In This Issue
• Berecz and Cardona retain Finn European titles in Vilamoura
• Finn & Europe Dinghy Classes Propose Team Scoring Event
• Fascinating Submission
• Alicante, Spain is confirmed as final host city for The Ocean Race Europe
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• 2023 Ocean Globe Race set to be the World's Biggest ever!
• New Zealand SailGP Team's newly built F50 is set to be launched on the water for the first time next Tuesday.
• Australian crew capsize Jimmy Spithill-skippered US boat in SailGP practice
• Maserati Multi 70 and Giovanni Soldini set the Plymouth to La Rochelle record
• The 69F project builds momentum
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Vismara Marine V62
• • SW100 Blues
• • Dazcat 1295
• The Last Word: Alan Watts

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

Berecz and Cardona retain Finn European titles in Vilamoura
Zsombor Berecz has successfully retained the Finn European Championship after a consistent, confident and conclusive display on the waters of Vilamoura, Portugal, over the past week. The Hungarian never put a foot wrong and achieved a level of consistency unmatched by the fleet and then put the pedal to the metal when it mattered to win with a race to spare.

Giles Scott's return to Finn sailing after six months off with the INEOS Team UK America's Cup team was also a triumph. A shaky start for the Brit was followed by a few classic Scott moments but he did just enough to fend off the massive challenge from the ever-confident young sailors knocking on his transom.

With the pressure on and the finish line in sight, Switzerland's Nil Theuninck rose to the challenge to dominate the final race and secure the bronze, the first Finn European medal for Switzerland for over 30 years.

Spain's Joan Cardona was largely unchallenged for the U23 European title, his third in a row, but fourth overall reinforces his ability and determination ahead of the final Olympic qualification event next month.

Berecz won his first Finn European title last year in Gdynia, Poland.

For many here this European Championship was just a warm up to next month's crucial Finn Gold Cup in Porto, a few hours north of Vilamoura, which is the final European and African continental qualifier, with one place available for each.

In Porto, there will be up to 30 sailors representing 16 nations competing for the final European place and three nations competing for the African place.

The Finn Gold Cup begins on May 5 with a 10 race series from 8-12 May.

Final results
1. Zsombor Berecz, HUN, 47
2. Giles Scott, GBR, 70
3. Nils Theuninck, SUI, 75
4. Joan Cardona, ESP, 98
5. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 102
6. Max Salminen, SWE, 110
7. Henry Wetherell, GBR, 115
8. Jake Lilley, AUS, 119
9. Ioannis Mitakis, GRE, 120
10. Thomas Ramshaw, CAN, 123

Full results

2021.finneuropeans.org

Finn & Europe Dinghy Classes Propose Team Scoring Event for Paris 2024 if Mixed Offshore Keelboat is Rejected
The Finn class dinghy has been an Olympic boat since 1952 and has been used at every Olympic Games since. However, it has been dropped from the Paris 2024 line up and is making fresh proposals for it to be reintroduced should the mixed offshore keelboat be rejected as sailing's tenth medalThe Finn class dinghy has been an Olympic boat since 1952 and has been used at every Olympic Games since. However, it has been dropped from the Paris 2024 line up and is making fresh proposals for it to be reintroduced should the mixed offshore keelboat be rejected as sailing's tenth medal. Northern Ireland sailor Oisin McClelland (IRL 9) above is currently in action in Vilamoura, Portugal this week at the European Championships

As speculation continues to mount over the status of Sailing's tenth medal for Paris 2024 and whether or not the Mixed offshore keelboat will be approved, the following letter from the Finn and Europ dinghy classes was sent to World Sailing on March 31. It recommends that if the Mixed Offshore Keelboat is rejected for Paris 2024, then the tenth event at the 2024 Olympic Games should be the Mixed One Person event, using the Finn as men's equipment and the Europe as the women's equipment.

Read the Submission From The International Finn And Europe Classes on Afloat.ie

Fascinating Submission
Interesting moves happening in the Olympic world with the announcement of a Joint Submission from the International Finn and Europe Classes to World Sailing demanding that they be considered for the possibly delinquent medal being debated around the double-handed mixed keelboat offshore event. Dr Balazs Hajdu and Paul Depoorter, Presidents from the respective classes are proposing a joint team event mixing genders across the classes and they are bang on the money here.

Good on them. This is a great submission and deserves to be taken seriously. I do, however, feel sad for the double-handed keelboat event that is very much the zeitgeist of the times. The discipline is gaining in popularity, not just offshore but inshore too as witnessed by the JOG fleet on the Solent recently and in the States.

But if the Olympic Goons (how on earth does one get on these committees?) can't quite make the leap of faith with fully supplied free equipment then what more can be done? The Finn and Europe classes mixing it up with a totally new gender-diverse team concept would be a brilliant, brilliant substitution and breathe a level of fascination and tension into sailing at the Paris Games that would be nail-biting. Bring it on.

Let's see where this one goes. World Sailing need to get on this as a matter of urgency and it will not be good enough if they come back to the sport having lost the offshore double-handed event with no replacement. The pressure is on. The sailing world is watching and it's their authority at stake.

Fail here and World Sailing won't be thanked. Offshore double-handed or Finns and Europes. Please don't let us down. -- Magnus Wheatley in Rule69Blog

Alicante, Spain is confirmed as final host city for The Ocean Race Europe
Photo by Pedro Martinez. Click on image to enlarge.

The Ocean Race Europe will visit in Alicante, with the Spanish city confirmed as the fourth host city to be announced for the May/June event.

Alicante joins the start port of Lorient, France; Cascais, Portugal; and the host of the finish, Genova, Italy.

Alicante is very familiar territory for The Ocean Race, as the home of both the race headquarters and the venue for each of the around the world race starts since 2008.

The Ocean Race Europe is a new event on the offshore sailing calendar, open to the one-design VO65 class and teams sailing in a fully-crewed configuration in the IMOCA 60s.

The teams will race up to Alicante from Cascais on the second leg of the Race and will be hosted at the port of Alicante in mid June.

With the Alicante stop confirmed as the final piece of the race course puzzle, the full schedule for The Ocean Race Europe, including coastal races, will be released in the coming days.

www.theoceanrace.com

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

World news
Welcome to the new Ultims, Francis Joyon... the master returns, back and forth in Auckland, minding your fences. Plus America and the America's Cup, and just how deep are the problems? Glenn Ashby, Peter Isler, Ed Baird, Peter Holmberg, Ronan Lucas, Dobbs Davis, Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins, Blue Robinson

A flawless racing performance
Olivier Blanchet

Brim to overflowing
Tim Jeffery remembers the extraordinary working and racing lives of Bob Fisher

A bean counter's perspective
Rob Weiland considers the financial realities of campaigning at the highest levels of the sport

At a store near you
We have long been huge fans of the Skeeta production foiler, fast, light and... user friendly! Now Skeeta and their builders Cobra International have something for those (lucky) kids too

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.

2023 Ocean Globe Race set to be the World's Biggest ever!
Click on image to enlarge.

Whitbread Crews and Yachts line up for the 50th Anniversary Race.

It was in 1981 that 29 entrants set out on the third edition of the Whitbread Around the World Race, creating the current record as the biggest ever, fully crewed challenge. As the race evolved every four years, it became ever more professional and eventually, as the Volvo Race for elite sailors, the numbers dropped dramatically, averaging in the past 20 years, to only 7 starters.

The 2023 Ocean Globe Race (OGR) will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original 1973 Whitbread, the first ever fully crewed race, around the world. Already, two and a half years from the start, 25 entrants are paid up and another three have committed, meaning we have 17 different countries represented. The clear expectation is, that a full fleet of 34 yachts, sailed by professional and amateur, mixed gender crews, will cross the start line on Sept. 10th 2023. If so, the OGR is set to become the largest ever, crewed, round-the-world race!

The OGR steps back in time to the 1970's as a Retro Race, with two classes sailing production yachts designed before 1988 (Adventure Class 47-55ft and Sayula Class 56-65ft) and a third Flyer Class, sailing previous Whitbread entrants from the first three editions of the original races. Retro Classes must navigate by sextant, use no modern high-tech equipment, or computers and have only cassette tapes for music. A fourth Classic Challenge Modern Class, sailing Whitbread Maxis and Whitbread/Volvo 60's will use the same start finish ports, but race a longer course than the slower Retro Classes for a special "BIG RED" Trophy, in honour of the late Sir Peter Blake. The combined fleet covers the entire history of the Whitbread Race.

Two giant Maxis are preparing to enter the Classic Challenge and at the opposite end, the smallest yacht ever to race the Whitbread is currently under refit with big plans for the OGR! The French 46ft Mor Bihan was skippered by Philip Poupon/Riguie in the 1981 Whitbread. She hopes to sail again in 2023 under the French Flag and a strong crew from Brittany.

For the first time ordinary sailors can race around the world. All details including the Pre-Notice of Race and Entry applications are available at www.OceanGlobeRace.com

New Zealand SailGP Team's newly built F50 is set to be launched on the water for the first time next Tuesday.
The final touches are being applied to the team's wing-sailed foiling catamaran, which arrived on island unfinished to avoid not being ready in time for next week's SailGP season 2 opening Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess due to shipping delays brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The status [of the boat] is that the electrical systems are in place and have been activated," Sir Russell Coutts, the SailGP chief executive, told The Royal Gazette.

"Then the hydraulic functions are operational; they've had the fluid put in them and they are being tested over the next days.

"The platform is in its full assembled state and the next stage is to get the foils in. Then they need to put the foils under the boat and do those calibrations and start to check the control systems and so forth that operate the foils and the rudders."

Coutts, the seven-times King Edward VII Gold Cup winner, added: "The plan, if all goes well with those checks, is to commission the wing sail on Monday on actually one of the other platforms. -- Colin Thompson

www.royalgazette.com

Australian crew capsize Jimmy Spithill-skippered US boat in SailGP practice
Skipper Tom Slingsby and the defending SailGP champion Australian crew capsized the US team's foiling 50-foot catamaran on Bermuda's Great Sound today during its first training session for the global tour's season opener.

Slingsby said there were only minor injuries and the boat was quickly righted before being towed back to base.

US skipper Jimmy Spithill said there was enough damage that the high-tech boat could be out of action for a few days.

The Australians were using the US boat because their catamaran was still being set up for the regatta on April 24-25 that will open the pandemic-delayed second season. Spithill said the plan all along was for teams to share boats until the entire eight-boat fleet is on the water. He said the US and British crews were to follow the Australians in using the American boat.

www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/

Maserati Multi 70 and Giovanni Soldini set the Plymouth to La Rochelle record
Maserati Multi 70 and Giovanni Soldini conquer a new record: 239 miles from Plymouth (UK) to La Rochelle (FR) in 12 hours, 15 minutes and 21 seconds, with an average speed of 26,84 knots. The Italian Team's time is around 2 hours shorter than the previous record, set by Lloyd Thornburg and Brian Thompson aboard Phaedo3 in 2015, of 14 hours, 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

Maserati Multi 70 set sail from Plymouth yesterday at 14:06:21 UTC (16:06:21 Italian time) and headed towards the north-western end of France, sailing with an average speed over 32-33 knots and reaching peaks of 44 knots. Soldini explains: "Crossing the Channel we were sailing very fast, with 20-25 knots of north-easterly wind, then we arrived to Ouessant and it was great: the passage between the island and the coast is very narrow and we were sailing 'a cannamorta' at 35 knots! Afterwards, sailing down along the French coast, the wind was 10-15 degrees narrower than predicted and we slowed down, but we were able to achieve an excellent result, we're very happy!"

The record is subject to the World Sailing Speed Record Council's ratification.

For this challenge, Giovanni Soldini sailed aboard Maserati Multi 70 with Giulio Bertelli, Guido Broggi, Carlos Hernandez Robayna, Oliver Herrera Perez and Matteo Soldini.

The Team is sailing back to their base in Cherbourg (FR), from where they will keep studying the weather conditions for the next few weeks to identify ideal windows to attempt to beat another two records in the English Channel: the Cowes to Dinard (the Channel Record) and the Fastner Original Course record (from Cowes to Plymouth, sailing around the Fastnet Lighthouse, south of Ireland).

maserati.soldini.it

The 69F project builds momentum
Click on image to enlarge.

Following a successful first regatta in Gaeta this spring, the Youth Foiling Gold Cup has secured its future and builds towards the rest of the season with new resources and new clarity.

The season's second act has been confirmed for Limone, on Lake Garda's western shores and will run between the 13th and the 26th of August. The third act has been moved up from 2022 and foiling sailors will now contest the final in early December, at a venue to be confirmed shortly.

Immediately following act three, the top two teams from each of the three acts will race each other in the YFGC Finals to determine the overall champion and the season ranking to determine the distribution of the 95,000 Euro prize purse.

There is still time to sign up for the second act in Limone for teams that missed the first act in Gaeta. The six boat fleet of foiling Persico 69Fs can accommodate up to twelve teams for the warm-up, qualifiers, knockouts, and final rounds of racing. The shore team will again provide top-level technical support, so the teams only need to show up and sail.

The new sponsorship that the Class has secured will subsidise some of the race entry fees, dropping prices and making the racing ever more accessible. The Persico 69F Class now offers the full regatta experience, including boat charter and shore team services for 7,500 Euros for one event or 14,000 Euros if a team signs up for both remaining acts.

If you are a youth team and want to join the circuit or want to join the Persico 69F Cup that is open to the wider sailing public, please contact 69F representative Francesco Rubagotti at: Tel: +39 3349048640

69fsailing.com

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The Last Word
No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now. -- Alan Watts

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