EuroSail News #4849 - 2 June
In This Issue
• All to play for during final night at sea
• Tom Dolan and Gildas Mahe Eighth on Transat en Double
• IMOCA 60s choose GORI Propeller
• Royal Cork's Nin O'Leary Leads Irish Crew on Superyacht Aragon for Sardinia's Loro Piana Regatta
• 18ft Skiffs Golden Era
• Take nothing for granted - 11th Hour Racing
• Kiwi success at the Finn Gold Cup proves the power of shared knowledge
• Red Funnel Etchells Regatta 29/30 May
• 21th Anniversary Summer Sailstice - Let’s ALL go Sailing
• David Pelly
• Featured Charter: SW105 Wolfhound
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Outremer 55 - New Boat
• • Whitbread 60 - TOKIO II
• • Jeanneau 54 - Grace
• The Last Word: Molly Ivins
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
All to play for during final night at sea
After an adrenaline-fuelled day of power reaching through the Atlantic the 12 weary crews competing in The Ocean Race Europe are facing a challenging final night at sea as they close in on Cascais, Portugal - the finish of the race’s opening leg from Lorient, France.
The northerly winds strengthened as the fleet rounded the virtual Atlantic turning mark early this morning, and that meant some exhilarating high-speed sailing for the crews in both the one-design VO65s and the development rule IMOCA 60 class as they headed back towards Cascais.
In the IMOCA 60 class, the fierce foiling match race between Thomas Ruyant’s French entry LinkedOut and the American 11th Hour Racing Team, skippered by Charlie Enright, continued to rage. The two boats were neck-and-neck on the way out the turning mark with the American boat getting there just ahead at around 0140 UTC.
From there the narrowly separated duo raced flat out towards Cascais at speeds touching 30 knots as they traded the lead back and forth several times.
In the VO65s, Portugal’s Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team skippered by Yoann Richomme continues to sail a near perfect race at the front of the seven-boat fleet. The team rounded the virtual turning mark around 30 minutes ahead of the second-placed Dutch entry AkzoNobel Ocean Racing - skippered by Chris Nicholson - with Bouwe Bekking’s Sailing Poland, and Simeon Tienpont’s Childhood I (NED) also in hot pursuit.
Tom Dolan and Gildas Mahe Eighth on Transat en Double
Ireland’s Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Gildas Mahe have been coming to terms with a slightly disappointing outcome following a very close finish to the Transat en Double Concarneau to Saint Barthelemy race.
The Franco-Irish duo finished very early on Monday morning, crossing the line in eighth place in the 18 boat fleet. After more than 3,890 nautical miles or 18 days and 8 hours of racing, during which they spent the majority of the time in the top three or top five, when they crossed the finish they were less than 15 minutes shy of a top five position which was their pre-start target and less than one hour short of the elapsed time of the third placed boat.
At three days before the finish into the Caribbean island the Smurfit Kappa supported Dolan and his French counterpart seemed to be well set for a placing on the podium, tussling within a handful of miles of the leaders. But their strategic choice to stay south, along with many of the leading players in the class, found them suffering with less breeze - and although they bit the bullet and went north to try and consolidate with the fleet - the duo on Breizh Cola lost places and had to settle for eighth.
“After 4,000 miles of racing where we were constantly in contact and even racing in sight with some boats, it was finally a gybe that cost us something like ten miles and our podium chances. But that is the way it goes in the Figaro.” Acknowledged Dolan.
Dolan concluded, “We had a lot of trouble but with Gildas we formed a great duo. We hit it off and I learned a lot of things that will help me a lot in the rest of the season and especially on La Solitaire."
IMOCA 60s choose GORI Propeller
Sailing is a sport of finesse, it’s where multiple individual elements combine for peace, tranquillity, precision, speed, and manoeuvrability. If one element is missing or not quite aligned then the pieces of the puzzle, simply do not work.
Sailors and particularly those who race and compete for records focus on the most intricate detail to achieve their optimum VMG. To accomplish this, they are looking for minimal drag and this is where a GORI Racing Propeller comes into its own. 29 of the 33 starters in the Vendee Globe 2020-21, and 90% of all IMOCAs built since 2014 choose GORI Racing Propeller.
The GORI Racing Propeller is a 2-blade propeller designed for the Whitbread Round the World Races in the 90s, it was a propeller designed and built for speed and now with an impressive track record to prove its success.
Its intricate design, aqua dynamic shape and ingenious folding mechanism provide the competitive sailor with absolute minimal drag below the waterline whilst having maximum effect when under power.
Already in 2021, the GORI Racing Propeller has an impressive portfolio of titles and records helping sailors achieve their goals.
“The GORI Racing Propeller is a popular choice especially within the IMOCA and ULTIM racing trimarans,” comments Lars Østergaard, Vice President Sales for GORI Propellers. “Congratulations to Vendee Globe winning boat Maître CoQ IV skippered by Yannick Bestaven, and the MOD70 of PowerPlay and Maserati who have been out breaking records.”
Find out more on the GORI Racing Propeller - www.gori-propeller.com
Royal Cork's Nin O'Leary Leads Irish Crew on Superyacht Aragon for Sardinia's Loro Piana Regatta
Dublin Bay, Howth and Cork Harbour crews will race the latest 29-metre Aragon in Sardinia next week at the prestigious Italian superyacht Loro Piana Regatta.
Dun Laoghaire Harbour's Cian Guilfoyle fresh from last week's RC 44 Cup as Afloat reported here, joins the Aragon team for the first time. His knowledge of handling 400+ square metre spinnakers will see Guilfoyle assisting a bow army of six crew.
There is a further Irish connection this year for the Aragon crew given the fact that the latest Aragon is in fact ex-Windfall, Mick Cotter's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race record-breaker.
Just to ensure there’s Irish presence at every part of the Southern Wind 94-footer, Royal Cork Yacht Club's Nin O'Leary is overseeing the tactical role in the afterguard of Aragon.
Racing begins at the Mediterranean venue on June 2nd to 6th under the ORC-Super Yacht rule and rating system.
Pursuit races will be set over a course length with the smaller vessels going off first. If everyone sails to their handicap without any hiccups all boats should cross the finish-line bow to bow.
To add to the tactical conundrum of manoeuvring a 60ton sloop, the Superyacht rule does not allow competing craft to come within 40 metres of each other.
Range finders bow and stern will be deployed as well as the assistance of AIS for judging passing distances.
18ft Skiffs Golden Era
Click on image for photo gallery.
The 1970s is often referred to as the 'Golden Era of 18ft Skiff Racing' as it produced large, competitive fleets at both the Australian 18 Footers League and Sydney Flying Squadron, a strong, fleet at the Brisbane 18 Footers Club on the Brisbane River, and an incredible era of progress and achievements for the New Zealand designers, builders and competitors at the Auckland Sailing Club.
After an absence of fifty years, the 1970s also witnessed the return of a Western Australian 18ft Skiff fleet, racing on the Swan River in Perth.
International interest had been gaining momentum for a number of years and finally peaked in the 70s when small fleets were established in both the UK and USA.
As a result, the JJ Giltinan world Championship also began to take on a more international look with entries coming for the first time from the USA (1970), UK (1975), France (1976) and Italy (1979).
The interest and expansion in the 70s was an exciting time for 18 footer supporters in Australia, but the real highlight was the quality and colour of the local racing in Australasia, driven by an influx of champion skippers and teams, high-profile sponsors, incredible designers and the progress of building techniques and technology.
Legendary Australian 18ft Skiff names such as Iain Murray, John Winning, David Porter, Bob Holmes, Trevor Barnabas, Rob Brown and Hugh Treharne, to name just a few, were prominent in the 1970s as skippers.
Two New Zealand designers, whose designs and innovations ‘starred’ during the decade, were the internationally famous Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler.
At the beginning of the 1970s, it was still a time of transition/opinion between the merits of the three-handed versus the four-handed boats, which were basically a flow on from ‘Schemer’ 1963.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
Take nothing for granted - 11th Hour Racing
Seagrass may be all prevalent in many popular anchorages but that does not make it invincible
When a yacht drops anchor in a seagrass meadow and leaves a divot, or an outboard motor propeller makes a scar, how long does it take for the seagrass to grow back? A lot longer than you probably think. Neptune grass in the Mediterranean, turtle grass in the Caribbean and similar species around the world are the redwoods and oaks of marine ecology: they’re extremely slowgrowing and can live for thousands of years. When damaged, they take decades to recover - or they might never grow back at all. However, they can be restored and 11th Hour Racing is funding some groundbreaking work in this field.
Seagrass propagates mainly by growing its rhizomes in a mat that spreads out just a few inches beneath the sea floor. If a hole is made a bit deeper than that, the seagrass can’t regrow unless the hole is filled in with sand or sediment brought by waves or currents. But quite often waves or currents can make the hole bigger. What starts as a small divot soon becomes a huge crater as the edges of the substrate under the mat of rhizomes are eroded and washed away, leaving an entire meadow of seagrass much more vulnerable to the next storm.
Full article in the June issue of Seahorse
Kiwi success at the Finn Gold Cup proves the power of shared knowledge
We had a great Q&A session the other day with me and top Olympic coach Hamish Willcox fielding questions from sailors around the world.
Hamish looked back through the lessons of the recent America’s Cup, how Luna Rossa’s Race Speed proved so difficult for Emirates Team New Zealand’s superior Best Speed to overcome. By the way, if you don’t know the difference between ‘Best Speed’ and ‘Race Speed’, nor did I until I started talking to Hamish last year when putting together the Road To Gold course.
While the old America’s Cup adage “Fastest Boat always Wins” was proven correct once again, the wide-elbowed Italians proved that there is more than one definition of ‘Fastest’, especially on such a boundary-limited course.
Most importantly though, we were there to answer YOUR questions about YOUR sailing program. We can all learn off each other and these interactive Zoom calls are the perfect medium for maximising our learnings.
For a great question from Maura Dewey in Canada, go to timecode 54:05. She goes right to the heart of why Road To Gold has been working so well for her over the past six months.
www.roadtogold.net/p/uncertain
There’s a limited-time offer to get a great price on these weekly Q&A calls along with all the recordings to play back any time you want.
Get that offer here, and make sure you use the coupon: RTGSQUAD
before it expires... -- Andy Rice
Red Funnel Etchells Regatta 29/30 May
The 2021 Etchells Red Funnel Regatta was run by the Royal London Yacht Club in the Solent on the weekend of the 29th-30th May. 11 boats were entered, and the forecast was for light winds and sun.
As competitors arrived on Saturday morning, there was little wind, leading to the first race being delayed by an hour and a half, but good work from the Race Committee, led by PRO Peter Taylor, meant that three high quality races could be sailed in 6-8 knots from the South-East.
Sunday dawned with more sun and slightly more breeze, getting up to 10-12 knots in the afternoon, again from the South-East.
Going into the final race, Razmilovic’s Swedish Blue led by one point from Strait Dealer with Audrey a further three back, meaning it was still all to play for. Audrey went right up the first beat and led at the top mark, closely followed by Swedish Blue, who then gybed later than Audrey and sailed around them to take the lead at the bottom gate but Audrey then sailed further right up the second beat then put a cover on Swedish Blue to lead at the second top mark, a lead which they converted into the win in the final race.
This result meant that Ante Razmilovic’s Swedish Blue, crewed by Brian Hammersley and James Downer won the 2021 Red Funnel Regatta and also the prize for first Corinthian team with Audrey second, sailed by Will Bedford, Will Heritage, Fraser Woodley and Carys Randeria. Third was Strait Dealer, sailed by Graham Sunderland, Lawrie Smith, Vita Heathcote and Will Heathcote. First youth team was Pulse, sailed by Jake Hardman, Rosie Watkins, Midge Watkins and Harriet Watkins.
21th Anniversary Summer Sailstice - Let’s ALL go Sailing
This year Summer Sailstice celebrates its 21st anniversary - 21 consecutive years of worldwide sailing celebrations. Summer Sailstice invites sailors to hoist their sails wherever they are and aboard whatever they sail to showcase the “who, what, where, why and how” of sailing. One weekend in the life of sailing, and a lifetime of sailing in one weekend. Summer Sailstice is the time for all sailors of all sailing styles to celebrate ‘together’.
If 2020 taught us anything people know how to celebrate regardless of what the world dishes out. Sailors got out and got the sails up and 2021 is only getting better. Last year we had solo sails, family sails, virtual sails, distanced games, remote controlled sails and so many more creative and unique celebrations of sailing. As the world improves sailors are returning to the water in record numbers. Sailstice events are popping up all over the map, and we are can feel the excitement brewing. There is no better time for sailors to get out, raise the sails and SAILebrate sailing with sailors across the globe.
This year's Sailstice falls on the longest Saturday of the year, June 19th, 2021. A day dedicated purely to enjoying life under sail. The goal since the very first Sailstice is simple, get more people sailing throughout the year, by uniting sailors worldwide in one day of sailing. It doesn't matter where you sail or how you sail, just that you SAIL
To join, visit the Summer Sailstice website to post your June 19 sailing plans at www.summersailstice.com. Between now and then, reach out to your club, class and sailing community to start your summer of sailing by celebrating with each other and the world.
David Pelly
Born in 1941, David Pelly remembered London during the war, with breakfast crockery shaking on the table. He first took the helm of a boat at the age of seven and was closely involved with sailing ever since, even sailing a Firefly on the East Coast last autumn. He was an active participant in virtually every type of sailing from offshore racing to board sailing and was one of the first people in Britain to own a Windsurfer.
After training initially as a newspaper reporter he transferred to the magazine Yachting World and worked there for a number of years, becoming the Assistant Editor. After work in public relations, and as Editor of the magazine Offshore Sailing he became yachting correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. David was a yachting journalist in the heyday - when every broadsheet sent someone to report on major regattas. There were tales of long dinners, late night bicycle crashes at Olympic venues and various other adventures.
David’s interest in high speed sailing went back to the early 1970s when he helped to organise the first speed trials at Burnham-on-Crouch. He was a member of the Icarus syndicate which campaigned a hydrofoiling Tornado and was aboard on several of her record-breaking runs. In 1984 he wrote Faster! Faster! the quest for sailing speed which told the story of speed under sail and the hydrofoiling boats of the day.
He was a long serving member of the World Sailing Speed Record Council, a founding Chairman of the Windsurfer Class Association and Chair of the Yachting Journalists Association 1998 - 2001. He spent many years writing for Boat International, marvelling at the marble baths and gold sinks on opulent Superyachts.
David died, aged 79, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Philippa, daughters, Tessa and Lorna and four Grandchildren.
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1993 Whitbread 60 - TOKIO II. 75000 EUR. Located in Breskens, Netherlands.
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The Last Word
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