|
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 Tell us about your favourite Sailor's Bar for our annual Wight Vodka Best Yachting Bar contest. Monsoon Cup - Day 1: Preview Racing starts 12pm local time (5am CET) with two extremely important match at the very beginning. In match 1 Mirsky will face Minoprio and in match 2 the two Brits, Williams and Ainslie will race against each other. After the first two flights are completed the grandiose opening ceremony will officially kick off the event and at 4pm local time (9am CET) racing will resume. Race officials hope to gave another 4 flights, weather allowing. Racing is streamed LIVE online every day, right here on Valencia Sailing* . In an another innovation aimed at trying to make the sport of sailing more attractive to the general media, some of the skippers will be wearing biometric belts that will be sending the signal back to the TV production room. For the first time we'll be able to have the world's top match racers under "observation" in real-time, having their heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature on our screens. They are the same biometric belts the Chilean miners were wearing during their rescue, after they were trapped in their mine. Mathieu Richard is probably the one feeling the most pressure. He's so close to achieving what he has been fighting for during the last few years, to be crowned world champion, but it will be nothing but straightforward for the French. His results in the last two match racing events he took part in were far from stellar. He failed to make it through the qualifying series in Bermuda in October, latest WMRT event, while last week we was beaten in the quarterfinals by Phil Robertson in the Australia Cup, a grade 2 qualifying event for the Monsoon Cup. In yesterday's press conference Richard dispelled the worries, stating he felt confident and that the Australia Cup was a very useful training regatta for his crew. In order to have his world title guaranteed, Richard has to finish in the top two positions. If he doesn't make it to the finals then the world title could go to any of the remaining top 4 skippers, depending on their respective results. His most immediate opponent, Adam Minoprio, seemed quite more relaxed. He is the reigning world champion, a title he conquered again right here in the Monsoon Cup a year ago at the age of 24. His future as well is clearer than most of his competitors. Whatever the result might be in Malaysia, starting next week Minoprio will be working full time on the Camper / Team New Zealand team in the current Volvo Ocean Race. In fact, the Spanish-Kiwi entry in the round-the-world race will announce its full crew on December 15th. -- Pierre Orphanidis at Valencia Sailing: valenciasailing.blogspot.com *Editor: The streaming video feed and Mark Chisnell's live blog at www.wmrt.com Outteridge and Jensen Win Zhik Australian 49er Championship Outteridge and Jensen's win continues their extraordinary run, now sitting at 10 wins from 11 regattas since teaming up together in early 2009. Hosted by Wangi RSL Amateur Sailing Club, competitors in the 2010 Australian 49er Championship faced a mixture of conditions across the four days with close racing throughout the 16 boat fleet. Outteridge and Jensen were in a close battle across all four days with New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke with the two crews neck and neck for most of the regatta until the Australian's pulled ahead on the last day with three wins from four races. The Australian Sailing Development Squad's Steve Thomas and crew Nick Brownie were also at the pointy end of the fleet finishing in third place, just two points behind Burling and Tuke. The 49ers now head south to Sydney with racing at the second round of the 2010 Sail Down Under Series, Sail Sydney, beginning at Woollahra Sailing Club on Monday. -- Craig Heydon in Sail-World.com, www.sail-world.com Event site: www.wangirslasc.yachting.org.au Seahorse Sailor Of The Month Adrian Stead (GBR) This month's nominees:
Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry & Musto. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable! Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at * Seahorse has a special six issue subscription offer for those who vote and/or comment on the Sailor of the Month... vote and see! Imperia Winter Regatta At least 350 crews will be at sea: the racing classes will be 420 (open and ladies) that is the largest fleet with (for now) more the 120 entries, Olympic classes 470 (man and women) and Laser /Standard (man), Radial woman and Radial boys. Twentyfour countries will be represented in the fleet with teams coming from Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Netherland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerlan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine. As usual the headquarter will be based in Oneglia Harbour while the races will be sailed on 2 different sail areas in front of Imperia Harbour and races will be managed by an international jury: ten races are scheduled for 470 and Laser classes, nine for 420 and L'Equipe classes. The first race for all classes is scheduled at 10.00am on 5th December 2010. As usual L'Equipe teams will race in Imperia taking part in the International Meeting. -- Laura Jelmini, Geoff Holt Nominated for Top Saling Award With voting decided by members of the Yachting Journalists Association, the winner will be announced on January 11. Previous winners have included Sir Robin Knox Johnston and Dame Ellen MacArthur. Mr Holt, 44, who was made an MBE earlier this month, said: 'I can not begin to explain what this means to me. "Given the choice between an MBE and Yachtsman of the Year, I think I would choose YOTY award every time. "Tens of thousands of people receive MBEs but more people have walked on the moon than received the YOTY Award - it is the ultimate accolade in our sport because it is voted for by the people who matter most, the yachting journalists themselves, all of them experienced yachtsman. It's more like a 'knighthood of sailing' than an award." www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/ Sail Faster And Smarter! Whether you race a one-design or big boat, at the top or bottom of your fleet, you'll find lots of valuable ideas in Speed & Smarts. In fact, when you consider the cost of other go-fast items you can buy, this newsletter gives you extremely good "bang for your buck." View a sample issue at www.speedandsmarts.com/BackIssues/SampleIssue Subscribe at www.speedandsmarts.com Jessica's Sydney Hobart Clarification The annual competition starts in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day. Under-age sailors have been exempt from the race since strict safety rules were enforced after the deaths of six crew during devastating storms in 1998. Jessica must be 18 before she can compete in it. She has no issues with the rule, set down by the race organisers, the Cruising Yacht Club (CYC) of Australia. "I have never made an application to enter this year's race. I am aware of the rules and had always planned to spend Christmas with my family this year anyway," said Jessica. CYC's Commodore Garry Linacre said he would love to see Jessica take part in the race next year. "I would very much like to see Jessica participate in the race and we will do everything at the club to help her qualify and participate but it will need to be 2011, after she's turned 18," said Mr Linacre. When asked if she was intending to participate in 2011, Jessica did not give too much way, but intimated there could be something exciting in store. The Name Behind The Brand: Fountaine Pajot Founded by Jean-Francois Fountaine and Yves Pajot, Fountaine Pajot has 27 models to its name and more than 2200 sail and power catamarans built since 1983 - an achievement unequalled by any other multihull shipyard anywhere in the world. President of the French Nautical Industries Federation (FIN) and a sailor himself, Jean Francois Fountaine has a prodigious pedigree in sailing, racing in the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the TransAtlantic Race in the 1980s, taking 23 days for the event and being among the first to achieve over 20 knots, as well as close to 40 years experience sailing around the world. He and his wife, Claire sailed very successfully together as a mixed crew in the days when 470 sailing was almost exclusively a male domain. Claire was manager of the French Olympic team for the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Fountaine is an advocate of creating global safety and manufacturing standards. 'They need to be the same around the world for exporting and importing, for the safety of the consumer. Europe, Australia and the US need to come together on this for customers, manufacturers and authorities. Certification needs to be the same, which will reduce the costs and the paperwork as well as clearing up any confusion with consumers.' Adding his comments to the world's media and marine proponents, Fountaine believes the fervour with which young people have embraced 'world record attempts' could well be directed to other more suitable ventures. 'It is risky for anybody, not just the young. I am not sure it's a good thing. It does bring publicity to sailing, but perhaps turns people away from ordinary sailing for leisure.' Full interview in MarineBusiness-World.com : Virbac-Paprec 3 And Foncia Launched in Barcelona This morning's arrival of Jean-Pierre Dick's Virbac-Paprec 3 and Michel Desjoyeaux's Foncia directly from Martinique by ship brings the complement of IMOCA Open 60's in Barcelona to seven. That means almost half of the 15 boat fleet, which will take to the start line on 31st December for the Barcelona World Race, are making final preparations in the start city, and despite the chill, damp weather the atmosphere is definitely building. Virbac-Paprec 3 and Foncia's 10 day transatlantic delivery directly from the recent Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race saw them transferred immediately to the FNOB's offshore sailing base where they will undergo various levels of work against a tight deadline to be ready for the two pairs of co-skippers, Dick and Loïck Peyron and Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabbart to be sailing as soon as possible. Foncia's objective is to be ready for the co-skippers to be sailing by 10th December What A Fabulous Gift Idea... Not... The designer of 4SKINS, Gilbert Huynh, says although odour-neutralising fabric has been used in sportswear for years, his range of men's undies is the first time the material has been used in intimate apparel. 'Everyone has experienced those awkward situations and I thought that it would be great if you could let one off and no one could smell it,' Huynh says. After extensive trials - with friends and family - Huynh launched 4SKINS this month and says interest in the innovation has been beyond expectation. 'I'm amazed at the number of women who are buying them for their boyfriends, sons or husbands,' he says. 'We have actually had more women buyers than men.' No, it's not April Fool's Day and yes, the product is real. If this doesn't prove that women are in the driver's seat when it comes to discretional spending, nothing will. -- Jeni Bone in Sail-World.com Featured Brokerage This VO60 (ex Assa Abloy, ex Chessie Racing) is the first cruising boat in the VolvoOcean 60 class in Croatia and one of the fastest regatta boats in the Mediterranean. She is very well maintained and is in very good condition. Brokerage through Bach Yachting International: www.yachtworld.com/bachyachting/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
|
Use this box to send a copy of this issue of the Scuttlebutt Europe Newsletter to a friend: Or [FORWARD] for a page where you can send copies to up to a dozen friends. [USERTRACK]
About YachtWorld.com About Boats.com 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 |
Last month's winner:
Gus Miller (USA)
Andrew Mcirvine (GBR)
