were not as fast, so we still have work to do, in particular on the sails and the adjustments to the appendages. Upwind, we saw we could perform well and downwind we also managed to catch up. That proves that PRB is a good all-round boat."

Rankings for the 48-hour race
1. Charal (Beyou-Pratt): 1d 18h 43 mins 46s (foils)
2. PRB (Escoffier-Lunven): 1d 20h 08 mins 52s (foils)
3. 11th Hour (Enright-Bidegorry): 1d 20h 45 mins 47s (foils)
4. Maitre CoQ IV (Bestaven-Jourdain): 1d 21h 19 mins 08s (foils)
5. Groupe Apicil (Seguin-Richomme): 1d 22h 11 mins 26s (daggerboards)
6. Banque Populaire X (Cremer-Le Cleac'h): 1d 22h 16 mins 51s (daggerboards)
7. Initiatives Cœur (Davies-Meilhat): 1d 22h 18 mins 31s (foils)
8. MACSF (Joschke-Lagraviere): 1d 23h 42 mins 27s (foils)
9. V&B Mayenne (Sorel-Le Brec): 2d 00h 14 mins 48s (daggerboards)
10. Bureau Vallee 2 (Burton-Beaudart): 2d 00h 20 miins 54s (foils)
11. Arkea-Paprec (Simon-Riou): 2d 01h 28 mins 22s (foils)
12. Corum (Troussel-Le Cam): 2d 2h 02 mins 25 (daggerboards)
13. Prysmian Group (Pedote-Marchand): 2d 2h 16 mins 57s (foils)
14. Newrest-Art et Fenetres (Amadeo-Peron): 2d 2h 20 mins 31s (foils)
15. La Fabrique (Roura-Audigane): 2d 2h 40 mins 33s (foils)
16. aDvens for Cybersecurity (Ruyant-Koch): 2d 2h 41 mins 11s (foils)
17. La Mie Câline (Boissieres-Macaire): 2d 2h 57 mins 34s (daggerboards)
18. Groupe Setin (Cousin-Morvan): 2d 4h 28 mins 39s (daggerboards)
19. Pure (Attanasio-Marsset): 2d 4h 43 mins 02d (daggerboards)
20. Time for Oceans (Le Diraison-Guiffant): 2d 05h 33 mins 00s (daggerboards).

imoca.org

Registration Open! St. Thomas International Regatta (STIR) - March 27-29, 2020
St. Thomas International Regatt Secure your spot on the start line! Register now for STIR 2020. Compete in CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker; IRC; Multihull; CSA Bareboat; Beach Cat or in One Design classes with a minimum length of 20 feet. Enjoy round-the-rocks and round-the-buoy courses orchestrated by a professional race committee. Discounted early entry! Pay only US $150, or 50% off the regular entry fee, between now and January 31, 2020. Get an extra day of racing by also signing up for the Round the Rocks (RTR) race . The course is a circumnavigation of the neighboring 19.6-square mile island of St. John, home of the Virgin Islands National Park.

The RTR makes a great tune-up for STIR, plus there's a special prizegiving afterwards that coincides with the kick-off party for STIR. If you're looking for really hot racing, take your start in the RTR race and/or STIR 2020 in the large one-design IC24 class. Charters of these highly-competitive converted J/24s are available from the St. Thomas Sailing Center ($2200 for boat with good sails; $2700 with new sails; for the 3-day STIR, practice day and 30-day Bluewater Membership at the St. Thomas Yacht Club (STYC). The fun doesn't stop once the sailing finishes for the day.

Nightly parties, live music, food and drink all happen right on the beach in front of the host STYC. 'We Love It Here' You will too.

www.stthomasinternationalregatta.com, Email: , Call (340) 775-6320.

Thousand Islands Race: Rijeka - Porto Montenegro - Rijeka
The first leg of 7th Thousand Islands Race that started at noon on Sunday 22nd September from Rijeka Harbour on 278 NM long course among more than thousand Adriatic islands to the finish line to marina Portomontenegro in Tivat could in short be described as: "from lull to lull". However, between two calms at the start and the finish, there was everything that makes offshore racing intereresting and demonstrates why this is one of the most beautiful race courses nature designed. Fleet not numerous but profoundly international consisting of crews from Austria, Croatia, Great Britain, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The forcasted jugo reached 15 knots with gusting 20 knots. In the first part of the race three retirement occured. First one was due to mast falling down of Austrian Sayg I the only multihull competing with luckily no injury for its two crew members and this meant end of the race for them and stop at Punat.

Injury requiring medical assistance but not serious, happened to a crew member of Austrian Abracadabra forcing her to stop in Biograd. Bad news continued and Croatian Mowgli lost its mast at Zirje island and forced them to retire. Mowgli luckily without any injury to the crew, first called at Kapri island and next morning continued to Tribunj.

First boats came close to finish around six o'clock on the Wednesday morning but they needed more than three hours for few last NM. SLovenian Macropus and Austrian Vento Cadela were match racing using every breath of the wind avaialble. At the end Macropus crossed the finish line first at 09:34:13 after more then 69 hours of racing making this the slowest first leg in the history of Thousand Isalnds Race. Austrian Vento Cadela with Christian Pfann at the helm crossed the line 12 minutes later and that was enough to win the race under corrected time and very soon became apparent no other boat still racing could endanger their overall lead.

Long lasting first leg caused cancellation of Thousand Islands Race + 2 planned in Bay of Boka Kotorska for the layover between two legs. There will be almost no rest for Montenegrin Sofia that finished last because the start of the second leg follows soon - at noon on Thursday 26th September 2019.

www.scor.hr/regate/2019e/tir.htm

Melges 32 World League Finals: First Time In Barcelona
After the Italian events of Villasimius, Puntaldia and Riva del Garda, the Melges 32 World League lands in Span on the moorings of OneOcean Port Vell, for what will be the key month of the whole season. The challenge in the Catalan city will serve as prologue to the Melges 32 World Championship, that will be hosted in Valencia, from October 24th to 27th.

The entry list of the Finals at OneOcean Port Vell is already absolutely challenging, with the confirmed presence of all the crews that have marked the history of the Class: starting with the twice World Champion (still in charge), the Russian Tavatuy of Pavel Kuznetzov, fighting for the title of Melges World League 2019 Champion, followed by the current leader of the ranking, the Italian Caipirinha of Martin Reintjes, and Giogi by Matteo Balestrero, winner of the Melges World League 2018.

The 15 teams confirmed on the starting line will be representing eight Nations (Germany, Norway, Monaco, Italy, Russia, Poland, Turkey, Great Britain).

Event page at YachtScoring.com

Itchenor Solent Sunbeam heads to the South of France for the Classic Yacht Regattas
Click on image to enlarge.

Solent Sunbeam Bosham-based Peter Nicholson, owner of Solent Sunbeam 'Dainty' hull no. 1, sets off for the annual Regates Royales and Voiles de St Tropez Regattas in the South of France

Regates Royales takes place in Cannes each September, and is hosted by the City of Cannes and organised by the Yacht Club de Cannes. The event sees the gathering of around 150 of the world's greatest classic yachts, including a number of 'grand dames' such as Elena of London, Cambria, Sunshine, Moonbeam and Mariska often gracing the bay. The event guarantees tight, competitive racing on the water followed by the friendliest of evening soirees ashore as the yachts moor alongside each other on quay in the old port!

According to the rules, yachts under 10m were not strictly allowed to participate but the event organisers were so taken with commitment and loyalty of keelboats such as Dainty (as well their delightful lines) that they created a 'Classe Invite' so they could continue to compete! Being so small, at just 8.2m, means that Dainty is one of the few yachts taking part that has no engine. This makes for nerve-wrecking mooring manoeuvres when trying to reverse into her berth in the old port in Cannes, but always elicits great admiration from the neighbouring yachts and on-shore crowd.

Once the racing is completed at Cannes, the classic fleet sets sail for St Tropez in the annual Yacht Club de France Coupe d'Automne (Autumn Cup). This 30-mile race along the stunning Cote D'Azur coastline can sometimes be interrupted by the famous Mistral wind which sees fresh north westerlies blowing off the land into the Gulf of Lion, sometimes reaching 40+ mph.

Voiles de Saint-Tropez is a huge event attracting both classic yachts and the latest modern racing yachts with over 300 yachts taking part and in excess of 4000 sailors and supporters. Peter notes that St Tropez with its magical location and stunning racing makes the perfect setting for the end to his sailing season.

Peter, owner of Solent Sunbeam Dainty hull no. 1, which was built in 1923, notes that 'it's not about the winning at these events, it's all about the taking part!'. The atmosphere and camaraderie are what bring him and his 96-year-old Sunbeam, Dainty back year after year!

If you are interested in owning a piece of yachting heritage that also has a very active racing fleet, then the class has a number of boats available for sale or part ownership, with more details available on the Solent Sunbeam website. www.solentsunbeam.co.uk

Seahorse October 2019
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Seahorse Magazine

Foiling toiling
The numbers continue to stagger the imagination but the market will always remain limited... Andy Claughton

A Vendee amuse-bouche
A couple of tonnes of water where it really shouldn’t be... whatever. Sam Davies

ORC - Time to work
Get off the beach and tell it like it is. Matteo Polli and Maurizio Cossutti

The impossible journey
Windjet to Saildrone to oceanic data harvesting, a remarkable 20 years. Richard Jenkins

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Emirates Team New Zealand pushes the wind limits
The new America's Cup class AC75 answered many questions as to how the type would handle fresh breezes with the Defenders sailing for the second successive day in fresh winds off Auckland East Coast Bays, to the north of the designated America's Cup courses.

Emirates Team New Zealand started the third week since her launch with a training session in conditions that were reported at both the top and bottom end of the course as being 18-20kts, gusting over 25kts. The wind shifted from SW to W during the afternoon.

The Kiwi team left the dock just after noon, returning around five hours later.

There was a lot of downtime adjusting what is believed to be wing control systems - which are designed and installed by the teams, while the carbon foil arm and lifting mechanism are standard supplied one design parts.

The wind conditions were the most severe yet for the AC75 - which is also believed to be fitted with different wing designs on each foil arm for testing purposes, as was done with the AC50 testing (providing a comparative test from one wing to the other).

Most notable concession to the conditions was the use of a short hoist jib, with its chunky profile being dictated by the girth measurement requirements of the AC75 rule.

Richard Gladwell's full report in Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com

Barcolana 51
After the success of Barcolana 50 in 2018 and the entry into the Guinness World Record as the Largest Sailing Race in the World - a real turning point for the event - Barcolana 51 Presented by Generali offers to the public a renewed format on land and many protagonists in the sea. It starts with the calendar: the large festival in Trieste will start on October 2 this year and will contain 11 consecutive days of events that end with the large regatta on Sunday October 13. The centre of the festival will be for the first time in Trieste at Piazza dell'Unita and from Friday October 4 it will become ground zero of the Barcolana. With a larger space to present expositions and host the events on land, the main objective of the new location is to guarantee improved accessibility to the public and provide more experiences to live the event to the fullest. In the sea on Sunday October 13, the large challenge will take place

Barcolana51 will have three special international sailors, who will share their message to show an increased international interest towards Barcolana. The English ocean sailor Dee Caffari is the testimonial of Barcolana51 and will share her knowledge about safeguarding the sea from plastic as an ambassador for the cause.

From Thursday 10 October, Nacra17 gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics - the Argentinian sailor Santiago Lange - will be in Trieste: for the first time in Barcolana, Lange will be endorsing the 69F project on the development of the first foil monohull for crews - one of Barcolana51 innovations - and will join the 69F Sailing Academy.

Among the special guests of this edition there's also the Chinese ocean sailor Vicky Song (宋坤), who is the first woman from the Far East to sail around the world and the first Chinese sailor participating in Barcolana. Vicky Song will promote Barcolana, Trieste and the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia in China and will tell Trieste how the East sees sailing.

The traditional events at sea - the races before the regatta - are all confirmed. On Saturday 5 October and 6 Sunday October you can enjoy Barcolana Young, Barcolana Nuota, Barcolana Fun - Foiling edition Siram by Veolia (until October 12), Barcolana Chef and Barcolana Fun LIV U21. On Tuesday 8 October there will be "Fuorivento" Trophy and the Arpege regattas , and on Friday 11 October there will be the regatta for Italian Navy League boats (organized by the Italian Navy League of Trieste), the Star Class Fine Art Sails (organized by Societa Triestina della Vela) and Barcolana Invitational - Venezia Giulia Collio Cup and Barcolana One Design (organized by Societa Nautica Grignano), for one-design Melges 24, Ufo, Este 24, Meteor. On the eve of the Barcolana Regatta, on Saturday 12 October, other races will take place, namely Barcolana Classic (organized by Yacht Club Adriaco) for vintage vessels, Go to Barcolana from Slovenia by Kempinski Palace & MK Group (organized by the Sirena Sailing Club) and Barcolana by Night (organized by Societa Triestina della Vela), for Ufo and Meteor Classes.

www.barcolana.it

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 Andy Macdonald:

Three cheers for Carina's 50-years (and continuing) of successes. May they long accumulate.

One does disservice to her legacy, however, when assertions are made of victories that didn't actually happen. A recent claim of Carina having "won" the 1969 TransAtlantic from Newport to Cork detracts from the well-earned legacy of another historic sailboat, Kialoa II, which actually won that 1969 TransAtlantic Race.

Featured Brokerage
Raceboats Only 1944 Ciclon Sparkman & Stephens 52 Ft Sloop. 195,000 GBP. Located in Cyprus.

Launched in Cuba in 1944, Ciclon was rarely off the podium. Of course beautiful and fast, is it time now to reintroduce her to her sisters?

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Barney Sandeman

+44 (0)1202 330077
33 High Street
Poole, Dorset
BH15 1AB
United Kingdom

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Raceboats Only 2001 Luca di Rosa Pinguin 38 IRC. 49,000 EUR. Located Nr. Viareggio, Italy

Ultra-rapid IRC-optimised racer from 2001. Built in Kevlar with Airex foam core and a huge working cockpit, STONE WAVE is a highly competitive racer complete with comprehensive sail wardrobe include Code 0 and bowsprit. Harken deck gear throughout and a full set of Raytheon sailing instruments.

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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Raceboats Only 2017 Nautor's Club Swan 50 'Skorpios' 1,150,000 EUR VAT Paid. Located in Calpe, Spain.

The ClubSwan 50 was developed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Nautor's Swan shipyard and celebrate everything that has made this cutting-edge boat builder one of the most widely recognized and trusted brands in yachting.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Lorenzo Bortolotti
Nautor's Swan Brokerage
T. +377 97 97 95 07

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
I daresay one good concert justifies a week of satisfaction at home. -- Robert Plant

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