EuroSail News #4818

In This Issue
• Paris 2024: IOC puts World Sailing on six weeks notice over 2024 Olympic Events
• Speculation Mounts Over IOC Decision on Mixed Two Handed Keelboat
• RORC Crew Match Goes Live
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• PlanetSail OnCourse Episode 11: Could the America's Cup come to Britain?
• Entries Open For The Windeler Cup
• Double win for Berecz as leaders extend on day 4 at Finn Europeans in Vilamoura
• Antigua Sailing Week Goes Virtual
• Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
• Launchings
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • IMOCA 60 HUGO BOSS - Carrington Boats
• • Infiniti 52R
• • KELPIE - Alfred Mylne Gaff Cutter
• The Last Word: Mel Brooks

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

Paris 2024: IOC puts World Sailing on six weeks notice over 2024 Olympic Events
The International Olympic Committee has given World Sailing six weeks to come up with alternative events to the controversial Mixed Offshore keelboat proposed for the 2024 Olympic Sailing regatta in Marseille, France.

The letter should not come as a surprise to World Sailing, as issues with the choice and indeed the whole 2024 Olympic slate have been known, and largely ignored since the May 2018 Mid Year Meeting in London when the 2024 Events were proposed with the Equipment (classes) to be selected at the Annual Meeting in Sarasota, Florida. Two of those events were a "Mixed One Person Dinghy" and a "Mixed Kite". In both events it was proposed to have two athletes competing in two boats/boards for a singlehanded medal.

While it was claimed that it was possible for the Kites to come up with a relay format that would be viable for two athletes to compete as one for a single event medal, that was apparently not possible for the Mixed One Person Dinghy. In November 2018 a late and urgent submission from the Board dropping the Mixed One Person Dinghy and inserting a Mixed Two Person Offshore Keelboat event were passed by a single vote at Events Committee level (7 for, 6 against and 3 abstentions) and then effectively passed in a controversial voting procedure in six months later at the World Sailing Council meeting, in Sarasota, Florida.

The letter, dated April 12, 2021 from the IOC Sports Director, Kit McConnell to the President of World Sailing says in part "the preliminary analysis of the details provided around Offshore have indicated the following challenges which have been the focus of the review mandated by the Olympic Programme Commission:

- Field of Play security, scope and complexity
- Broadcast cost and complexity
- World Sailing not having the opportunity to deliver an Offshore World Championships

"Therefore, while we aim to complete the comprehensive assessment of Mixed Offshore to address the abovementioned points, we request that World Sailing proposes alternative event(s) for the 10th event of the Sailing programme.

"This proposal is critical to ensure that, irrespective of the outcome of the Offshore assessment, the IOC Executive Board will be able to finalise the event programme for Sailing at its meeting on 8 June 2021, along with the pending decisions on events and competition formats across the other sports for the Olympic Games Paris 2024." -- Richard Gladwell

www.sail-world.com/news/236748/

Speculation Mounts Over IOC Decision on Mixed Two Handed Keelboat
The 2024 programme had incurred a significant overhaul to meet new requirements by the IOC, with the introduction of the new Mixed Two Person Offshore Keelboat Event expanding the sailing competition beyond dinghies and boards and beyond closed-course racing.

While this event has helped to increase interest in shorthanded sailing, the IOC wanted to further review the event in order to properly assess the key considerations around safety and security of the athletes, with a decision to be no later than May 31, 2021

It's not the first time that the decision over the offshore keelboat has been questioned either. A leading offshore sailor and former Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in London says because of the 'possible loss' of the new offshore keelboat back in December he questioned whether it is worth sustaining the connection of the offshore world with the World Sailing body.

Campaigns (including three Irish parings and one currently racing off France) planning for 2024 are coming to terms with the fact Paris may now be a '50/50' chance?

The doubts come as the Finn class seeks to regain its Olympic place for 2024 through an innovative collaboration with a former women's Olympic class, the Europe dinghy.

It seems the fight for the tenth medal at Paris 2024 is well and truly underway.

afloat.ie/sail/

RORC Crew Match Goes Live
Looking for a boat to race or looking for crew to join your team? The Royal Ocean Racing Club have launched an updated Crew Match portal that aims to simplify the process of matching boat owners and crew wherever they race in the world.

The RORC Crew Match website has been upgraded to work with modern communication systems and is easy to use and anyone can register, whether a RORC member or not.

"Finding crewing opportunities can often be quite difficult if you are new to the sport or new to a particular sailing area. For boat owners finding experienced crew can often be trial and error through recommendation and often a time consuming and unsatisfactory exercise for both parties," said RORC Commodore James Neville. "RORC Crew Match will simplify the process allowing crew to post their experience and owners to advertise crewing positions they are looking to fill and hopefully lead to more boats out on the water competing. It's a one stop shop to find available crew and boats to race."

Sailors are encouraged to log their details on the website posting their previous experience and their availability for a particular location and can view crewing opportunities being advertised before making the initial contact that will lead to being part of a committed race team.

For more information go to: crewmatch.rorc.org/

Seahorse April 2021
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
A brutal way to leave, VPLP regroup, the four solutions to the AC75 riddle, understanding (and dodging) the big Imoca catastrophes and are we looking at a fleet of obsolete solo oceanic racers? Terry Hutchinson, Jack Griffin, Patrice Carpentier, Robert Laine

ORC - Responding to the market
Which means consolidating the rule structure to race under. Stan Honey and Dobbs Davis

Seahorse build table - Something special(ised)
Dobbs Davis looks at a tempting and accessible new shorthanded offering from Hans Genthe

Rod Davis - Carpe diem for all
We have an opportunity - now we need to grab it

Only the best will do
SailGP is one element of the latest inroads Doyle Sails is making in the field of ultra-high sailing performance

The easier the better
And the latest Nemesis data display system from B&G is as easy to operate as it is to read... (and in all conditions)

1yr Print Sub: €77 - £48 - $71 / Rest of the World: £65 www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

1yr Digital Sub for £37.50: www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

PlanetSail OnCourse Episode 11: Could the America's Cup come to Britain?
In the end, the successful defence of the America's Cup didn't come as a surprise. As the last few races played out it became increasingly clear that the home team had a much faster boat. What did come as a shock was the talk of what might happen next for the Cup. When the official statement was released by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (Defenders) and the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes (Challenger of Record) there were plenty of raised eyebrows.

Matt Sheahan matches rumour to fact to assess what might happen next for the America's Cup and whether the trophy that started life in the Solent 170 years ago really could be run in the UK next time around.

Plus, setting a blistering, record breaking pace around the old Fastnet course, the view from onboard the MOD70 trimaran Powerplay.

INEOS Team UK crew member and seasoned Cup campaigner Freddie Carr and Matt Sheahan catch up to consider where the new Cup boats take us and what the event and the boats might do for the sailing scene.

And, if you thought you had it tough pounding upwind, here's what some people paid good money to do back in the 1990s when they signed up for the BT Global Challenge. - It's unlikely that this cut would have ever made it onto the official recruitment video, but it makes for a great watch now while helping to convince us that perhaps our toughest windward slogs weren't so bad after all.

Plus, two bumper helpings of Docktalk which feature some especially cool kit and new machines.

Entries Open For The Windeler Cup
The Island Sailing Club are delighted to announce the launch of the first Windeler Cup, a new race for small keelboats that will run on the same day as the world-famous Round the Island Race, Saturday 3 July 2021. The race will allow boats which are too small to safely participate in the annual circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight to join in the excitement of the Round the Island Race weekend. Entries open on 16 April 2021.

Instead of sailing the full 50 nautical mile course of the main race, boats from the Daring, Dragon, Etchells, Flying Fifteen, Mermaid, Redwing, Sunbeam, Swallow, Sonar, Squib, RS Elite, Victory and XOD classes will compete in a 'Round the Solent' race. The race will start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, around 08.30 after the main Round the Island fleet is underway. It will follow a course towards Hurst Narrows, around Western Solent marks, before taking advantage of favourable tides to return along Cowes beach and finish back on the RYS line in Cowes.

The new race is named after the founder of the Round the Island Race, Major Cyril Windeler, who 90 years ago decided there needed to be an opportunity for owners of smaller yachts to enjoy a 'bigger than usual' competition. He presented the Island Sailing Club with a magnificent trophy called the Gold Roman Bowl and it was decided to be awarded to the overall winner of the race. It was not until the outbreak of World War II in 1939 that Major Windeler finally won the trophy, sailing his 7 Ton auxiliary cutter 'Kaliste' to victory. Over the last nine decades competitors have battled to win the ultimate prize of the Gold Roman Bowl with some saying that with the right conditions any boat could win it.

The Island Sailing Club are working closely with the other local clubs on the Isle of Wight to promote Solent sailing this summer. The dayboat classes eligible for the Windeler Cup are the mainstay of sailing in Cowes, so now with the Royal London Yacht Club Event, Cowes Classic Week, being scheduled directly after the Round the Island weekend it provides a great opportunity for competitors to enjoy an entire week of top-class sailing.

www.roundtheisland.org.uk

Double win for Berecz as leaders extend on day 4 at Finn Europeans in Vilamoura
After a week of incredibly consistent racing, the defending European Champion from Hungary, Zsombor Berecz, broke free of the fleet for the first time on Thursday with two quite impressive race wins that leaves him with an 11 point lead with just two races to go. Britain's Giles Scott consolidated his second position overall but never got close to Berecz, while Wednesday's star performer, Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland, had another good day to move to third overall.

Berecz is the only sailor so far this week to have all top 10 placings. Consistency has eluded almost everyone, but Berecz has defied the odds and stayed in control.

With the sunshine back in Vilamoura, conditions on day 4 were near perfect. The wind was 10-12 knots with big rolling waves and a lot of chop on top. Though the left side was generally paying again, the big puffy clouds caused big long shifts.

In the U23 championship, Spain's Joan Cardona is still leading by a significant margin. Leading the whole championship overall after two days, he has had a tough few races and is now in eighth place overall, while the Russia's Mikhail Yatsun is second U23 in 31th and third is Panagiotis Iordanou, from Cyprus, in 37th.

There are just two races left in this championship and with the final day looking likely to have lighter conditions, it will go down to the wire. The points are not exactly close, but given the high scoring so far there is still plenty of racing left in Vilamoura.

Racing in Vilamoura is scheduled to continue at 13.00 on Friday.

Results after 8 races
1. Zsombor Berecz, HUN, 32
2. Giles Scott, GBR, 43
3. Nils Theuninck, SUI, 56
4. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 67
5. Nicholas Heiner, NED, 68
6. Max Salminen, SWE, 72
7. Facundo Mario Olezza Bazan, ARG, 72
8. Joan Cardona, ESP, 78
9. Henry Wetherell, GBR, 78
10. Jake Lilley, AUS, 88

Full results here

Antigua Sailing Week Goes Virtual
Antigua Sailing Week is pleased to announce Sailing Week Sunday - a virtual event with stories, interviews and entertainment, transmitting from Antigua on April 25, 2021.

Annually the international coverage of Antigua Sailing Week places Antigua & Barbuda as an unparalleled destination for an active lifestyle. With 2022 on the horizon the event is taking this opportunity to begin to build momentum for what will certainly be a bumper year.

Event manager Rana Lewis stated: "In the void created by the 2020 cancellation we relied on social media flashbacks to previous years to maintain visibility and our spot on the calendar. After the cancellation of 2021 we sensed the need to interact with our worldwide audience in a festive manner while sharing the highlights of racing in Antigua & Barbuda. Essentially it is our way of extending an invitation to come as soon as is safely possible to race, chase and celebrate with us."

Telecomms provider APUA Inet has come on board with ambassadors Claudette CP Peters plus Tian Winter performing alongside recurring ASW entertainers 1761 degrees and Asher Otto & Itchy Feet.

The 2 hour program aims to connect with locals, the diaspora and reconnect with an audience who are longtime supporters and participants of Antigua Sailing Week, their friends who have heard great things about it, as well as fans of the sport and the destination - any of whom may be considering Antigua & Barbuda as an active or leisure vacation option.

Antigua Sailing Week, considered one of the Caribbean's most prestigious regattas, is held annually at the end of April and the 53rd edition will commence with the Peters & May Round Antigua Race on Saturday, April 30, 2022. Following that will be five days of competitive racing off the rugged south coast of Antigua, which will wrap up on Friday, May 6, 2022.

www.sailingweek.com

Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
SailGP and the Bermuda Tourism Authority have been working closely following the Bermuda Government's tightening of COVID-19 protocols to ensure that the forthcoming Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess, and the essential operations and on-water safety trials, can take place.

SailGP applied for exemptions to continue its operations at Cross Island and the on-water safety trials during the Government's seven-day stay at home order, and today these exemptions have been granted for SailGP to continue to operate. This includes the exemptions for the world-class athletes to have sufficient time to familiarize themselves with all the new systems that have been recently implemented on their F50 boats. These essential on-water safety trials and training, that are vital to ensure the safety of all competitors in the event next weekend, will resume this afternoon on the Great Sound.

Working with the Government, SailGP has drastically pared down its operational requirements over the stay at home order period, which concludes at 5am on Tuesday April 20. Measures include reduced number of people onsite to only those that are essential to finishing the preparations of all eight boats and the on-water safety trials, a reduced training programme from eight race boats to four boats, plus the reduction of onsite hours as much as possible.

In addition, SailGP is further revising aspects of its event programming next weekend to ensure a safe and successful event. This includes changes to its hospitality programme to comply with latest government protocols and the cancellation of the ticketed tour boat spectator experiences, refunded in full via Island Tour Centre.

To ensure the safety of both local residents and its world-class teams and support staff, SailGP has worked closely with the Ministry of Health, alongside other leading experts, medical professions and other major elite sports events, on creating and implementing a robust COVID-Safe Plan. This includes creating protocols for all staff to operate in strict designated bubble environments - which ensures absolutely no external contact - daily health reports and regular testing, among other measures.

sailgp.com

Launchings
VPLP unveiled in December its first project for a Class40 prototype, developed in collaboration with the shipyard Multiplast. Two units have already been ordered by the Italian Andrea Fornaro and the Frenchman Nicolas d'Estais, both moving up from Class Mini. They will both be taking the starting line of the next Transat Jacques Vabre, and a third could yet be built for the double-handed transatlantic race.

vplp.fr

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KA Sail has announced the launch of its new Moth platform, the MACH2.6, which looks set to be the best performing out-of-the-box Moth in the market.

With a solid all-round performance using one sail and foil set, MACH2 director Andrew McDougall says this new design is fast enough for a top 5 World Championship result, without any modifications.

"The MACH2.6 is fully sorted as is, straight out of the box, and is two thirds the price of most other Moth platforms," he said.

"It's providing unmatched value for performance and is the perfect platform to move within the Moth class."

2021 is already proving to be a big year for KA Sail and MACH2, with the ever-popular WASZP class growing at an exponential rate and more people taking to foiling than ever before.

Not only does MACH2 cater perfectly for the weekend warrior through to top-level sailors, but also professional sailors are staying with or moving to the MACH2

www.kasail.com

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The Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed ClubSwan 125 is currently in build at Nautor's facility in Finland

The latest model in the Club Swan performance division of Nautor's Swan is currently under construction at the yard's facility in Finland and is due to launch this year.

Designed by Juan Kouyoumdjian, the ClubSwan 125 aims to be the world's fastest supermaxi yacht and will push the boundaries of innovation and design, the company claims. The yacht's single curved foil solution is one of its notable highlights.

The North Technology Group of companies' Southern Spars, Future Fibres and North Sails will provide the yacht with a state-of-the-art rig and sail package. Over the years, Southern Spars, Future Fibres and North Sails have supported the development of this division of yachts, continually evolving their integrated 'Engine Above Deck' package recently supplied to the entire ClubSwan 50 class. All were again the trusted rig, rigging and sail suppliers for the ClubSwan 125.

Developed using the powerful North Design Suite, the rig and sail inventory were co-engineered concurrently to deliver an aero package that is more similar to the latest generation IMOCA than an inshore Maxi yacht.

To equip the yacht with powerful racing potential, Southern Spars has manufactured a 55m custom carbon mast with four spreaders and two deflectors, capable of maintaining the perfect combination of stiffness and flexibility to maximise the efficiency of the North Sails 3Di RAW and Helix Structure Luff sail plan.

This was supplied together with a custom carbon race boom, providing maximum stiffness to weight efficiency and giving added downwind effective sail area to reach the highest levels of performance possible when racing.

Future Fibres will be providing its innovative rigging product for the lateral rigging: AEROsix. AEROsix is Future Fibres' latest product, specifically designed for high-performance superyacht and Grand Prix racing, combining the performance and the reliability of multistrand and solid technologies, all packaged in an aerodynamic shape. AEROsix has been proven already onboard the Swan 98, Be Cool.

www.ibinews.com

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From the drafting table that brought you Dorade, comes Sparkman & Stephens' latest innovation, Design No. 2840, the first Catamaran.

Fifty feet of classic sheer and New England elegance; this is luxury cruising at its finest.

For more information on the new 50' Catamaran from Sparkman & Stephens please contact them directly.

www.sparkmanstephens.com

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 Jock Wishart

I seemed to have run into the Duke of Edinburgh on many occasions in my life from inadvertently finding myself standing next to him at some Cowes Cocktail party when as a callow youth having hitchhiked down from Scotland and determined to make it into different parties I had gatecrashed by climbing over roofs in my DJ (I quickly made myself scarce) to him "hijacking" our Round the World record-breaking powerboat Cable &Wireless Adventurer and at the helm taking her out of Cowes entrance at 30 knots while I assured all on board that he was suitably qualified to drive!

My favorite story however goes back to 1981 (it might have been 1982, the memory has dimmed) and competing on Irvine Laidlaw's first really successful yacht the Dubois 40 Highland Fling.

We were racing for the Queen's Cup on the first day of Cowes Week and Nick Ryley, was on the helm. The Duke was on board Yeoman with King Constantine and the fight for first was between our two yachts.

As we came into the last mark before the finish (I vaguely recall it being Norris) we managed to get "water" on him. There was a deathly silence on board the "Fling" until I roared out "Give us some room".

In reply, there was a whole number of "salty phrases" including something about it being his wife's trophy and wife's water, while I "cowered" low in the cockpit nevertheless he obliged and we got by and covered Yeoman to the finish.

The story did not finish there but 25 years later at the Travellers Club in Pall Mall where I was sponsoring a Duke of Edinburgh's Award function for the now Sir David Hempleman Adams who was then Chairman of the DoE Award 50th anniversary appeal. The Duke was being taken round the room and being introduced to the guests when he got to me conveniently close to the Champagne bar.

We had met on several occasions previously in one of which he had called me "completely bonkers" when I was presenting some of his Gold Awards. Many of you who know me however would agree with him.

I could see him looking at me knowing that he had met me somewhere before when I decided to take the initiative and much to the consternation of those around us I looked him in the eye and said "Sir I remember when we first met".

I then proceeded to explain our altercation in Cowes Week 25 years before and how his language had been "inappropriate".

A great smile lit up his face.

"Really how could I do such a thing" was his reply which bought the house down.

A competitor to the end.

He is much missed.

Featured Brokerage
IMOCA 60 HUGO BOSS - Carrington Boats. POA EUR. Located in Gosport, England.

This exceptionnal racing yacht is the result of more than two years of painstaking design and build work, undertaken by more than 100 naval architects, designers, engineers and builders. Pictures © Alex Thomson Racing

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Contact:

+33 (0)4 67 66 39 93

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Infiniti 52 R POA EUR.

The Infiniti 52 R is a custom-designed Grand Prix racing yacht developed to take full advantage of the performance benefits of DSS. Ideally suited to race coastal and offshore in locations all over the world and competitive under all rating systems, the Infiniti 52 R changes the game in this size range. Developed in conjunction with 4-time Whitbread/Volvo winner Stu Bannatyne, the Infiniti 52 R was developed to fulfil the wishes of a number of clients who were looking for a yacht that would provide a significant performance increase over current options but able to sail and race with 50-60% of the crew traditionally required for yachts of this size.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Infiniti Yachts
Tel: +44 7920 395397
Email:

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KELPIE - Alfred Mylne Gaff Cutter. 295000 EUR. Located in United Kingdom.