EuroSail News #4932

In This Issue
• INEOS Britannia launch world-class team to challenge for 37th America's Cup
• Largest 2021 Maxi gathering in the world!
• J Class Rivalry Resumes in Saint Tropez
• Sailmaker vacancy
• British Yachting Awards 2021: voting is open!
• 44Cup Back In Italy After Four Year Absence
• 2021 Tornado Worlds: Titles decided
• Mini Transat
• Galway's Mini-Transat Boat
• Olivier Jehl is the 36th entry in the Global Solo Challenge
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Grand Soleil 56
• • Blackcat 50
• • ClubSwan 50-026-Django
• The Last Word: Theodore Roosevelt

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

INEOS Britannia launch world-class team to challenge for 37th America's Cup
INEOS Britannia, representing Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd the Challenger of Record for the 37th America's Cup, today announced our core team today live from Brackley, home of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

INEOS Britannia's design team will bring together the best of America's Cup and Formula 1, with James Allison as technical lead of the British America's Cup challenge in his capacity as Chief Technical Officer of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team and INEOS Britannia.

Team Principal Ben Ainslie will skipper INEOS Britannia, the first British Challenger to compete for three consecutive America's Cups since Sir Thomas Lipton's challenges in the early 20th century.

Backing the team again is INEOS and INEOS' Chairman and Founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who previously supported the team's 36th America's Cup challenge. Being part of the INEOS Sport group means access to a wider sporting family which includes the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team, the All Blacks, and football clubs OGC Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport.

As part of this high-performance group, the British America's Cup team has come together with Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science, a division of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, to form INEOS Britannia, bringing together the best of the worlds of high-performance marine and automotive engineering, with the goal to win the America's Cup for Britain

www.ineosbritannia.com

Largest 2021 Maxi gathering in the world!
Following the eye-popping ballet of classic and modern yachts last week, it's time to make way for the giants. The incredible line-up for Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 2021is the largest gathering of Maxis in the world this year. The second week of the new format Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez will see racing get underway tomorrow, this Monday being devoted to registering the 45 competing boats and their crews, some of which comprise nearly 30 sailors. The whole of the race zone will be reserved for them this week, with starts and finishes just in front of the port of Saint Tropez. This is sport, performance and futurism in its wonderful XXL version, with the Maxis reflecting the very best there is in terms of naval architecture from the past decades, fittingly sailed by the most top-flight international crews who include Olympic champions and America's Cup skippers.

No fewer than 45 yachts measuring 20 to 40 metres will begin racing in the bay Tuesday, split into 4 separate groups. Two of these groups, IR1 and IR2, group together the Super Maxis with a waterline length of between 80 (24 m) and as much as 100 feet, like the Swan 115 Odin (35 metres).

Two other groups, IR3 and IR4, will make up the sail boats measuring 60 (18.28 m) to 80 feet (24 m), known as the Mini Maxis. Three stunning 72-foot prototypes will be jockeying for the top spot: Jethou, Vesper and North Star against Wally 80s Ryokan 2 and Rose.

www.lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

J Class Rivalry Resumes in Saint Tropez
The enduring, friendly rivalry between J Class duo Velsheda and Topaz resumes Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th October at the famous Les Voiles de Saint Tropez regatta in the south of France. The crew of the Frank C. Paine designed, 2015 launched Topaz are seeking a measure of revenge after being beaten last month by a dominant Velsheda crew at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Racing for the J Class yachts at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez is under IRC handicap in a six boat IRC 2 division up against such diverse designs as the Swan 82 Kallima, the 32.9m Wally Green Eyes, the 33.83m Dubois designed Silvertip and the Swan 80 Umiko. In 2019 Velsheda won the class, but Topaz was absent after a technical issue which surfaced in Porto Cervo curtailed their season.

As usual the courses at Les Voiles de Saint Tropez are all coastal routes chosen from 10 different options, distances being between 20 and 40 miles. They are always a test of accurate navigation, anticipating the many transition zones and wind shifts around the bays and headlands and very much an acquired taste compared to windward-leeward racing.

Francesco d'Angelis is again sailing on Topaz as tactician.

Velsheda's winning crew from Porto Cervo remains largely unchanged with several Europeans drafted in for New Zealanders who cannot travel.

With the news that the refitted Ranger was doing sea trials and some crew training a couple of weeks ago off Newport RI with a team, there are high hopes that next year will see a return to stand alone J Class racing under the new, purpose developed J Class handicap rule.

www.facebook.com/OfficialJClass

Sailmaker vacancy
Ullman Sails St. Maarten is a full service loft on the island of St. Maarten (Dutch side) in the Caribbean, offering services that include sail repairs & alterations, new sails & all types of canvas products.

We are currently looking for a qualified sail maker for our upcoming season from November 2021 to May 2022.

The applicant would be responsible for all types of sail repairs & alterations, removing & re-installing sails. The fitting of new sails & U-Stack covers. Experience in canvas work would be a plus.

The successful applicant must-
1) Be a qualified sailmaker capable of high quality repairs & alterations to all types of sails, ranging from board sails to superyachts.v 2) To be able to work independently or as part of a team
3) Possess a positive attitude.
4) Ideally be active in racing /cruising.

Employment would be full time for the above dates with the possibility of a longer contract.

Please send resume to
Rob Gilders
Ullman Sails St. Maarten

Tel. +1 721 544 5231

British Yachting Awards 2021: voting is open!
Voting is open in the British Yachting Awards 2021, with Pip Hare, Hannah Mills, Giles Scott and Damien Seguin among those shortlisted.

Each winner in the annual awards, organised by Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting magazine, is decided by the public vote alone.

Chelea Magazines marine group editor Rob Peake said: "With categories sometimes won or lost by a handful of votes, it's vital you show your support for your favourites now!

"The British Yachting Awards celebrates the achievements of the sailing world over the past year - don't miss this chance to vote for the person, boat, or piece of kit that you think is most deserving in each category."

Voting closes in a month, at midnight on Sunday 31 October 2021.

www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk

www.britishyachtingawards.com

44Cup Back In Italy After Four Year Absence
The 44Cup returns to Italy next week for the first time since Porto Cervo in 2017. This time the high performance owner-driver one designs will be racing on the mainland, at a new venue for the 2021 44Cup World Championship. Located some 250km north of Rome, Scarlino is a favourite with other one design classes and features a magnificent bay, spanning Piombino in the north and, another famous Italian sailing venue, Punta Ala in the south with the island of Elba as a backdrop offshore.

While the RC44s may be new-comers to Scarlino, many of the sailors are not, as the marina is a key base for Nautor's Swan. "We have made one design racing our core business, that's why we are so glad to welcome the 44s. As one of the leading owner-driver classes, with sailors of the highest calibre, we know it raises the bar. We feel excited to be part of this challenge," explains event manager Claudia Tosi of Yacht Club Isole di Toscana.

Someone who knows these waters better than most is Michele Ivaldi, tactician on Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing, winner of August's 44Cup Cowes. Ivaldi spent six years with the Italian Luna Rossa America's Cup challenger training out of Punta Ala during the 2000s.

44Cup Scarlino Worlds: www.44cup.org

2021 Tornado Worlds: Titles decided
Konstantinos Trigonis & Konstantinos Kazantzis, GRE 7 are this year's Tornado World Open champions!!

Trigonis has won multiple world and european titles as a crew, sailing together with Dany Paschalidis, and this is his first one as a helm. Kazantzis is a young promising sailor who landed powerfully on the Tornado after the end of the 49er Europeans.

Michaela Pavlisova, 21 y.o. & Marek Pavlis, 14 y.o. from CZE are the new Mixed and Youth champions, standing also in the 2nd overall! This sister & brother team had already won the 2021 Europeans some months ago. Michaela has switched to the helm's position after sailing 10 years as a crew and together with her brother put some pressure on the first ones.

Top 2 places of the Mixed category where a family business. After Michaela and Marek, their father Zdenek and their other sister Klara stand on the second place! Zdenek is one of the most experienced Tornado sailors, sailing for the Czech Republic, who managed not only to have won multiple champions but also to get his kids into sailing with the same passion!

This was the first world championship after the COVID restrictions. It finished successfully with all sailors looking forward to the next one. We missed our overseas friends and the ones that couldn't make, we have many new young sailors entering the class and wish to meet again all together safely next year at La Grande Motte, FRA. Dates are to be announced next week. -- Maria Tsaousidou

www.tornado-class.org

Mini Transat Prototype: Three Leaders Enjoy A Very Close Finish
Tanguy Bouroullec - Fabio Muzzolini - Pierre Le Roy: such is the order of the winning trio (prior to the jury's approval) in the prototype category of the first leg of the 23rd Mini Transat EuroChef. And what a leg! Punctuated by a bracing passage across the Bay of Biscay, a decisive rounding of Cape Finisterre which enabled a small group of four to make good their escape, as well as a remarkable finish with less than 1h10 separating the three leaders

Whilst these two skippers, accompanied by Pierre Le Roy (1019 - TeamWork) and Irina Gracheva (800 - Path), managed to pick their way along in a vein of breeze before hooking onto the Portuguese trade wind and then slipping along with their pedal to the metal towards the Canaries, their adversaries in the prototype category became ensnared in a patch of light airs. Worse still, they then had to negotiate the passage of a second front that was even more active than the first, which prompted them all to take the decision to seek shelter in various Galician ports, putting their race on hold for nearly twenty hours or so. "It's fair to say that for the overall ranking in the prototype category, it's created a hole", commented the winner of this first act (prior to the jury), in which nearly all the remaining competitors are still over 600 miles from the finish this Tuesday morning.

As a result, this first round was decided via a four-way match and it lived up to its promise right down to the wire. Indeed, though it seemed evident at one point that Pierre Le Roy had made the break and was on a fast track to victory after a killer tactical move off the north-west tip of Iberia, Tanguy Bouroullec managed to snatch back control to the north of Madeira, before being put under pressure at the virtual gate positioned close to the Selvagens Islands by Fabio Muzzolini. "For my part, it was clearly a surprise to see Tartine sans Beurre appear on the AIS this morning. I even thought that my system was acting up because the day before I had a 40-mile lead over him," explained the skipper of Tollec PM/Pogo, staggered by his Franco-Italian rival's amazing comeback.

www.minitransat.fr

Galway's Mini-Transat Boat Battered into Spanish Shelter by Wind, Waves & Whales
While the leading boats in the fleet of 90 racing the Mini Transat 2021 are now passing Madeira and well on their way to their planned stopover in the Canaries (where they may well find that volcanic activity interferes with arrangements), some craft in the main part of the fleet suffered so much from extreme weather and whale attacks off northwest Spain that they were forced to seek shelter and safety in the nearest harbours.

Among them is Yannick Lemonnier in his boat Port of Galway, who got to Baiona near Vigo after a section of the fleet pulled in there to avoid heavy weather and orca attacks. The Minis were being thrown around like dinghies by the orcas, and apparently the substantial aluminium Mini 650 Transat Support Boat was attacked by whales - they had a determined go at his rudder.

Several other boats have been towed to Baiona, while a UK vessel was towed to Vigo and a Swiss boat to Cangas. The activity of the whales is very high off Galicia right now, and the current advice is not to transit these waters until later in October. -- WM Nixon

afloat.ie/sail/offshore/

Olivier Jehl is the 36th entry in the Global Solo Challenge
Originally from the Massif Central Olivier worked his way up the sailing world first by becoming an instructor for the famous Glenans sailing school, then obtaining a formal coastal and offshore qualification called the BPJEPS Voile which opened a world of opportunities for him.

He took the course in Paimpol and where he made contacts with many people and discovered the world of french "course au large". He decided to take part in the 2015 edition of the Mini Transat by building from A to Z his own carbon-epoxy prototype #967.

Sailing around the world single-handed non-stop by the three great capes is a long held childhood dream, the GSC offers a non elitist setting and the opportunity to participate with a reasonable budget, all aspects that have drawn Olivier to enter. He wishes for our children a future where mankind manages to find a balance between innovation and technology and preservation of a bond with nature. He is fascinated by the wisdom of Indigenous populations of the world and his communication project will be centred around associations that work with them.

globalsolochallenge.com/olivier-jehl-news/

Featured Brokerage
2003 Grand Soleil 56. 315000 EUR. Located in Tuscany, Italy.

2004-launched and single-owner sparkling blue-hulled example of the Philippe Briand designed Grand Soleil 56 aft cockpit performance cruising yacht.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Michele Antonini - Grabau International (Italia)
Tel: +39 333 74 89 281
Email:

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Blackcat 50. POA.

BLACKCAT 50 is an entirely new superyacht platform, setting the standard in large cruising catamarans.

The world of superyacht sailing is rapidly changing. Over recent years superyachts have grown dramatically in size and improved performance.

This is mainly due to stronger and lighter construction materials coupled together with evolution in design and innovation. All these developments lead to the most logical conclusion in your next choice of superyacht.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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Ph: +34 696 483 962

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2019 ClubSwan 50-026-Django. 1,350,000 EUR. Located in Marina de Cogolin, France.