Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.com Europe, 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

Mixed Multihull In, Men's Keelboat Out... Maybe...
From the ISAF Conference Blog, big news from the Events Committee:

It was the most packed session we have had this week to hear the Events Committee's recommendation on the provisional Olympic events and equipment for 2016.

This is how the voting went.

The Events Committee recommends:

- Board or kite-board for men and women - equipment evaluation
- One person dinghy men - Laser Standard
- One person dinghy women - Laser Radial
- Two person dinghy (skiff) men - 49er
- Two person dinghy (skiff) women - equipment evaluation
- Second one person dinghy men - Finn
- Two person mixed multihull - equipment evaluation
- Two person mixed dinghy with spinnaker - 470
- Women's keelboat - Elliott 6m

In so doing the committee's voting recommends taking out the men's keelboat. The second one person dinghy for women was the other option not to be selected.

The Committee's recommendations are of course just that. They will go to the ISAF Council for consideration this weekend. After Council vote they are then subject to confirmation at the ISAF Mid-Year meeting in May 2011.

* Editor: It will be interesting to see how much muscle the Star class has this time around.

The blog: isafconference.wordpress.com
Conference mini-site: www.sailing.org/2010-conference.php

* Richard Gladwell makes sense of some very convoluted ISAF bureaucratic maneuovres and takes a swing at one particular selection:

Do the Events Committee seriously expect the sailing world to believe that the best option for a second Twohanded Dinghy with spinnaker is a Mixed 470????

In its reports, the Olympic Commission noted that a 'improved' 470 was required, which was less technical, for the better adoption for the new style Olympics. That gives a class within a class, which is always a lemon.

And taking that a step further, is a simplified 470 is what is required - then surely it is logical for these to be supplied boats - and which of the licenced builder's mould would be used to produce these? And what happens at Sailing World Cup events - are these sailed in regular 470's or the 'Olympic' 470?

Further the 470 is currently sailed as a Mens and Womens Event. For men it is a class for highly skilled lightweight sailors, and for women equally technically skilled sailors closer to the average female physiques. While these weights may be more suitable for Asian nations, the fact is that in 2008 Olympics only four Asian countries were represented in the 29 strong Mens fleet and three in the 19 strong Womens fleet.

As an aside, only one race has ever been won at Olympic level by a Mixed crew at Olympic level when the 470 was an Open class. (1984 - GBR's Kathy Foster and Peter Newlands).

Again, if a second doublehander is required then why not be consistent with two other Events, in the second vote, and choose that Equipment by by evaluation rather than specification??

While the Events Committee have been forced into the trap set for them by their Executive Committee, the ISAF Council which is the final arbiter has a recent history of ignoring the votes of the Events Committee.

Hopefully this trend will continue and a consistent approach to the Equipment for Events will be adopted.

While the lobbying will be frantic ahead of the ISAF Council deliberations and vote, the simple point is that this is not about who is the best lobbyist, who runs the best PR campaign, produces the best DVD or YouTube clip, or who is the most politically astute. It is about the people who aren't there, particularly the young sailors who they need classes they aspire to sail, and which will make them want to stay in sailing.

And that is not in boats that are beloved by the older generation.

Richard's full article, another must-read for the cognoscenti, is at www.sail-world.com/Australia/

Only Winning Is Beautiful. Third Hurts.
Drained, disappointed, visibly hurting but far from broken Thomas Coville secured third place in this high stakes, winner takes all ninth edition of the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale finishing 23hrs 58min 24secs behind Franck Cammas (Groupama 3).

More than the two first skippers, the last few days of the race were cruel to Coville, losing out second to Joyon only yesterday morning, suffering from his northerly approach and some long spells in light winds over the previous 36 hours.

After crossing the line Coville said that he had spent some hours during the final few days of this race, once he realised victory was out of his reach, replaying and re-running his choices and options through the race.

But the Sodebo solo skipper was clear that his northerly routing, the opposite to that of Cammas and Joyon, was the more aggressive option which would either pay out for him or lose by a bigger margin. He admitted that two days ago when he and his routing team, with a 200 miles deficit on Cammas, saw an outside chance to attack again but the stake on the table was the second position. It did not pay.

His choice of the northern routing rather than fighting head to head down the southerly routing against Cammas - who he sailed with as part of the ten man crew on Groupama 3's Jules Verne round the world record triumph - was directly influenced by the need to do something different, knowing the strengths of Cammas and his tri, the most powerful in the race.

Breaking the finish line off Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe at 16hrs 15mins 11 secs today (Wednesday, CET/Paris) (15hrs 15mins 11secs GMT/ 11hrs 15mins 11secs local time Wednesday (CET -4hrs)) Thomas Coville on the 29.7m trimaran Sodebo took third place in the 9th Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale solo Transatlantic race which started from Saint-Malo, France at 1302hrs (CET) Sunday 31st October.

The elapsed time for Sodebo is 10 days 3hrs 13mins 11secs .

His average speed is 17.58 kts for the distance he sailed of 4275 miles.

Over the theoretical course distance of 3539 miles Thomas Coville's average speed is 14.55kts

Coville finished 23hrs 58min 24secs behind Franck Cammas (Groupama 3) the race winner Cammas finished 16h 16min 47secs (CET) Tuesday 9th November.

www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com

* Your humble narrator just discovered the Rhum iPhone app (and there's one for the Blackberry too). www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com

Its METS Time Again
Southern Spars ... and Southern Spars will be exhibiting with two stands this year. 2010 has been a busy one for the team; we've launched a number of exciting projects, had some great race results and are forging ahead with leading-edge technologies. We have also welcomed onboard the team at Southern Spars Europe and are in the midst of moving to a brand new HQ in Auckland.

To catch up on all the latest come see us at Stand 01.119 or drop by and meet the SS Europe team at Stand 09.706. We look forward to seeing you there.

www.southernspars.com

Christophe Bullens Diverts to the Cape Verde Islands
Belgian ocean racer Christophe Bullens is en route to the Cape Verde Islands this morning after feeling unwell for several days. The 49-year-old Velux 5 Oceans skipper has been taking medication since Saturday as he has been suffering from a fever, affecting his ability to race in The Ultimate Solo Challenge. On the advice of medical experts from Medical Support Offshore, Christophe is now sailing his yacht Five Oceans of Smiles too to Mindelo, a port city on the island of Sao Vicente, where he will seek advice from a doctor.

Christophe said: "This is yet another setback for me but I am hoping to get the all clear from the doctor and leave Mindelo as soon as I can to continue my race to Cape Town."

Mindelo is an island known to Christophe - in 2005 he spent some time there after delivering a 14-metre catamaran to the islands. He is expected to arrive in Mindelo during daylight today and will seek medical advice immediately.

It is the latest in a long line of challenges for Christophe, whose original yacht Five Oceans of Smiles was dismasted just three weeks before the start of the 30,000-mile round the world race. Christophe managed to secure a new Eco 60 yacht, formerly Artech, only a few days before the race start on October 17 and after crossing the start line with the rest of the fleet he returned to La Rochelle, France, for five days to complete his preparations. He was subsequently forced to stop in Gran Canaria after suffering damage to Five Oceans of Smiles too caused by a storm in the Atlantic.

www.velux5oceans.com

Dubai - Muscat Offshore Sailing Race
Starts 11th November 2010. Organised by the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club.

There is a growing development of yacht racing in the Middle East with the Louis Vuitton Cup, the RC44 circuit and the Moth Worlds, all taking place in the warm azure blue waters around the desert city of Dubai.

Dating back to 1992, The Dubai to Muscat Race was one of the first races to take place in the region. Most of the participants are ex-pats living in Dubai but also friends and family take part, from all over the world. This year, competitors from eleven different countries will be making the trip to Muscat. Racing under IRC and MOCRA rules, the fleet ranges from large custom multihulls to production cruising monohulls.

The Dubai to Muscat Race covers 360 nautical miles. Passing through the shallows of the Arabian Gulf and into the deep water of the Indian Ocean via the Straits of Hormuz, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The race ends in Muscat, the capital of Oman, at the Bandar Al-Rawdah Marina.

Weather conditions can be variable to say the least. The Shamals can arrive bringing strong southwesterly winds from the desert, accompanied by sand and thunder storms. However, typically during the day, the air temperature soars to 30 degrees providing a gentle sea breeze. At night the breeze often evaporates and competitors will be seeking zephyrs of wind emanating from land.

All of the yachts racing are equipped with the latest Inmarsat satellite trackers from race sponsor, Xtra-Link and the majority of the fleet are also equipped with Thuraya Satellite phones, capable of voice, text and data transmission. -- Louay Habib

To follow the race as it unfolds, visit the Dubai - Muscat Offshore Sailing Race web site: www.dosc.ae

Three Peaks Yacht Race Presentation Dinner
Photo shows (l to r) Martin Beale, Martin Indge, Gary Clayton, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Geoff West, Piers Copham of EADS Innovation Works. Click on image to enlarge.

Three Peaks Race An enthusiastic throng of 150 enjoyed the 2010 Three Peaks Yacht Race Presentation Dinner held in Caernarfon North Wales, on 6th November. It was a great chance for everybody to get together again.

The Three Peaks Yacht Race is a combination of sailing, running and cycling which takes in the three highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland. Founded by Dr Rob Haworth along with Dr Merfyn Jones in 1977, Rob is still chairman of the race and excelled himself as Master of Ceremonies with the prizes again presented by Elfyn Llwyd MP.

The Daily Telegraph Cup was awarded to the winners EADS Innovation Works comprising sailors Geoff West, Gary Clayton and Piers Copham with runners Martin Indge and Martin Beale taking away the King of the Mountains trophy (the Damart cup) together with cups for the fastest times on Snowdon and Scafell Pike.

The Dockers runners, Crispin Flower and Stewart Bellamy, won the Grand Hotel Cup for the fastest time on Ben Nevis and the team were presented with the Merioneth Yacht Club cup for second place.

Tasmanian skipper David Rees of Team Whistler (third place) joined us from Australia via a computer link along with runner Jacqui Guy and Tim Jones, at his computer in Pohnpei, Micronesia. As it was Sunday morning and summer in Tasmania, they informed us that Team Whistler were just off sailing!

Topsham Sea Fever were delighted to be awarded the coveted Tilman Trophy, together with the Alex Blanc Quaich for the first Scottish boat.

The Silver Surfers were the proud recipients of the Last Inn Trophy.

The 2011 race commences on Saturday June 25th and 9 entries have been received in the first week. The Tasmanians are returning and one team sets off from Belgium in May.

After 5 years of support, current sponsor, PowerBar, would like to wind down their involvement and so further sponsorship opportunities are now available.

www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk

Take The Knox-Johnston Challenge

Take The Knox-Johnston Challenge
You are sailing solo and non-stop around the world when you start suffering chronic abdominal pain. The Ship's Captain's Medical Guide is clear on the symptoms: either pregnancy or appendicitis. Do you: (a) Set off flares and a distress rocket. (b) Operate on yourself with a kitchen knife. (c) Eat nothing but porridge and milk-soaked biscuits until the pain subsides?

To discover what Sir Robin did, either read 'Knox-Johnston On Sailing' - an impressive hard back collection of the best of his writing or visit www.wileynautical.com/knoxjohnstonbook1


Akela and Med Man Take Top Honors in Cabo Race
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: Doug Baker, Long Beach, skippered the Reichel/Pugh 78 Akela to first-to-finish honors Tuesday and was first in Division 1 on corrected ORR handicap time in Long Beach Yacht Club's biennial 2010 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race.

Bob Lane's Andrews 63 Medicine Man, also from Long Beach, finished first in Division 1 on corrected PHRF time.

Finishing the 804 nautical-mile race within about three hours of each other the two skippers fell short of breaking fellow LBYC member Peter Tong's Santa Cruz 70 OEX record set in 2008 of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds.

Unlike in 2008 where there was consistent wind of 20 plus knots for the entire race, this year's breezes fluctuated just enough to put the race record out of reach.

The closest battle during the race was between Brack Duker's Santa Cruz 70 Holua from Marina del Rey and Per Peterson's Andrews 69 Alchemy from Oceanside YC with Perterson finishing just 4 minutes, 23 seconds ahead of Duker.

Alchemy finished second on ORR corrected time and third on PHRF corrected time while Holua finished third on ORR time and fourth on PHRF time.

Since all boats have already finished, race officials have decided to move up the trophy presentations from Thursday evening to Wednesday at 6 PM allowing teams and race committee volunteers to return home a day early should they wish. OEX's record is safe for another two years until these racing sleds will once again attempt to break it in the Fall of 2012. -- Rich Roberts

Complete results: www.lbyc.org

Mini Class Solent Solo Series
Mini sailors in the UK can look forward to a busy season next year with the announcement that the Solo Offshore Racing Club (SORC) is to organise class starts for Minis in the Solent as part of its growing 14 race Solo Series for 2011.

Six UK mini sailors met at Royal Southern YC, Hamble to thrash out a programme for the 2011 season with SORC race director Peter Olden, "We are very keen to encourage mini racing in the Solent next year, our solo day races are very accessible for local boats and provide the important first steps to safe single-handed sailing under race conditions." said Peter.

In addition Brian Thompson (Mini Transat 2001) has negotiated a special mooring rate for minis at Haslar marina and envisages a community of sailors and boats growing there over the coming years. Mini sailors in the UK have tended to run isolated campaigns and in the past have rarely got together for training, the mutual support of a group of fellow mini enthusiasts is essential for success.

The Shorthanded sailing base at Haslar Marina will be offering coaching sessions early in the season, "UK mini sailors will benefit greatly from race practice in home waters before they make the big step over to France and I hope we will see a lot of UK boats dusted own and racing for the first time in several years." said Paul Peggs (Mini Transat 1999 / 2001) one of the three coaches based at Haslar along with Brian Thompson and Pip Hare who is currently campaigning a Pogo 2 for the 2011 mini transat.

The first SORC race of the 2011 season is on March 26th in the central solent and the classic Round the Isle of Wight Solo (RIOW) starts on April 16th. -- Jerry Freeman in Yachts and Yachting, www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=154673

Series schedule at offshoresolo.com

Balance Battles for IRC Honors in Lord Howe Race
Ullman Sails Sydney's Paul Clitheroe and his team on Beneteau 45 "Balance" are in the headlines again after winning the IRC handicap division of the 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race last weekend. The "Balance" team comfortably claimed the IRC division and took second on line after a grueling 414-nm race across the Tasman Sea. The conditions were consistently difficult with strengthening northerly breeze and growing seas - eight of the 17 competing boats retired. Powered by Ullman Sails, Clitheroe and his long-time amateur crew completed the race in just over 69 hours.

No matter your goals, invest in your performance.

www.ullmansails.com

Artemis Racing Announces Crew for Louis Vuitton Trophy - Dubai
Following on from the Swedish team's America's Cup announcement on Monday of this week, Artemis Racing presented its crew today for the fourth and final Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta coming up in Dubai.

Racing commences on November 14th at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) and will see the Swedish team line up against five of the world's top professional sailing teams.

This match racing regatta will consist of a double round robin, followed by semi final elimination rounds, before a new champion is crowned in the final, a 'best-of-five' battle between the two top teams, scheduled for 26 and 27 November.

The Artemis Racing crew for the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Dubai is as follows:

Cameron Appleton - Helmsman
Iain Percy - Tactician
Kevin Hall - Navigator
Noel Drennan - Main
Stu Bettany - Bow
Phil Jameson - Mid-bow
Rodney Ardern - Pit
David Brooke - Mast
Daniel Fong - Trimmer
Robbie Naismith - Trimmer
Michele Ivaldi - Traveller
Rodney Daniel - Runner
Craig Monk - Grinder
Ian Baker - Grinder
Mark Newbrook - Grinder
Julien Crescent - Grinder
Magnus Auguston - Grinder
Romolo Ranieri - Grinder - alternate

While a portion of the team is racing in Dubai, Helmsman Terry Hutchinson, Tornado Silver medallist Santiago Lange and others will be in Miami for the first Artemis Racing multihull training camp. World-renowned multihull sailor Nick Moloney has stepped in to coach Artemis Racing for this intense three weeks of training in Extreme 40s in preparation for the 2011 circuit and beyond.

Teams competing in the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Dubai

Synergy (RUS)
Mascalzone Latino (ITA)
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
BMW Oracle Racing (USA)
ALL4ONE (FRA/GER)
Artemis Racing (SWE)

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 Roland Gaebler: We made the first step for a comeback of the Multihull as a Mixed Olympic Discipline.

We got 84% positive votes in the ISAF Events Com. This is sensational and far ahead of all other classes (Finn, Matchrace women, Star, 470 mixed, 470 men) which were in our voting group for the last 4 olympic slots for 2016.

The ISAF Events Com. will forward and recomended this voting with Mixed Multihull to the ISAF Council and Executive Com. which have their meeting the next days. These ISAF Councel Meeting can change a lot. But they cannot ignore the 84% from the Events Com.

And in May 2011 at the ISAF Midyear Meeting the National Sailing Federations can still re-vote it all. So we are not 100% save, but in a very good position. 84% in favoir for Multihull shows us we are in a in a excellent mode for all future ISAF Com. votings.

It is a clear sign they want modernize Olympic Sailing with a high performance multihull. Our sailing discipline has very good options for a spectator and media sport. In Rio 2016 they plan a 10.000 seat sailing stadium at the water and the Multihulls will deliever the best action exact on time between 1 and 35 knots.

Latest in May 2011, we also know how we select the type of boat for this new Mixed Olympic Multihull Discipline. Beside Tornado, there are other Multihulls who like to get the Olympic Spot. So we expect an fair and open Multihull evaluation event.

As Tornado Class we want to be fair and open and we are happy to take this challenge. Only together with the other Multihull Classes we can make our high adrenaline sport better than ever.

Now we party a little bit in Athens!

Featured Brokerage
Featured Brokerage Boat 1998 Finot IMOCA Open 60, 275,000 GBP. Located in Portsmouth, United Kingdom.

The chance to move onto the IMOCA scene with a boat that has all been prepped, tested and proven she is geared up to start racing with minimal effort on a new owners behalf.The 2 containers providing the logistics that are needed to run a global racing campaign are also included in the price.With her Cat 2 rating with the MCA she has the coding to take 15 people out, along with 20 sets of oil skins and life jackets, perfect for corporate days as well as racing. Price is excluding VAT.

Brokerage through Boatshed Performance.com:
www.yachtworld.com/boatshedperformance/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. -- Malcolm X

Bookmark and Share

Use this box to send a copy of this issue of the Scuttlebutt Europe Newsletter to a friend:
[FORWARDFORM]

Or [FORWARD] for a page where you can send copies to up to a dozen friends.

[USERTRACK]

About YachtWorld.com
Formed in 1995, YachtWorld.com is the premier online sales channel for yacht brokers around the world. The site lists more than 110,000 boats for sale in 115 countries by some 2,500 brokers in 60 countries. The total value of boats listed is over $40 billion. Headquartered in Seattle, YachtWorld.com has its European headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales offices in Germany, Italy and Russia and sales representation in Dubai, Australia and China.

About Boats.com
Boats.com provides marketing and Web services to boat builders, dealers, brokers and service companies throughout the global recreational marine industry. The Boats.com Website provides consumer access to information, boat listings and financial and insurance products. With more than 143,000 new and used boat listings from more than 5,500 brokers, dealers and manufacturers, Boats.com is the largest concentration of recreational marine industry marketing in the world.

Yachtworld.com on line magazine is available free of charge and delivered digitally every month. Click here to receive your copy: www.yachtworldmagazine.com/ywm/latest/

See the Boats Blog at Boats.com -- www.boats.com/blog/

To subscribe, unsubscribe, and select HTML or Text format visit scuttlebutteurope.com

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html

Search the Archives

SEARCH SEARCH

Our Partners

Seahorse Magazine

YachtScoring.com

Wight Vodka

Robline Ropes

Harken

Marlow

Navico

Translate