In This Issue
• Day 2 at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca
• SP80 unveils final boat design in pursuit of the world sailing speed record
• Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
• Switzerland SailGP Team announces new crew recruits racing under the Swiss flag
• Mayor To Kick Off LBYC Congressional Cup
• ETNZ Principal Matteo de Nora
• Conrad Colman
• Vendee Globe: Pete Goss on Escoffier's rescue
• Get set for the RORC Easter Challenge
• Featured Charter: Vismara 80' Luce Guida
• Featured Brokerage:
• • MC62 Multihull
• • IMOCA 60 - Arkea Paprec FRA04
• • Johan Anker 49Ft Q-Class Sloop - Leonore
• The Last Word: Charles de Gaulle

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

Flying French Foilers Forge Ahead On Day 2 at Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca
The giant 51 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca was up to full strength for the first time on a windy Bay of Palma today as all ten classes raced with all eight race course areas in action with 1015 athletes racing on a total of 779 craft.

470, Italians fast track plans
It was on the plane back home from the Tokyo games that Italy's early leaders of the Mixed 470 class Giacomo Ferrari and Bianca Caruso pledged to team up together and campaign the new Olympic class. Childhood sailing friends from Rome who raced Optimists against other in 2004 they recognised that with the short runway to the 2024 Olympic regatta, as Italy's Tokyo men's and women's 470 helm and crew pairing up was a strong proposition. They count two firsts and second to narrowly lead Spain's bronze medal winning helm Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman.

ILCA Beckett on top, gold medallist on the prowl
Britain's Michael Beckett moved to the top of the 180 boat ILCA 7 leaderboard after scoring 1,2 in the Blue Group of Qualifying. Reigning Olympic Champion Matt Wearn winner here in 2018, scored the reciprocal results of 2,1 in Blue Group but the Australian has risen only to 32nd overall in the 167 boat fleet after a DNC yesterday.

Nacra 17, a work in progress
If the first day results seem to suggest it is business as usual for Italy's Rugerro Tita and Caterina Banti as the 2020 Olympic champions rolled out a 2,1,1 from their first three races in the Nacra 17 to lead by a couple of points helm Tita admitted the 2018 world champions are still in the very early stages of developing their new rudder control system.

Full results

www.trofeoprincesasofia.org

SP80 unveils final boat design in pursuit of the world sailing speed record
Over the last six months, we have been coordinating a critical stage of the adventure with the construction of our boat. This spaceship-like sailboat has been designed to reach 80 knots (150km/h), shattering the world sailing speed record. Limited by confidentiality requirements, we have so far only shown a concept that allows to understand the boat's operating principles, without revealing any definitive design elements.

Today, the construction has advanced to the stage where we feel ready to reveal the final design! While the principles remain the same – an extraordinary sailboat towed by a kite – the boat will be longer than the initial concept (i.e. 10m long and 7m wide). With a sleeker shape and stretched, aggressive lines, other elements have also been refined to increase the stability of the structure – a key point in our record-breaking strategy.

Freshly finished by the renowned shipyard Persico Marine, the main hull will arrive in April in our workshop in Switzerland. This first part reveals a crucial element of the cockpit: it can take two pilots on board. One will pilot the kite while the other will steer the boat.

At 80 knots, it is critical to ensure maximum safety for the pilots. The cockpit has been designed to withstand accelerations of up to 50G! It has also been reinforced with Kevlar® to protect its occupants from possible carbon shards in the event of a crash. As a boat sailing at 150km/h on water is equivalent to a Formula 1 on land, the drivers will be equipped accordingly: bucket seats, 6 point-harnesses and helmets. In case of emergency, they will also have oxygen masks at their disposal, something that has never been seen before in the sailing world.

sp80.ch

Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
This month's nominees:

Rodion Luka (UKR)
Where to begin. We are still receiving nominations ranging from the entire Ukrainian sailing community to their 2020 Olympic Team. Others have been more personal which makes the task of choosing harder still. But Rodion Luka has accomplished great things in both the sport and the industry, creating some brilliant boats, winning an Olympic medal… and often being found at the centre of the best parties at popular regattas. So spirit and great achievement.

Dr Eng. Mori (JPN)
Having loyally backed the tenacious and determined Vendée Globe sailor Kojiro Shiraishi through thick and thin, and committing to back him again in the next race in 2024, Dr Eng. Masahiko Mori has now gone much further, launching the DMG Mori Sailing Academy, to bring on new Japanese sailing talent but also to encourage youngsters to combine sailing with the study of engineering - the passion and profession which underpins this brilliant entrepreneur's great success

Last Month's winner:
Hugo Davies (NZL)
'Sorry, Boris, this is a race you can't win!' - Rainer Wilhelm; 'Ray Davies, for being a good crew to Hugo?' - Howard Spencer; 'A bright future awaits' - Tink Chambers; 'Little legend' - Grandad Graeme; 'Even more impressive having to lump his old man around' - Cameron Dunn; 'Apples and trees' - Morgan Larson; 'Mother's genes!!!' - Marieke Poulie; 'It's hard enough getting a 10-year-old away from the TV' - Tom Weaver.

View past winners of Sailor of the Month

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken Derm, Musto and Dubarry. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!

Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month/vote-for-sailor-of-the-month

Switzerland SailGP Team announces new crew recruits racing under the Swiss flag
In less than six weeks, Switzerland SailGP Team will make its racing debut at SailGP and today they announce four new recruits who will race under the Swiss flag in the global racing league. The Swiss team is part of the next generation of SailGP talent, and the team will go head-to-head against some of the sport's best athletes, at some of the world's most iconic waterfront locations.

Richard Mason (GBR), Eliot Merceron (SUI) and Julien Rolaz (SUI) will join in the grinder positions, with Jeremy Bachelin (SUI) supporting the team as a reserve athlete. Two grinders race onboard the cutting-edge F50, they are positioned at the front of the F50 race boat, one facing forward the other facing backwards. It's the most physical role onboard, with the athletes competing at max heart rate during the 20-minute races.

Mason brings a significant amount of racing experience to the team, having been part of the Great Britain SailGP Team since the inaugural season of the league. He was also part of the British America's Cup team for the 36th America's Cup in Auckland.

Season 3 will be the first-time racing in the global championship and racing in the role of grinder - for Swiss sailors Merceron and Rolaz. Merceron has an Olympic class sailing background, he campaigned for two Games in the Laser class dinghy, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Away from the racecourse, Merceron also has a master's degree in Engineering. Rolaz started sailing in an Optimist dinghy aged eight, before moving into the 420 class to compete at National and International regattas. His sporting background also includes rugby, playing for the Swiss National Team - U20 and Senior - and CrossFit competitions, where he has achieved multiple podiums.

Supporting the team as reserve athlete is Jeremy Bachelin. Bachelin has raced alongside the Swiss team's driver Sebastien Schneiter as part of Team Tilt, representing Switzerland at the 2013 Red Bull Youth America's Cup and again in 2017, where the team finished on the podium.

Forming the wider race team is double Olympic medalist, Stuart Bithell MBE (GBR) in the role of wing trimmer and Olympian, Jason Saunders (NZL), as Flight Controller. A Swiss female athlete will complete the crew line up onboard the F50, this position will be announced mid-April.

SailGP.com/teams/Switzerland

Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach, To Kick Off LBYC Congressional Cup With Ribbon-Cutting
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia will help Long Beach Yacht Club kick off the 57th Congressional Cup regatta with a ribbon cutting and re-dedication of Congressional Cup Stadium Tuesday April 19 at 9:00AM; while the thrilling on-the-water competition starts at 11:30AM.

Congressional Cup Stadium is the race course situated off Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier at 39th Place and E. Ocean Blvd., where Congressional Cup racing takes place, and also where Olympic sailing events will be held during the 2028 Summer Games.

Congressional Cup, founded and hosted by LBYC, is one of the pre-eminent yacht racing events in the world. A select Grade 1 Event it is also a flagship of the World Match Racing Tour. Attracting the top-ranked skippers and crews each year, the event will bring 10 teams from across the globe to Long Beach for five days of heated competition April 19 to 23, 2022.

This year's all-star lineup includes five-time winner and defending champion Taylor Canfield (USA); with rival Ian Williams (GBR), four-time victor, eager to unseat him. In addition, 2009 champion Johnnie Berntsson (SWE) will compete, along with Harry Price (AUS), Chris Poole (USA), Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL), Pearson Potts (USA) and Dave Hood (USA). The final two competitors will be determined at the Ficker Cup qualifier April 13 to 16, 2022 at LBYC.

thecongressionalcup.com

America's Cup: ETNZ Principal Matteo de Nora on the venue hosting process and outcome
Emirates Team New Zealand Principal Matteo de Nora, was interviewed by top Italian sailing journalist Fabio Pozzo to gauge his thoughts and advice on the Barcelona venue, as a long-time mentor of ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton, and backer of the current America's Cup champion and twice winner of the Cup.

A resident of Monaco, Matteo de Nora first became involved with Emirates Team New Zealand in the 2000 and 2003 America's Cup when one of his companies provided batteries for the team. In 2003 after taking a call from the then newly appointed CEO, de Nora stepped up his involvement with the team - and the rest is history.

Fabio Pozzo: You have respected the date of March 31 and for many it was not taken for granted.

Matteo de Nora: "We have respected the timing, indicating the location of the America's Cup earlier than had been done in other editions. And it wasn't easy, with the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine ".

Fabio Pozzo: Was it easier to choose Barcelona?

Matteo de Nora: "Far from it. All the candidate cities had something that made them competitive and attractive. Barcelona, of course, needs no introduction, but in the end it turned out to be the one that met a broader set of requirements than the other candidate locations. Here, then, we have found an exceptional enthusiasm and a mayor who is very close to his city ".

Full interview in Sail-World.com

Conrad Colman: "It's a giant step towards participating in the Vendée Globe 2024"
Conrad Colman was in 2017 the first to complete a Vendee Globe without fossil fuels. By buying Maxime Sorel's former IMOCA , the very one that made him want to get into ocean racing, the New Zealander based in Lorient is aiming to take part in the Route du Rhum . Looking for committed partners to finalize its budget, Conrad will line up for the first two races of the season and start racking up miles for the 2024 Vendée Globe, its ultimate goal.

When he arrived in France, in 2008 while working for the navigator Steve White, the IMOCA which then wore the colors of "Groupe Bel" was the first that Conrad saw. This boat was an inspiration for the young sailor of the time, who decided to embark on the Mini Transat the following year, with dreams of offshore racing in his head.

15 years later, Conrad has completed 3 world tours including a Vendee Globe and a victory in the Global Ocean Race. He now wants to extend the beautiful story with this boat, which has since competed in 4 Vendée Globes, including a 10th place in the last edition.

Promote committed companies with a real CSR strategy
The purchase of the boat, which will be launched on April 5 in Concarneau after a consolidation and validation project, is an important first step. Even if he can count on the support of loyal patrons, Conrad took financial risks by taking out a bank loan to acquire the IMOCA and is still looking for partners to finance the rest of his project.

With 3 races around the world, I have acquired experience which, I hope, will allow me to build a great story with a partner for the next 3 years. Having become the first skipper to complete the race in 2016 without fossil fuels, I want to once again defend the values ​​that are dear to me and promote companies and technologies with a real CSR strategy."

Conrad's 2022 race program
- Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race: departure from Brest on May 8
- Vendee-Arctic-Les Sables d'Olonne: departure from Les Sables d'Olonne on June 12
- Route du Rhum - Destination Guadeloupe: departure from Saint-Malo on November 6

www.conradcolman.com

www.seasailsurf.fr

Vendee Globe: Pete Goss on Escoffier's rescue
Vendee Globe sailor Kevin Escoffier dons his survival suit for a second time to reach the French Navy’s tender, with rescuer Jean le Cam’s IMOCA 60 Yes We Cam! pictured behind. Photo credit Marine Nationale / Defense. Click on image to enlarge.

When Kevin Escoffier's boat sank in the Southern Ocean within two minutes, he was rescued by fellow Vendee Globe competitor Jean Le Cam. Pete Goss examines the expert seamanship involved

Escoffier subsequently explained that although he can't remember if they agreed to delay the rescue, they were only able to share a few words on that first contact, there seemed to be a tacit understanding that it would be best to wait for light and calmer conditions.

Escoffier felt that a night in the liferaft was the safer option;

'I spent the night quite well. I mean I wasn't comfortable, but in my head it was better, I was sure that the day after someone would be coming with less winds and less waves, and then I'd be able to get from the liferaft to the boat.

'I had a bit of trouble sleeping during the night, I had been eating a bit and drinking the water I had on board.

'Close to the morning I heard a sail flapping so I got out, put my head out of the raft and I saw it wasn't dark because of the moon, even with no sun we were able to see very well and I saw Jean just above me, between 100–200 metres from me.

'I asked him 'Now, we're doing it now?' And he said 'Yes, yes let's do it now'.'

Of course, as was the case with my rescue of Raphaël Dinelli in the 1996 Vendee Globe, it wasn't over.

Amongst Escoffier's many emotions was such a strong sense of letting his sponsors and team down that it reduced him to tears.

A burden that will have started to lift with Jean-Jacques Laurent of PRB, brimming with pride and happiness as he reassured Escoffier over the SatCom;

'It's only a thing, it doesn't matter Kevin. No worries, it's all good. Zen Zen'.

The full story in Yacchting Monthly

Get set for the RORC Easter Challenge
The RORC Easter Challenge is back with three days of racing in the Solent over the Easter Bank Holiday, 15-17 April. Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club for over 30 years, the RORC Easter Challenge offers crews the chance for some vital pre-season training and fine-tuning. With on the water coaching teams will be guided by world class coaches from North U and also Andrew 'Dog' Palfrey. The RORC Cowes Clubhouse will be regatta-central for video debriefs after racing, plus daily prize givings.

"The fleet will be divided into three IRC Classes, with windward leeward and round the cans courses; there will also be practice starts," confirmed RORC Race Officer Steve Cole. "Glassware will be presented to the class winners, and there will be plenty of Easter Eggs as daily prizes. However, the main aim of the RORC Easter Regatta is to get tuned up for the season ahead. The coaches will be giving their help right through the fleet, with top advice on rig set-up, trimming, driving and manoeuvres."

Leading the coaching team will be Andrew 'Dog' Palfrey who lives in Cowes and is respected as one of the top coaches in the world. "The RORC Easter Challenge has been an excellent way to start the season for many years," commented Palfrey. "From the coaches' point of view, it is really about getting everyone back out on the water and looking at areas where teams may be a little weaker. We will be chatting with teams on the water and highlighting areas in the nicest possible way in the debriefs. We hope to see a general improvement throughout the event, especially in teamwork, boat handling and starts, which are all critical parts of any race. The absolute goal for the coaches is to help people and, in that respect, we welcome interaction from all the sailors." -- Louay Habib

For more information, including online entry go to: www.rorc.org

Featured Charter
2011 Vismara 80 'Luce Guida' (refitted 2018/19). 33000 per week EUR. Located in France.

Extensively updated and refitted in 2018/2019, LUCE GUIDA is one of the most iconic performance cruisers to come out of Italy. Full carbon composite construction, telescopic keel, twin engines and all possible comforts are included in this ‘ready to go’ package.

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Lisa Spiller
Charter Manager
Bernard-Gallay
Phone 1 : +33(0)6 33 42 45 09
Phone 2 : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail :

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
McConaghy MC62.

The McConaghy MC62 Performance sailing, meets stylish living from a World Class design and build collaboration.

An evolution of the original MC60, the McConaghy MC62 is a great looking, advanced composite catamaran for families looking for safety, comfort and speed.

Designed by Ker Yacht Design, the MC62 is ultimately a performance catamaran that offers stylish, spacious and luxurious open-plan living.

Whilst being designed with longer distance cruising in mind, the MC62's ability to provide exceptional comfort and vast social areas, whilst having access to sailing speed on tap, makes her an unrivalled yacht in the performance catamaran field.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Performance Yachts

+447759 4242900
+442380 016582

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

2019 IMOCA 60 - Arkea Paprec FRA04.

Designed Juan Kouyoumdijan, built in 2019 by CDK and Vincent Riou.

4th of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2021. Fully equipped.

Last 2020 Vendee Globe boat available!

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Please call or email Romain Menard for further details :
Phone : +33 618 155 654
Email :

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

Johan Anker 49Ft Q-Class Sloop - Leonore. 600000 EUR. Located in France.

This thoroughbred sailing yacht continues to turn heads and offer only transom views. Q-Class yachts offer fun racing for a bunch of friends in boats that look gorgeous - at the dock or on the water - with performance that lives up to looks.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Sandeman Yacht Company
22 Market Street
Poole, BH15 1NF
Email:
Tel: 01202 330077

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

The Last Word
The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs. -- Charles de Gaulle

Editorial and letter submissions to

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