EuroSail News #4756 - 18 January

In This Issue
• PRADA Cup Round Robin Day 3
• American Magic's AC75 Survives Crash, Damage And Near-Sinking
• Reset time - IMA
• Burton - Dalin Lead the North Atlantic Climb
• Leaders close in on Antigua
• Wight Vodka Best Sailors Bar
• 18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 2 (Re-sail)
• Ian Taylor pulls graphics for America's Cup over row with Russell Coutts
• From the Vault: A Portrait of Lady Sopwith
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Ker 40 - "Keronimo"
• • BLUE DIAMOND - 100ft Bermudan Sloop
• • Powerplay
• The Last Word: Terry Pratchett

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

PRADA Cup Round Robin Day 3: A day filled with unexpected events
The first weekend of the PRADA Cup closes with a day filled with unexpected events, from the first race cancelled for sudden wind shifts to the major accident involving American Magic.

The day started with a complex weather forecast. The western front, which had already been forecast for days in the northern part of New Zealand, brought strong north winds and rain, obliging Race Director Iain Murray to move the last two races of the second round robin to Course A, furthest north.

The first race started at 3.15 pm in conditions of 15 knots from the north. Luna Rossa started on the line with a perfect time on distance, leaving the British boat behind with a penalty to be served for crossing the boundary in the pre-start. Luna Rossa led for the entire race until the second downwind leg when, in proximity of gate 4, the race was cancelled due to a major wind shift to the west.

Iain Murray waited for the storm to pass and rescheduled the start at 4.35 pm. Same procedure, with Luna Rossa entering on port side a few seconds late, followed by the British from the right. The wind was from 320 degrees with an intensity of 16-17 knots.

In race 2 from the very start Luna Rossa encounterd difficulties with the Racing Software, the system that sends data with the configuration of the course from the race committee, which does not transmit data on the position of the boundaries and buoys to the Luna Rossa devices. Luna Rossa had to race in the "dark". American Magic led throughout the race, until they reached the fifth gate. At this point the American boat incured in a dramatic capsize right after rounding the final upwind gate.

www.sail-world.com/news/

American Magic's AC75 Survives Crash, Damage And Near-Sinking
After racing into a squall, crashing, capsizing, incurring significant damage and coming close to sinking, American Magic's AC75 racing yacht, PATRIOT, made it back to shore at 10:45 PM NZDT after a herculean effort to save the boat.

The arrival of the American AC75 back to the team base in Wynyard Quarter was due not only to the perseverance of the team, which never gave up the fight over many hours, but that of the greater Auckland and America's Cup communities. The three other Cup teams, the AC36 event management team, and multiple branches of Auckland's rescue services came to the aid of American Magic in a moment of urgent need.

Hutchinson said that this type of incident would certainly be a major challenge to overcome, especially with only 12 days remaining until the Prada Cup semifinals. He also said that the resilience of his team is never in doubt.

americanmagic.americascup.com

Reset time - IMA
The world of sailing, not to mention the world as a whole, is in for a massive reset as we look with increasing hope at the end of this pandemic. Not to lapse into hyperbole, while the predictions for control of the virus vary there is now a level of certainty that a corner has been turned for all of us.

Much closer to 'home', as long as enough vaccination is accepted and the logistics of administration can be overcome, we are looking fairly confident about embarking on a European sailing programme for the Maxi fleet - almost back to normal. Not surprisingly, the confidence to travel for the early season in the Caribbean has not been there and although most of the regattas plan to proceed we know that fewer boats than usual will travel to the region.

As I write this in the UK we are into the third day as the first Western country to start a mass vaccination programme. This will not be an instant fix but by April should be making a big difference.

Full article in the February Issue of Seahorse

Burton - Dalin Lead the North Atlantic Climb
The Doldrums did not give up the Vendee Globe leaders as easily as was initially predicted but first placed Charlie Dalin (Apivia) appears to have skirted round the worst of a dynamic cloud system and emerged this afternoon with his margin intact.

Dalin's more easterly position and his timing seems to have kept him away from a nasty zone of cloud and light winds which slowed Germany's Boris Herrmann for a period today, conceding third place on the leaderboard to Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut).

The top five boats are emerging from what - even so - seems a relatively painless passage across The Doldrums and the two yellow hulled IMOCAs Bureau Vallee 2 and Apivia remain head to head in a speed match as they start the five day long climb up the NE'ly trade winds.

Herrmann's seems to have lost 40 miles or so in the cloudy mess but his demeanour remains totally even, confirming today that he feels no additional stress from his position in the vanguard of this Vendee Globe, challenging well to finish on the podium.

British racer Miranda Merron passed Cape Horn in 22nd place, exhausted but elated after a fast, but challenging run in to the famous landmark she first passed on Amer Sports Too in the Volvo Ocean Race in 2002, sailing as navigator on the all-women crew skippered. Her accomplished race so far is a major success for her and her partner Halvard Mabire who do the majority of the preparation and project management themselves. In 17th Pip Hare today had to deal with a problem with her keel canting system when one of the control lines snapped and she had to replace it. The British skipper has been trying to avoid the worst of a nasty low pressure system 520 miles SE of Uruguay.

Top ten at 17 Jan 2021 - 21h (UTC)
1. Charlie Dalin - APIVIA, 3008.03 nm to finish
2. Louis Burton - Valley 2 Office, 10.35 nm to leader
3. Thomas Ruyant - LinkedOut, 60.18 nm
4. Damien Seguin - GROUPE APICIL, 79.32 nm
5. Boris Herrmann - SEAEXPLORER - Yacht Club De Monaco, 81.24 nm
6. Yannick Bestaven - Maitre CoQ IV, 94.34 nm to leader
7. Giancarlo Pedote - Prysmian Group, 95.621 nm
8. Benjamin Dutreux - OMIA - WATER FAMILY, 179.84 nm
9. Jean Le Cam - Yes We Cam!, 191.95 nm
10. Maxime Sorel - V and B-MAYENNE, 618.76 nm

Tracker

www.vendeeglobe.org

Leaders close in on Antigua
The RORC Transatlantic Race reaches an exciting stage on the ninth day with the leading boats closing in on the finish line in Antigua. Oren Nataf's Multi50 Trimaran Rayon Vert, skippered by Alex Pella was under 400 miles from the finish and expected to take Multihull Line Honours on Monday 18th January. Johannes Schwarz's Volvo 70 Green Dragon is leading the race for Monohull Line Honours and was approximately 500 miles from Antigua

Olivier Magre's Class40 Palanad 3 was just 60 miles behind Green Dragon and is expected to finish the 2,735 nautical mile race in just over 10 days - lightning-quick for a 40-footer. "The boat is going fast!" commented Palanad 3's Luke Berry. "The only problem we have is the seaweed. We clean the rudder after a gybe, but have also resorted to taking the kite down and trying to sail backwards! All is good, so we mustn't complain."

Antoine Carpentier's Class40 Redman looks unlikely to catch their sistership Palanad 3 in the race to the finish. Sebastien Saulnier's Sun Fast 3300 Moshimoshi gybed on to starboard on Saturday evening. In the last 48 hours, Moshimoshi has turned a 16-mile deficit into a 40-mile lead on Benedikt Clauberg's First 47.7 Kali.

News from Tim and Mayumi Knight, racing Pogo 12.50 Kai is that they have been racing conservatively due to a gear problem. However, the latest news from Tim is: "Much of our problem has been sorted out and we are back sailing less cautiously with a target speed of 7-8 knots. Kai was approaching halfway in the race and 1,560 miles from the finish. -- Louay Habib

Race Tracker

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

Wight Vodka Best Sailors Bar
The race of the top ten to the Wight Vodka Best Sailors Bar of 2020 is at present a runaway with the Columbia Yacht Club taking more than 50 percent of the vote. Voting will continue until Friday January 29th with the winner announced on Monday February 1.

In keeping with this week's events in the USA, this historical recipe:

Inaugural Orange Punch
This punch recipe is inspired by the Orange Punch served at Andrew Jackson's inauguration in 1829, according to Eric Felten of the Wall Street Journal.

It was quite a rowdy crowd, and servers brought out buckets of the punch to lure the revelers out of the White House and on to the lawn.

3 parts fresh orange juice
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 part mulled orange syrup
1 part dark rum
1 part cognac
2 parts soda water

Combine in a punch bowl with a large block of ice. Serve in punch cups with a little crushed ice, and give each glass a dash of Angostura bitters.

Mulled Orange Syrup
Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water and heat to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add the peel from an orange and mulling spices (a couple of cinnamon sticks, some whole cloves and allspice berries). After 15 minutes, remove from heat and let it sit for several hours. Strain.

Vote for your favorite bar!

eurosailnews.com/sailors-bars

18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 2 (Re-sail)
Sydney Harbour: The tech2 team of Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake became the 2020-2021 NSW 18ft Skiff champion following an impressive all-the-way victory in today's re-sail of Race 2 of the championship on Sydney Harbour.

Going into today's final race of the championship, the scene was set for a great finish as less than one point separated the defending champion Winning Group, skippered by John Winning Jr., and the tech2 team.

With the wind strength hovering around the cut-off point between the bigger #1 rig and the #2 rig, the decision by the teams was critical.

Macartney went for the bigger rig while Winning elected to go with his #2 sails. When the freshening breeze didn't eventuate it played into the tech2 hands and Macartney's team did the rest with a faultless exhibition to lead all the way.

After leading by two minutes at one stage of the race, tech2 finally crossed the finish line with a 1m39s lead over Smeg (Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge, Trent Barnabas).

Noakesailing (Sean Langman, Ed Powys, Josh Porebski) finished a further 1m24s back in third place, followed by Winning Group, Yandoo (John Winning), Finport Finance (Rob Greenhalgh) and Andoo (Marcus Ashley-Jones).

tech2's winning points margin in the championship was just three points from Winning Group, but the closeness of the competition between many of the fleet was highlighted by the scores of the next four teams.

Final points were, tech2 on five points, winning Group on eight, then four teams finished equal on 18 points and had to be separated on count-backs. The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett) finished third, Finport Finance (Keagan York) was fourth, Yandoo, fifth, and Andoo sixth.

Races 2 and 3 of the Australian Championship, will be conducted next Sunday (January 24). -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

www.18footers.com

Ian Taylor pulls graphics for America's Cup over row with Russell Coutts
New Zealand businessman Sir Ian Taylor is pulling his company's graphics from today's televised America's Cup challenger series coverage in protest at a copyright claim by Sir Russell Coutts.

In an involved row over copyright for the augmented reality graphics on Cup racing, Coutt's companies filed an infringement claim against Taylor's Animation Research Limited before Christmas.

Coutts, an Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup winner, said he believed his companies had owned the graphic patent since 2010.

Today Taylor - who says he originally designed the graphics in 1992 and is the rightful owner - pulled his Virtual Eye Live graphic feature in protest at Coutts.

He said his company "totally disputes" Coutts' claim.

The graphics in question cover such things as superimposed borders defining the race course, lines on the water and sponsorship names.

www.rnz.co.nz

From the Vault: A Portrait of Lady Sopwith
Lady Sopwith at the helm of ENDEAVOUR II, 1937; via Soundings Online Phyllis Brodie Leslie Gordon Sopwith knew how to take a picture. She was regularly photographed at the helm of the America's Cup challengers ENDEAVOUR and ENDEAVOUR II, and always dressed for the occasion. Her official capacity onboard was timekeeper, which she performed when the yachts competed in the 1934 and 1937 America's Cup races off Newport. The first ENDEAVOUR, a steel-hulled 130 foot yacht that introduced the quadrilateral genoa to J-class racing, came very close to winning the Cup in 1934 against the W. Starling Burgess designed RAINBOW (HMCo. #1233). Some questionable Vanderbilt sportsmanship prevented that victory, and led to the phrase "Britannia rules the waves and America waives the rules." ENDEAVOUR II was built for the 1937 America's Cup. Phyllis Sopwith crewed both the races, and received extensive press coverage. She wasn't the only female participant; Gertrude Vanderbilt was onboard RAINBOW for the same two races. But the many striking photographs of Phyllis Sopwith in action made her a more compelling and memorable presence in the public imagination over the course of both challenges.

These photographs are successful because they were designed to be so. Phyllis Sopwith chose her clothes with care to straddle the worlds of fashion and yachting. She isn't wearing gloves merely to protect her hands, she is wearing white leather gauntlets to help complete the bold contrast of her two-tone ensemble. She wore severe makeup designed to register well in black and white photography. The images capture her mid-action and convey a sense of urgency and vitality. These are not snapshots, they are carefully crafted public relations statements captured by professional photographers.

As the second wife of Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, Lady Sopwith assumed a visibility she could not have predicted or prepared for, but certainly embraced.

Full post by Matthew Bird on the Herreshoff Museum site

* From her obituary in the New York Times:
Lady Sopwith shared her husband's love of hunting and other outdoor sports. When she required a pacemaker for her heart some years ago she insisted on having it inserted on her left side so that she could get her shotgun up to her right shoulder, the family recalled.

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 Euan Ross:

The Prada Cup. So far, it's all good, well almost. We find that traditional match racing tactics are relevant if not yet wholly convincing. Despite the narrow racetrack, and despite the distance lost when tacking, picking the favoured side is crucial; you can't just bang the corners. The races are the right length for this class of boat and the racing itself is immensely entertaining when it all comes together.

Then came Saturday and the bizarre spectacle of AC75s giving up on foiling and sailing in displacement mode. Marine park or marine parking lot? Starting races in 8kts of breeze on a fluky inshore course is painful to watch. Clearly, whatever other changes are made, we are never going to get good racing at the bottom end of the prescribed scale. The floor is even lower - 6.5kts; 'point five', really, who measures windspeed to 'point five'? We all know that the organisers want to put on a show with 'stadium sailing', but in these conditions, there is not a whole lot of 'action' for the shoreline spectators to view.

Sunday confirmed what we saw on Saturday with more displacement sailing and more Russian Roulette. The race replay too was turned inside out with an off-form, but tactically astute, GBR team coming from behind again, sailing fast but sometimes struggling for good VMG. Contrary to all expectations, this first 'real' regatta is proving to be a sailors contest and not a design competition. And it turns out that hull design is not just about 'aero' as the pundits would have had us believe. When a chop builds up, we have whole new ball game, and alas one not wholly favourable to GBR. "They are killing us mate".

As for racing AC75s, however much money these guys are being paid, it's not enough. I don't believe blowing a backstay would have saved Patriot. In all the published capsize videos, when these boats go there is no way back, they go. But this time it was much, much worse; only an impressive, coordinated effort kept the boat afloat. America is going to have to perform some real Magic this week. One assumes that the owners of the offshore versions in the pipeline can afford to self-insure.

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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats

+447759 424900
+442380 016582

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2004 BLUE DIAMOND - 100ft Bermudan Sloop. 2,200,000 EUR. Located in Palma de Mallorca.

Designed by Gilles Vaton and built by JMV & H2X, the Sailing Yacht BLUE DIAMOND is a great cruiser-racer combining five-star comfort and high performances, both for bluewater cruising or on the Super Yacht racing circuit!

Her luxury interior can accommodate up to eight guests in 4 double cabins with ensuite bathrooms, around a wide saloon and dinner table, well isolated from the galley and the crew quarters, and offers a safe and protected cockpit, separated from the manoeuvring area, which features an open transom inviting to the ocean. The flush deck, sleek lines and powerful rig make for sensational sailing in all conditions.

Launched in 2004, BLUE DIAMOND is built of Carbon Fiber, rigged with a Lorima 4 spreaders carbon mast and a wide range of sails. She features a lifting keel to allow shallow access, and has been maintained by a professional crew and a dedicated Owner at the highest level!

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

+33 (0)467 66 39 93

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2012 CDK Built MOD70. 1,500,000 USD.