In This Issue
• How to follow the RORC Caribbean 600
• 2022 eSailing World Championships open in style
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• The vast and varied sailing career of Paul Goodison
• New Cruising Association Guide for Mediterranean Bound Yachts
• How John Quinn Didn't Drown
• Selden SailJuice Winter Series set for breezy showdown at Oxford
• Advance Your Match Racing Skills
• Launchings
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Cannonball M72 Custom Maxi Racer
• • TF10 Foiling Trimaran Mad Max
• • EXCESS 15 - Catamaran
• The Last Word: Douglas Adams
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
How to follow the RORC Caribbean 600
A spectacular fleet of 75 boats, ranging from 32ft (10m) to 125ft (38.07m) will take the start of the 13th edition of the 600 nautical mile RORC Caribbean 600 on Monday 21st February 2022. Teams from all around the globe are arriving in Antigua and represent over 32 different nations. For those lucky enough to be in the Caribbean, the start of this classic 600-miler can be viewed from Fort Charlotte, high above Antigua's Pillars of Hercules and also from Shirley Heights.
RORC Caribbean 600 - Start times
Monday 21st February 2022
First warning signal: 10:50 local time Antigua
Start sequence: IRC One, IRC Two, CSA only - 11:00
IRC Zero - 11:10
IRC Super Zero - 11:20
MOCRA - 11:30
Start from Fort Charlotte, Antigua
Race fans and spectators can keep up-to-date with the 600nm race via the race website and social media. You can track the fleet and follow all the updates as the race unfolds. To follow the RORC Caribbean 600 visit the Royal Ocean Racing Club on social media and via the dedicated race website: https://caribbean600.rorc.org/
All yachts will be fitted with a race tracker: https://caribbean600.rorc.org/Tracking/2022-fleet-tracking.html and armchair sailors can take part on Virtual Regatta.
WEBSITE: caribbean600.rorc.org
2022 eSailing World Championships open in style
The 2022 eSailing World Championships have kicked off with players around the world battling it out in the season opener in the Bay of Cádiz, Spain.
Thousands of eSailors have competed to get a head start in this prestigious event, which will see weekly regattas on the world's most popular boats as well as a number of new high profile events to be launched this year, on the back of last year's success with the Olympic Virtual Series, eAmerica's Cup, eSailGP and the Hempel World Cup Series regattas.
A host of brand new venues will also be revealed, as well as the possibility of national rankings via the World Sailing Member National Associations - and there will be multiple opportunities to advance to the later stages of the Championships at the end of September.
A total of forty sailors will make the grade for the semi-final at the end of October, with just ten sailors heading into the Grand Final in early November competing for a USD $10,000 prize pool.
Last year's eSailing World Championships Grand Final was won by 19-year-old Carlos Parejo (UOL Carlos Parejo) of Seville, Spain.
The 2022 eSailing World Championships is available to play on Virtual Regatta Inshore and available on Desktop, iOS or Android.
Seahorse March 2022
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
A formidable heritage
The Arcona 435 has been racking up silverware since its launch in 2018 but the recent addition of One Ton Cup-winning designer Niels Jeppesen has elevated a prestigious 40-year-old brand to another level entirely
Transquadra speziale
But Ben Rogerson's foxy new 41ft hybrid design offers high performance offshore racing in both fully-crewed and shorthanded formats...
Seahorse build table - No limits
This one will go the distance. Paolo Dinero
Superyachts - Beyond semi-custom
Southern Wind raise the bar while keeping costs sane - elegant solution and immaculate execution
Sailor of the Month
Two very different rivals on and across the oceans
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The Cup, the Games and three Moth World Titles - the vast and varied sailing career of Paul Goodison
This month Shirley Robertson talks to a man with one of the most varied careers in the sport of professional sailing, as she sits down for an extensive chat with one time Team GB team mate Paul Goodison.
Most recently sailing as main trimmer in the 36th America's Cup with American Magic, a closer inspection of Goodison's career reveals a remarkable strength and depth that has brought success across a multitude of disciplines in a career that's spanned several decades. Growing up in the the north of England, Goodison learned to sail on a reservoir, but was quickly mixing it up with that precocious young talent pool of the time, honing his sailing skills with contemporaries Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson and Chris Draper. A professional career beckoned, which initially led to an early career campaigning in the super competitive Laser class. After a fourth place in the Athens Games of 2004, Paul topped the podium in Beijing to win Olympic Gold, completing a journey that had began in earnest after a night out celebrating his friend's silver in 1996...:
"When Ben returned from Atlanta having won a silver medal, we were all at the Laser Nationals...and Ben had his medal with him and I remember for the first time, it was the first Olympic medal I'd ever seen, and held, and all of a sudden you make the connection, this is no longer one of those things you see on the TV, this is a guy you've sailed against and all of a sudden it became clear it's not so far away."
This edition of the podcast is in two parts and is available to listen to via the podcast page of Shirley's own website, at www.shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast.
New Cruising Association Guide for Mediterranean Bound Yachts
The European Inland Waterways Section of the Cruising Association (CA) has published a new comprehensive guide for yachts planning to reach the Mediterranean through the inland waterways, entitled 'Through France via the Inland Waterways'.
Edited by Gordon Knight with map illustrations by David Edwards-May (author of the Imray guide Inland Waterways of France), this new guide is aimed at owners of moderate draught vessels (1.8m or less). It contains a wealth of information on the four principal routes to the Med and the preparations needed to undertake them, including boat preparation; equipment; licences and documentation; sources of navigation and other information; practical aspects of boat handling and managing locks and even obtaining supplies en route. It also provides details of all mooring locations along the routes, with first-hand insights on facilities, depths, prices, nearby shops and restaurants and other attractions.
The guide, which is available in both print and downloadable PDF format, also incorporates over 100 hyperlinks to port, marina, boatyard and other websites for readers using the guide online. In the digital PDF version (free for CA members to download from the CA website), CA members can additionally benefit from further hyperlinks to the CA's proprietary CAptain's Mate app for the very latest updates on the various mooring locations. The digital guide will also be updated annually via the CAptain's Mate reports submitted by CA members actively cruising the waterways.
The 136-page guide, which is A4 size and full colour throughout, is available now in printed form from the CA's online shop as well as the Lulu.com bookstore at a price of £17.50 plus p&p. It will also be available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and independent book stores by March 2022.
The digital version can be downloaded as a PDF from the CA's Shopify webpage. The print and digital guides also include a 25% discount offer on the first year's CA membership to anyone joining by 31 December 2022.
In addition to the new guide, the CA's European Inland Waterways Section also produces five further guides to Cruising the Inland Waterways of France and Belgium, Through the Netherlands via the Standing Mast Routes, 50 Great Cruising Routes in the Netherlands, The River Moselle/Mosel and The German Rhine. -- Luissa Smith
Further information is available at www.theca.org.uk/public/sections/eiw
How John Quinn Didn't Drown
That John Quinn survived nearly six hours in the Bass Strait and lived to tell about it is a miracle, but in the miracle there are lessons.
In Sydney, Australia, it's called a southerly change, and it does what it says on the tin. It's a shift from a northeasterly summer sea breeze to a southerly wind, often driven by the arrival of a cold front and an associated low-pressure system sweeping up from the Southern Ocean. The waves meet the shallowing floor of the Bass Strait, and the southerly wind meets the East Australian Current, flowing south at around 2 knots along Australia's east coast. The combination can make the ocean off the southeastern tip of Australia one of the roughest pieces of water in the world. And as it's about halfway between Sydney and Hobart, the words "southerly change" can have an ominous ring for sailors preparing for the start of the annual Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
"When we saw the race [weather] briefing, it was a little bit fuzzy," Hobart veteran John Quinn says. He had been speaking to me earlier this year but recalling events almost three decades ago, back in 1993. "It could have been tough; they were a bit uncertain." The crew's biggest concern the morning of the start was the new mainsail. "We were tossing up whether to use it or not, and we came to the decision to use it. As it turned out, the [southerly change and accompanying low-pressure system] was a lot worse than what we thought it was going to be."
With winds reaching over 70 knots, it was equivalent to a low‑grade hurricane, and Quinn and the crew aboard his J/35, MEM, hit the full force of the storm in the Bass Strait on Monday night, December 27, 1993. Before midnight, a wave came out of nowhere. "It came from an odd direction. It was a big wave. Picked us up, threw us straight over on her side. We had three down below, fortunately. All of us on deck, I think bar one, went over the side. I got washed straight out of the cockpit. And when my weight hit the harness, it busted. It was a harness inside the jacket that had been well cared for; it must've split the webbing or whatever happened. But anyway, I ended up in the water," Quinn says.
The crew hit the man-overboard button and recorded the yacht's position, which was transmitted with the mayday call, and the search started. The water temperature was about 18 degrees C. The predicted time to exhaustion and unconsciousness is between two and seven hours at that temperature, with the outside survival time at 40 hours. It was the only thing he had going for him. "We're talking about seas of on average 8 meters, and they're breaking," Quinn says. "So, the chances of seeing one individual off a yacht in that sort of condition in the middle of the night - and it was in the middle of the night - are sweet f - all."
The full article by Mark Chisnell in SailingWorld.com
Selden SailJuice Winter Series set for breezy showdown at Oxford
The Selden SailJuice Winter Series concludes this Saturday at the Oxford Blue, and the forecast is looking somewhat fresh for Farmoor Reservoir...
Batten down the hatches! Storm Eunice is on her way to continue the bad work started by her cousin Dudley on Wednesday. But the hope is that the worst of Eunice will be well behind us by the time competitors are rigging up for this Saturday's Oxford Blue at Farmoor Reservoir.
The final event of a Selden SailJuice Winter Series that has hurled all extremes of weather at Britain's toughest dinghy racers, the Oxford Blue could prove the toughest test yet for the 70-plus boats entered from more than 30 different classes.
Will it be another day to suit the 505s? Roger Gilbert & Ben McGrane have already won an unprecedented three events so far this season, enough to bring them Series victory before this weekend is even contested.
Then again, it's a smaller race course which could play more to the strengths of the slower but more manoeuvrable classes such as the various hiking singlehanders. There will be at least three flavours of RS Aero competing, the brand new 6 rig going out against the more established 5s and 7s.
The Selden SailJuice Winter Series does it best to welcome all-comers and two seldom spotted beasts are entered for the Oxford Blue: the Iso and the Snipe. It's going to be a fascinating weekend of high-speed action. -- Andy Rice
Advance Your Match Racing Skills
The Match Racing Acorn Program is once again partnering with the World Match Racing Tour and is now accepting applications!
Take a deep dive into the Racing Rules of Sailing while developing advanced match racing tactics onboard our eight Swedish Match 40s kept in pristine condition with Interlux's Micron Extra bottom paint (with easy cleaning no matter how much we allow the growth to accumulate) to ensure the fastest bottom.
The Acorn Program will teach match racers of every level something new, as they rotate through all positions on the boat, train as an umpire, and receive coaching from the best in the world.
For regular supporters, Oakcliff is building on the lessons of the past year and will run Saturday Clinics along with Sunday Grade 5 regattas over seven weekends in addition to our regular weekend clinegattas.
Launchings
RS Sailing launches the brand new RS Toura! A modern dinghy with enviable space and a durable rotomolded polyethylene hull, families and training centres can revel in the freedom of being out on the water with ease. Nestled in the RS range between the RS Quest and RS Venture, the RS Toura has room for up to 7 crew. Balanced stability compliments the RS Toura's impressive internal space, allowing sailors to tour coastal waters with confidence.
With a reefable mainsail, furling jib, asymmetric spinnaker, ample stowage, optional outboard, and a wardrobe of accessories to choose from, RS allows you to make the RS Toura unique to you.
RS Toura Specification
- Designer - RS Sailing & Jo Richards
- Length - 4.63m
- Beam - 1.95m
- Hull Weight - 175kg
- Max Crew Weight - 550kg
- Mainsail - 10.4m2
- Jib - 3.5m2
- Asymmetric Spinnaker - 14.6m2
www.rssailing.com/project/rs-toura
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Wally's latest bespoke sailing creation has just passed a crucial construction milestone with the demoulding of the hull. The sleek carbon hull of the new 101-foot cruiser racer was lifted out of its female mould. She is the fourth Wally for an experienced owner and inspired by the Wallycento box rule.
It is rare for one-off yachts at this scale to use female moulding, which is time-consuming to build. But it was the right decision, because a female mould ensures a near perfect exterior finish. As a result, very little filler was needed to fair the hull, further eliminating unnecessary hull weight – a critical part of the owner's brief.
Built using advanced pre-preg carbon fibre in a sandwich composite, the Wally 101 weighs just 56 tonnes. That is some 20 per cent less than yachts of similar size and capabilities and comes in spite of a host of labour-saving technology. This includes Wally's Magic Trim and Magic Traveller hydraulic systems. Astonishingly, 40 per cent of her weight is from the lifting keel alone, promising eye-watering performance.
After demoulding, the hull was laid in a cradle and moved back under cover for the next stage of its transformation. Shipwrights are already installing the bulkheads that will divide up the interior space, with wiring, piping, tanks and other engineering foundations while the lightweight carbon deck is currently in mould.
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See McConaghy's MC60 Multihull at Miami International Boat Show
The MC60 was introduced to McConaghy's line of luxury cruising catamarans in 2018 and in doing so, redefined this size of vessel in the multihull marketplace. With a wide saloon and open aft deck, a spacious flybridge with dual helms and two accommodation arrangements to choose from as standard, the MC60 is versatile coastal cruiser with excellent performance attributes.
The McConaghy Multihull series now comprises eight models, ranging in size from 52ft to 100ft in both power and sail designations.
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After three consecutive seasons in Figaro Beneteau, Eric Peron has chosen to race this year in Ocean Fifty; a new support and new objectives for this eclectic sailor who launched this project last year. After several months of work, the boat was unveiled last Wednesday evening in Port La Foret.
Eric has set his sights on the former"Prince de Bretagne" : with which Lionel Lemonchois won the Route du Rhum in 2010 and which then led Gilles Lamire to victory in The Transat in 2016. A reliable boat that needed to be given a new lease of life.
The boat entered the Mer Agitee yard in Port la Forêt in October for a complete refit. The team did a lot of repair and improvement work to improve performance with, among other things, the addition of foils (instead of the initial straight daggerboards), the redesign of the cockpit, the change of rigging and even a decrease in propeller shaft drag. We replaced almost everything, from the fittings to the electrical, computer and electronic systems. I am very well supported on this site with Michel Desjoyeaux, the architect Benoit Cabaret and Sebastian Zarate, who has just arrived from the America's Cup, for the structural calculations. It's a great collaboration, they bring me a lot of experience; the exchanges are super simple, I quickly found my place with them.
We are still waiting for a few pieces before the launch scheduled for mid-February. This will be followed by the first navigations to improve reliability and then the training sessions.
Eric will take part in the Pro Sailing Tour, the Grand Prix circuit dedicated to the Ocean Fifty with the Route du Rhum in his sights.
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EXCESS 15 Catamaran. 790,928 Tax Not Paid EUR. Located in Bordeaux.
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See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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