In This Issue
Scarlet Oyster dares to dream - RORC Transatlantic Race
RORC Transatlantic Race - Dockside interviews and on board footage
No introduction necessary - Cowes Week
18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 7
This week: Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias, Olympic Laser Radial Champion
Cascais SB20 Winter Series
French Offshore Is Fabulous Theatre And Drama
69F America Is Ready To Rock N' Roll
Grand Key West Finale at the Southernmost Regatta
Featured Brokerage:
• • ClubSwan 42-049 ‘Natalia’
• • GERMANIA V - Abeking & Rasmussen Yawl
• • Bavaria C42
The Last Word: Robert Anton Wilson

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

Scarlet Oyster dares to dream - RORC Transatlantic Race
Two weeks into the RORC Transatlantic Race, three more French teams have crossed the finish line outside Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina. Lady First 3 (FRA) finished under one hour ahead of Tonnerre de Glen (FRA) and in the early hours of the 22nd of January, the Volvo 60 Challenge Ocean (FRA), skippered by Valdo Dhoyer crossed the finish line, just over one hour ahead of Richard Tolkien's Open 60 Rosalba (GBR). These close finishes, after many days and nights of racing, is indicative of the competition right through the RORC Transatlantic Race fleet. What is more, the overall winner has still not been decided. Several teams that are still racing in the Atlantic are capable of winning the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy. Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster (GBR) is 250 miles from the finish. Currently ranked first overall after IRC time correction, Scarlet Oyster is expected to finish the race on Sunday the 23rd of January.

Eleven teams are still racing in the Atlantic Ocean towards Grenada. The next two teams expected to finish the RORC Transatlantic Race are Jacques Pelletier's Milon 41 L'Ange de Milon (FRA) with 145 miles to go, and Mark Emerson's A13 Phosphorus II (GBR), 163 miles from Grenada.

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

RORC Transatlantic Race - Dockside interviews and on board footage
Lady First 3 (FRA) finished under an hour ahead of Tonnerre de Glen (FRA) on 22nd January. Jean-Pierre Dreau's Mylius 60 was the first team to finish the RORC Transatlantic Race from Yacht Club de France. Lady First 3 completed the race in an elapsed time of 13 days 2 hours 23 mins 32 secs. Jean-Pierre is a well-respected member of the sailing community in Marseille and spoke dockside in Port Louis shortly after the finish.

Dominique Tian's Ker 46 Tonnerre de Glen (FRA) finished the race in an elapsed time of 13 days 3 hours 18 mins 34 secs. After time correction Tonnerre de Glen is third in IRC Zero. As the all-French crew celebrated with cold beers, Dominique Tian spoke dockside at Port Louis. Like Lady First 3, Tonnerre de Glen is from Marseille.

RORC Transatlantic Race

No introduction necessary - Cowes Week
Cowes Week The granddaddy of them all and the model upon which so many great international regattas have been based... Cowes Week is approaching a rather significant birthday

It's one of the most modern regattas in the world. Yes, that's right, we are talking about Cowes Week which will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2026. It is of course known around the world as one of the most challenging regattas in sailing, partly because of the fabulous racing conditions in the Solent and partly because of the relentless nightlife. That Solent tide, which gained a reputation for itself in the days when everyone wanted sanitised Admiral's Cup racecourses, is now back in favour, as just another challenge on a demanding racecourse.

Cowes Week has retained its global stature by evolving and it continues to balance the inherent ethos of the event – which is regatta racing around the Solent on orienteering courses – along with multi-race days for some of the small one-design classes where the owners want the majority of their racing to be on windward/leeward courses. The J/70 class, as an example, has a 12- race schedule over the first four days starting and finishing at the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line, with a committee boat delivering a middle windward/leeward race each day.

Full article in the February issue of Seahorse

18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 7
Click on image for photo gallery.

18ft Skiffs Another brilliant finishing burst by the current Australian champion Tech2 team to win Race 7 of the NSW 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today has set the scene for a match race type finish to the series as only one point separates Tech2 and Yandoo going into next Sunday's final race.

Tach2's team of Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake had to recover from a slow start, which saw the team back in seventh place at the windward mark in Rose Bay, before going on to take today's race by 26s from the rookie Rag & Famish Hotel team of Harry Price, Josh McKnight and Harry Hall.

Andoo (David Gilmour, Sam Newton and Matt Stenta) led for much of the course before fading over the final leg to finish third, 3s behind Rag & Famish Hotel.

Series leader Yandoo (John Winning) was fourth, followed by Lazarus Capital Partners (Marcus Ashley-Jones) and Smeg (Michael Coxon).

Tech2 and Yandoo had been level on ten points (net) after last Sunday's Race 6, but Tech2 was this week given a four points penalty for a sails infringement earlier in the championship.

The present (net) point scores going into next Sunday's final race of the NSW Championship have Yandoo on 14 points, followed by Tech2 on 15, Noakesailing (Sean Langman) on 28, Rag & Famish Hotel on 30, Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Steve Thomas) on 34 and Fisher & Paykel (Jordan Girdis) on 37.

For the first time since early in the season, the fleet was able to use the big #1 rigs in the SSE breeze and the result was a great race with often only secs separating the leading 3 or 4 teams around the course.

Race 8 (last race) of the NSW Championship will be sailed next Sunday.

Live streaming is available at www.18footers.com by clicking on the '18 Footers TV' link. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

www.18footers.com

This week: Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias, Olympic Laser Radial Champion
Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias won Olympic Gold in the Laser Radial at the 2008 Games in China. The USA athlete has also suffered some near misses too, so she knows about winning and losing. Anna is also phenomenally fit, having won the CrossFit Games Masters (35-39) in 2018.

Back by popular demand, Road To Gold is taking the Q&A format back where it began, guiding sailors through all 12 Chapters of this step-by-step blueprint to campaign success.

Chapter 2 is Fitness, and RTG's Hamish Willcox and Andy Rice are thrilled to have Anna join the call as special guest to answer all your sailing-specific Fitness questions.

WHEN: Weds 26 Jan 7pm UK / Thurs 27 Jan 8am NZ

The Q&A kicks off on Zoom at 1900 hours UK time Wednesday evening 26 January/ 0800 hours NZ time on Thursday morning 27 January.

Join Zoom Meeting with Road To Gold + Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias

Meeting ID: 835 3826 3815 Passcode: 898719

roadtogold.net

Cascais SB20 Winter Series
Click on image for photo gallery.

Cascais The Cascais Winter Series of the SB20 Class are back with the third race on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of January. On the first day, the twenty-five SB20 class boats competed in three races on a sunny day with an east wind of 12 to 6 knots.

In the lead of the championship, at the end of the first day, was the French crew, Skin in the Game, captained by Edward Russo with Gilles Favennec and Jonathan Lobert after debuting with two wins and a fifth. In second place are the British of Xcellent, John Pollard, Jack Wetherell and Henry Wetherell followed by Inetum, in third place, led by Tiago Morais and assisted by Luis Guedes Queiroz and Martim Mastbaum.

On the second and last day of the third Cascais SB20 Winter Series, the fleet completed the three last races on Cascais Bay race area with an oscillating east wind of 10 to 8 knots of intensity.

The victory went to the British Xcellent team of John Pollard of Jack Wetherell and Henry Wetherell. Jose Paulo Ramada's AP Hotels & Resorts team from Cascais with Diogo Costa, Rui Ramada Barros and Henrique Brites were runner-up. Closing the podium ended the French team Skin in the Game of Edward Russo, Gilles Favennec and Jonathan Lobert.

Results

French Offshore Is Fabulous Theatre And Drama
Britain's double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson will pair up this season with six times round the world sailor Dee Caffari, to take on the RORC's Round Britain & Ireland Race this summer on a new Jeanneau SunFast 3300. Tip & Shaft caught up with Shirley.

The prospect of racing with Dee is quite exciting, not least because you come from such different backgrounds, how did it come about?

Nigel (Colley owner and CEO of SeaVentures, major Jeanneau agent and offshore racer) and Henry Bomby brought us together. Henry was having another baby and could not commit to the season and Dee was without a programme. Between Henry and Nigel they made it happen and so we are quite excited about it. The double handed racing has ignited my mojo for the sport again. It is so new to me. I loved the Fastnet. With every passing day I got more tired but loved it more, the decision making when you are tired, managing yourself, all these things you have to do. With two it is an interesting dynamic, you have to partner and look after each other in lots of different ways. And that is part of it the challenge with Dee, how we will work it out. It is quite exciting because we have never been in a boat together before this, not even in a RIB, but I just think it will work. We have two seasons in different boats [Shirley with Henry Bomby, Dee with James Harayda, ed's note] and they have both been successful and she generally on the boat does the things I don't do so well.

So with the possibility of the Offshore Mixed Doubles now disappeared from the potential Olympic roster for Paris is that your dream of a third medal over?

I was so disappointed. An offshore Olympic medal in Paris would have been quite something. We talk about the French public's passion for that element of our sport. We can describe going out the canal for the Vendee Globe start and the finishes, if you have never seen them and lived them then you don't really get it. It is extraordinary that it is part of our sport of sailing. It would have attracted big names into the Olympic arena which we would not have otherwise seen. The French would have loved it. And so I am disappointed, not so much on a personal note, but for our sport that it did not happen and it did not happen in Paris. It felt like the Perfect Storm. Personally, Henry had asked me. I loved sailing with him. It would have been great to have put together a professional Olympic programme and have another go. But then in the UK we have great offshore sailors, whether we would have gone to Paris or not was a long way off.

Is there a second chance for the Offshore Mixed Doubles? I feel it won't happen now. It does not really 'fit'. It fitted in Paris but it does not really fit the Olympic Sports model. It is quite expensive. They said it would be tricky and expensive to film, I don't really buy into that. It would have been great, for three days and nights you would have live sporting pictures which you could have dipped in and out of a broadcaster. So, yes, I do think the opportunity is passed.

Full interview in Tip & Shaft

69F America Is Ready To Rock N' Roll
To build on the success of 2021, the 69F is doubling down, literally. Both the YFGC and the 69F Cup will run in Europe and the United States in 2022. There is a "Six-Pack" of foiling boats that have recently arrived stateside. The shore team is currently preparing them for the first races of the 69F Cup (Grand Prix 1.1) that will take place in January in Miami, where the Bacardi Invitational Winter Series (January 25th – January 30th) will include the first races of the 69F Cup (Grand Prix 1.1).

Act 1 of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup will run from 4-10 February followed by Grand Prix 1.2 on the 22-27th February. The circuit will continue in March with the Bacardi Invitational Regatta and before hitting the road to visit iconic Newport, RI and other sailing capitals throughout the year.

69fsailing.com

Grand Key West Finale at the Southernmost Regatta
Dive down a few hours south of Miami, and you'll find yourself among the palm trees, blue waters, and colorful foliage of Key West. Forget port/starboard: On this island, the roosters roaming the streets have the right of way. Here at the southernmost point of the United States, the first-ever Southernmost Regatta presented by Sailing Inc. just came to a close in dramatic fashion.

The event saw five classes complete 10 or 12 races as scheduled. The week started with three days of non-stop sunshine, perfect wind, and waves that faded over the next two days before a light wind finale. Dock talk will tell you the conditions were primetime Key West.

The Melges 24 fleet was the largest of the five classes. Today's finale was a who-beats-who between Peter Duncan's Raza Mixta and Laura Grondin's Dark Energy. The Raza Mixta team grabbed the lead from Laura Grondin's Dark Energy on the second day and never looked back. Onboard with Duncan were Victor Diaz de Leon, Erik Shampain, Matty Pistay, and Greiner Hobbs. Taking the Corinthian trophy was Alex Shafer's Sweaty Betty from Clermont Sailing Club, Florida.

The beasts in the Great Lakes 52 fleet were certainly a spectacle on the blue waters off Key West. On the fleet's own separate race course, David Team's TP52 Vesper took charge, finishing with 24 points over the 12-race series, six points ahead of Austin Fragomen's Interlodge VII. Rounding out the podium was Doug DeVos's Windquest.

Tight competition characterized the J/111 racing, especially between Andrew & Sedgwick Ward's Bravo and Ian Hill's Sitella. The Bravo team came out on top, winning the tie-breaker. On the Wards' team was Bill Hardesty, Joshua & Matthew Kapell, Ian Fraser, Sebastian Bliss, Kelly McKeown, and River Paquin, narrowly edging out the Sitella team with Terry Hutchinson onboard.

Gwen Fragomen's Botin 44 Interlodge IV put on an impressive show in the ORC division. The team put up a near-perfect scorecard throughout five days of racing, only taking one second place finish behind Eric Lopez del Valle's Farr 395 Wasabi.

Bobby Julien's Dingbat team put on a show in the J/70 fleet with six bullets and no need to sail the final race. James Gary's Ayacucho from Severn Sailing Association had an excellent showing and took home the J/70 Corinthian trophy. -- Hannah Noll

Full Results

Photo Gallery

Featured Brokerage
Raceboats Only 2010 ClubSwan 42-049 ‘Natalia’. 330,000 EUR. Located in Riva di Traiano, Italy.

The ClubSwan 42-049 'Natalia' is an exceptional example of the timeless Club Swan 42 design.

See listing details in Nautors Swan Brokerage

Contact
Giorgio Passarella
T. +377 97 97 95 07

-----------------------------------------

Raceboats Only 1955 GERMANIA V - Abeking & Rasmussen Yawl. Located in Spain

The name GERMANIA stands out among the most famous of German sailing yachts – part of the fame deriving from the importance of their owners; the Krupp family. GERMANIA V is a wonderful by-product of her era – a yawl designed for ocean racing but with ample accommodation for cruising.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Sandeman Yacht Company
22 Market Street
Poole
BH15 1NF

-----------------------------------------

Raceboats Only Bavaria C42. POA EUR.

Perfect sailing performance. Pure sailing pleasure.

The BAVARIA C42 is the logical progression from the BAVARIA C-line, but has its own distinct character. A modern, innovative hull shape with chines and a V-shaped bow developed by BAVARIA YACHTS guarantee both the best sailing performance and an unusually large amount of space below deck.

The clever details that BAVARIA YACHTS is known for, both above and below deck, has been further refined in the BAVARIA C42, providing this unusual 12.38m long sailing yacht with the best of the newest innovations in yacht building.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
bavariayachts.com/sailing-yachts/c42

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions. -- Robert Anton Wilson

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.eurosailnews.com/advertise.html

Search the Archives

SEARCH SEARCH

Our Partners

Seahorse Magazine

YachtScoring.com

Wight Vodka

Robline Ropes

Harken

Marlow

Navico

Translate