Scuttlebutt Europe #2231 - 2 December
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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 Wide Open After Day One
It was an exciting day on the water and after day one both the event and the series are plainly wide open. Going into this final event of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour there were five skippers who had a mathematical chance of winning the 2010 Tour. Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team), Adam Minoprio (ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing), Ben Ainslie (TEAMORIGIN), Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team) and Ian Williams (Team GAC Pindar) were all in contention. On day one the Monsoon squalls brought bucketing rain and winds from every direction, delaying the start of the Round Robin series until mid-afternoon. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar made an impressive start to his Monsoon Cup campaign by posting a 3-0 scoreline in the opening Qualifying Session in Kuala Terengganu whilst Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team did little to silence his rivals, losing both of his match races. Richard, who has both defending champion, Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN breathing down his neck in the race for the championship, needed a strong start here in Malaysia. An early defeat to Ian Williams was followed by a match against Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team. Having picked up a penalty in the pre-start, Richard tried to wind it off at one of the mark roundings but forfeited his lead in doing so, allowing the Swedish skipper to take control of the race and finish 45 seconds ahead. It was a bad time to lose for the first time this season against the Swede. Ben Ainslie said 'A very tricky day on a very challenging course. What we really like about this venue is that on a day like today every leg is different. There was very little current, only on the last race did it seem to have any real influence.' 'If you look at the line up of this Monsoon Cup, it is one of the toughest fields I have seen in terms of the quality. I think really, we have talked a lot about the different possibilities and who has to win and who has to finish where. The reality is everyone is just going to race as hard as they can.' Skipper / Win Loss Record Mathieu Richard, 0-2 www.monsooncup.com.my Less Than 1,000 Nautical Miles to go for Christophe Bullens The skipper of Five Oceans of Smiles too is expected to arrive in the South African port in around five days, more than three weeks after American sailor Brad Van Liew stepped back onto dry land as leg one winner. Ocean sprint one has been a rollercoaster for the Belgian - even before the start of the race he was forced to find a new Eco 60 yacht to race after his original boat was dismasted en route to the race start in La Rochelle. After completing a 48-hour qualification passage on his new boat, Christophe set sail from La Rochelle a week behind his competitors. Stops in the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands to make repairs and seek medical advice further delayed his passage. In the last week alone Christophe's yacht took on around a tonne of water following problems with his generator. Days later he hit a whale. "All is OK onboard except there is no wind," he said this morning. "Tonight, I should get more wind and be able to accelerate again. The problem is that I don't have a spinnaker halyard. So I am handicapped as I can't set all the sails. I would like to arrive in Cape Town this weekend but I don't have control on the weather forecasts." Once back on shore, Christophe will have less than a week to prepare for the second ocean sprint from Cape Town to Wellington - a 7,000 nautical mile slog through the notorious Indian and Southern oceans which starts on December 12. Camet Code Zip Performance Shirt For more information please see ISAF Youth Sailing Worlds NOR Published Three hundred of the world's top sailors representing over 60 nations are expected to descend on Sailing Club Uksok in Zadar next July for youth's sailing blue ribbon event. Triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie (GBR), three-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts (NZL) and four time Olympic gold medallist Alessandra Sensini (ITA) are just three legends of the sport to have first made their mark at the Youth Worlds. The 41st edition of the Youth Worlds at Zadar in 2011 provides the perfect stage for the next generation of sailing stars to announce their arrival. The NOR is available to download from the championship website. Go to www.isafyouthworlds.com and click on Essential Info, Race Documents to download the Notice of Race and related forms. The Croatian Sailing Federation and the Sailing Club Uskok will organize the 2011 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship under the authority of ISAF. Zadar is located in the very centre of the Croatian Adriatic, in the most indented part of the archipelago. The Sailing Club Uskok is located in the west part of Zadar. The club is more than 50 years old and looks forward to welcoming the young sailors to Zadar. 2011 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship Events Canadian America's Cup Entry? "We're very much in the exploratory phase of the program," said Kevin Reed, a Toronto investment banker and RCYC member who is chair of Red Maple Racing, the bid's name if and when it takes off. "We'll know by late January or mid-February. We'll take 60 days to size up the opportunity. But it makes a ton of sense and the economics are realistic." Reed said the Canadian group, including the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and Royal Halifax Yacht Squadron, would put together a joint challenge, to be run out of the RCYC on Toronto Island and feature an all-Canadian crew. "Do we have the talent for an all-Canadian crew? I think we do," said bid backer Paul Henderson, former head of the International Sailing Federation and the only RCYC member who was actually born on Toronto Island. Henderson worked the America's Cup meeting last week in Dubai, where the Canadian cat began to escape the bag. Canada has challenged previously for the oldest (first awarded 1857) trophy in sport, beginning with an RCYC attempt back in 1876, but it hasn't been back since 1987. Tales of high-tech challenges costing north of $200 million dominated America's Cup talk in recent decades, but things are changing. "I've heard about teams spending $150 million or $200 million, but this new approach is to make it as syndicate-friendly as possible," he said. "They've told us (costs would be) $10 million to $15 million a year, with some of that coming from revenue sharing." -- Dave Perkins in the Toronto Star, full article at www.thestar.com Excellent Paralympic Fleet For 2011 Sail Auckland Sailing for the 2.4 Metre and SKUD18 Paralympic classes will be staged on the Waitemata Harbour with these sailors launching and retrieving their boats at Westhaven Marina. Racing for these classes starts on February 4th and runs for three days with final races and prize-giving planned for Sunday February 6th on the beach at Takapuna along with the Olympic classes. Takapuna Boating Club is host to Sail Auckland Regatta for the first time in 2011, and they will provide the Race Management both on and off the water for all classes including the Paralympic events. Prominent New Zealand Paralympic class sailors include Joshua McKenzie-Brown from Auckland and Andrew May from Christchurch in the 2.4 Metre class plus Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel sailing together in the SKUD18. Top British 2.4 Metre sailor Megan Pascoe, who placed third at this year's World Championship, will be in Auckland for Sail Auckland Regatta. Three international crews are confirmed in the SKUD18 class with two entries coming from Australia and one from Singapore. The SKUD18 sailors will be in Napier, New Zealand for the Kiwi Cup Regatta, also featuring another access class - the Liberty - in January ahead of Sail Auckland Regatta. Following on from Sail Auckland Regatta in February most competing local and international Paralympic sailors have accepted an invitation to join a training camp with coaches Rob Hielkema and Charles Baillie-Strong. Seahorse January 2011 Seahorse build table - Kid sister RORC news - Love is in the air Sailor of the Month If you haven't subscribed to Seahorse already we're keen to help you attend to that! - Please use the following promotional link and enjoy the hefty Scuttlebutt Europe discount... and it gets even better for 2 and 3 year subscriptions... ARC: Torturous Weather A most unusual weather situation has seen the fleet floundering in calms or encountering headwinds up to gale force. It seems almost certain that this ARC will be the longest ever, with even the fastest yachts taking almost three weeks to cross and most family crews looking at a month or more at sea. The culprit is the jet stream, which has moved south, displacing the Azores High (and, incidentally, giving us in the UK our current high pressure and Arctic cold). Instead of the gradient that would normally form the tradewinds between the Azores High and the ITCZ there are calms or even headwinds. This has prompted organisers World Cruising Club to issue advice to the fleet to sail south of the Cape Verde Islands to pick up tradewinds. In fact, the suggestion is to go as far as 12°N - below the latitude of Saint Lucia, at 13°N. Even after most boats get a taster of the tradewinds later this week, they are set to encounter possible strong squalls from a dissipating tropical wave, according to ARC weather expert Chris Tibbs. -- Elaine Bunting in her blog on YachtingWorld.com: www.yachtingworld.com/blogs/elaine-bunting/508789/arc-torturous-weather A Cheaper Alternative For San Francisco AC? Mayor Gavin Newsom's economic development office had helped negotiate an agreement with Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team that would see the 34th America's Cup sailing regatta held on San Francisco Bay. The original proposed host city agreement would cost the Port of San Francisco $43 million in land and development rights offered to Ellison's team, the report showed. Under the agreement, spectator and race staging facilities would occupy the city's eastern waterfront, including piers 48 and 50 in the Mission Bay neighborhood. The price tag does not include dredging-related expenses or costs that would be incurred by other city departments. The team would invest $150 million in pier repairs and other needed infrastructure expenses in exchange for development rights on three piers. The alternative plan, which as first reported by The Bay Citizen would shift some of those facilities north to the city's main tourism district, would cost the Port only $15.8 million. Ellison's team would spend $55 million improving waterfront infrastructure and secure development rights for two piers. The alternative would not use piers 48 or 50 for the event. Pier 50 is currently occupied by 26 industrial tenants that would need to be evicted, under the original proposal. Uk To Cease Funding Irish Lights The Irish Government has agreed to pay for its own lighthouses, buoys and other marine aids to navigation. The UK subsidy is likely to be eliminated during the current parliament if all goes according to plan. That is the pledge made by Mr Penning, UK Minister of Shipping on several occasions in recent months. The phase-out will start in the next financial year. The total cost of providing these services comes to around £75m ($116.5m) a year, of which Irish Lights accounts for €32m. The UK subsidy to Ireland is between £10m and £12m, with the Irish government contributing some £6m and the balance coming from fees. All three general lighthouse authorities (GLA) are working on ways to cut costs and improve efficiencies, with a joint strategic board set up to consider how they can work together more effectively. For The Record Route sailed: Lorient, France to Lorient, Mauritius. Benchmark Monohull time. John Reed New Website Promotes Mixed Sailing On Multihull With a new website we want to promote and support mixed sailing as best as we can. With your support!! Please have a look at www.mixedsailing.org On the new Website you find information about our sport. It is the beginning of a new era in the Olympic Sailing and we wish to get your support to make it a great sport. Mixed Sailing on Multi- and Monohulls is a well established sport around the world. Also in Olympic sailing. Here some facts from international mixed multihull sailing: - The current World champion in Open Tornado World championship is a mixed team. Mixed Sailing can colour up the Olympic Sailing a lot. Mixed sailing on the Formula-1 (Multihull) can attract the media and spectators too. -- Nahid + Roland Gaebler Featured Brokerage Built for the 1989-90 Whitbread a round the world race and designed by Ron Holland and competed as N.C.B Ireland. Since then she has been well looked after and has been through four major refits, her last refit being in the winter of 2001 to 2002. Her hull has been fully refilled and faired including her decks, top sides, and below the water line and her mast has also been fully serviced and repainted. Everything has been carried out to the highest quality in Awl grip by Greg Peck of Rocket Yachts. Brokerage through Dynamite Marine Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/dynamitebrokerage/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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