In This Issue
• Postma opens World Masters with two bullets
• Bermuda Short-Handed Return
• Starting from the top - Hall Spars
• 5.5 Metre Worlds in Hanko going down to the wire
• Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast: Tom Whidden
• ORC Double Handed World Championship
• For The Record
• Inaugural 'K2Q 260' Race
• Industry News
• Featured Charter: TS5 - Addictive Sailing
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Swan 42 - Loco
• • Seaquest SQ46
• • The Makara Series
• The Last Word: Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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

Postma opens World Masters with two bullets
Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands has opened his first ever Finn World Masters, in Helsinki, with two race wins. Laurent Hay from France is in second after twice placing second while Peter Peet, also from The Netherlands, is in third following a 3,7. There are 121 sailors from 25 nations taking part in the first ever Finn Masters event in Finland.

The event started in splendid conditions, sunny, warm with 6-10 knots of wind. The wind pressure varied a lot making it challenging for most sailors. In both starts the black flag was needed, and at the end of the day there are 15 BFDs on the scorecard. Some of the front runners picked up a BFD, making rest of the week difficult for them.

In the evening a ferry took sailors from club to the island of Särkkä where today's prize giving was presented by Pata with a warm reception in a garden setting. This was the location of the medal ceremony at the 1952 Olympics, the first time the Finn was used at the Olympic Games. Many sailors stood on the Olympic podium.

Racing continues until Friday.

Results after 2 races
1. Pieter Jan Postma, NED, 2
2. Laurent Hay, FRA, 4
3. Peter Peet, NED, 10
4. Karl Purdie, NZL, 14
5. Bas De Waal, NED, 18
6. Sander Willems, NED, 22
7. Peter Mosny, SVK, 23
8. Filipe Silva, POR, 27
9. Freddy Markelin, FIN, 28
10. John Greenwood, GBR, 28

Full results

Bermuda Short-Handed Return
Cat Hunt and Sara Stone. Photo courtesy Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Click on image to enlarge.

As an aspiring around-the-world sailor, Sara Stone knows offshore mileage is the most important number on her resume. So, when she was offered the opportunity to take the hard road back from Bermuda, doublehanded on a 33-foot Sunfast 3300, rather than sitting in coach at 40,000 feet, Stone didn't hesitate.

"Glenn Walters and Bluenose Yachts, they raced Alchemist down and they wanted the boat to be raced back to Newport," said Stone, on Friday. "They ideally wanted to have an all-female team. My name got thrown into the mix. It feels to me now like a little bit of luck that they were willing to back us and give us their boat. It was an amazing opportunity. We're on Cloud 9 right now and really exhausted. It's pretty awesome."

The missing piece of information is that Stone, along with co-skipper Catherine "Cat" Hunt, sailed Alchemist to an overall win in the inaugural edition of Bermuda Short-Handed Return, which was envisioned by the New York Yacht Club's Seamanship Committee and co-sponsored by the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and the Cruising Club of America. The race, from Bermuda to Newport, starting nine days after the start of the 2022 Newport Bermuda Race, attracted 19 entries, 16 doublehanded and three singlehanded. Safe Harbor Marinas sponsored the Yellowbrick Tracking for the race.

Full results

nyyc.org

Starting from the top - Hall Spars
Perfectly matching rig, rigging and superyacht at the first attempt takes on new meaning when the key suppliers can be many thousands of miles apart from each other

A close working relationship between a builder and suppliers is important whatever the size of vessel, and the rapport between a mastmaker and boatbuilder is a crucial one where millimetres can define the difference between success and stress. In our super-connected world, the geographical challenge for two such operations might be considered to be one of pure logistics, but when it is Hall Spars and Southern Wind Shipyard, the distance between the two facilities means that getting things right first time aboard a yacht that will be over the horizon in days is not just desirable, but crucial.

Southern Wind's fifth SW105, Sorvind exemplifies this.

Full article in the July issue of Seahorse

5.5 Metre Worlds in Hanko going down to the wire
Just one race was sailed on the fourth day of the 2022 5.5 Metre World Championship at Hanko Yacht Club in Norway. The win went to Jean Genie (GBR 42, Elliot Hanson, Andrew Palfrey, Sam Haines) who put on a dominate display in the tough conditions. New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Anthony Nossiter) still leads overall from Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli Sæther) and Jean Genie. Two races remain.

The 2022 5.5 Metre World Championship is going down to the wire. With the discard coming in after the sixth race, there is still everything to play for. The top three boats are all close with a discard and with a similar forecast for Tuesday, the first race of the day could be very important.

New Moon has barely put a foot wrong all week, with top three places in all races. Defending champion Artemis, has also had a great week. Jean Genie had a tough first day but has dominated since the stronger wind arrived and is getting faster. One of these three is likely to take the title.

Again the schedule for the final day, Tuesday, has been brought forward to 10.00 to try and get two races in before strong winds arrive.

Results after 5 races (discard after sixth race)
1 New Moon II (BAH 24, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Anthony Nossiter) 10
2 Artemis (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli Sæther) 14
3 Jean Genie (GBR 42, Elliot Hanson, Andrew Palfrey, Sam Haines) 23
4 Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard Haissly, Nicolas Berthoud, Daniel Stampfli) 24
5 Ali-Baba (BAH 23, Craig Symonette, Flavio Marazzi, William Alloway) 30

Full results

Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast: Tom Whidden
This month on Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast America's Cup Hall of Famer Tom Whidden recounts one of the most important eras in competitive sailing as he sits down with double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson.

After a childhood spent learning to sail on the East Coast of the United States, a teenage Tom Whidden made two bold declarations. He would become a sail maker, and he would compete in the America's Cup. Decades later he's still a pivotal figure at sailing industry powerhouse North Sails, and he's raced an incredible eight America's Cup campaigns, having won the illusive trophy three times.

But in this fascinating chat with Robertson, it's Whidden's memories of the historic 1983 loss to Alan Bond's Australia II that are the most revealing.

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 shirleyrobertson.com/podcast or via most popular podcast outlets, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and aCast.

The podcast is produced and written by Tim Butt - for further enquires, please contact .

Listen here...

ORC Double Handed World Championship fleet halfway through the course
Gotland Island, Sweden - At 2000 local time, all remaining entries in all three classes in the ORC Double Handed World Championship are close to the halfway point in the 358-mile Gotland Runt, the world's largest annual offshore race. As shown on the trackers, most are close to getting around the south end of the island after a long upwind beat. 75 ORC DH teams remain on the course after numerous non-starters and retirements.

Race managers from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) yesterday started this fleet at 1100 CET in the harbor in Stockholm, with spectators lining the course.

At 1800 ORC DH leaders in corrected time included the following:

Class A: JOULE (SWE), a J/122 raced by Marcus Osterberg and Henrik Borg, followed by ZEUS+ (SWE), a Z30+ being raced by Anders Dahlsjo and Martin Stromberg, and in third place - although ahead of the fleet in elapsed time - is the Shogun 50 Ladykiller 4 (SWE) being raced by Anna Drougge and Martin Angsell.

In Class B the leaders at 1800 were: PISCO SOUR (SWE), a Salona 37 raced by Robert Helenius and Sakari Laulajainen, followed by IMBRUGLIA (SWE), and Arcona 340 raced by Staffan Larsson and Magnus Wregell, and IMPANEMA (SWE), a J/109 raced by Kim Lindroos and Mikael Lindberg.

And in Class C the 1800 leaders were TEAM PRO4U (SWE), a modified First 36.7 raced by Patrik Forsgren and Joakim Hoppe, followed by LADY X (SWE) raced by Mikael Alvgere and Per Lindell.

Present rates of speed predict the first boat to finish to be LADYKILLER 4 at around 10:30 on Tuesday

Tracking

www.ksss.se/en/gotlandrunt/news/news

For The Record
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of a new World Record:

Record: Marseilles to Carthage. Outright.
Yacht: SVR Lazartigue. 100 ft Trimaran
Name: Francois Gabart. FRA. And a crew of 5.
Dates:.28th to the 29th May 2022.
Start time: 15;49;29 UTC on the 28th May2022
Finish time: 05;45;06 UTC on the 29th May 2022
Elapsed time: 13 hours 55 minutes and 37 seconds
Course length: 455 NM
Average speed: 32.67 kts
Comments: Previous Record: BP5. Pascal Bidgorry. FRA. May 2010. 14h 20m 34s

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
sailspeedrecords.com

Welsh J109 'Mojito' Takes Inaugural 'K2Q 260' Race Victory
The inaugural K2Q 260-mile race from Dun Laoghaire via Fastnet Rock to Cork concluded on Sunday in Cork Harbour and was won on IRC by the J/109 Mojito (Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox).

It was the first collaboration between the Munster-based SCORA and the Irish Sea ISORA offshore racing associations and, as previously reported, was a restaging of the first recorded Irish offshore race of 1860.

There were no Cork boats in the four-boat race and of the four ISORA boats competing, three were from Wales.

Earlier, a shorter version of the K2Q called the 'K2Q160' running over the same course but leaving out the 100-mile section to the Fastnet Rock and finishing directly in Cork Harbour was won by Royal Cork's Nieulargo as Afloat reported here.

Second on IRC overall to Mojito was the line honours winner, the Howth Yacht Club Grand Soleil 44, Samatom. Third was the Pwllheli J125 Jackknife skipperd by Andrew Hall.

The only two-hander in the race was Marc and Jo Thompson's Sunfast 3200 Jac Y Do. The Pwllheli duo are aiming to compete in the 2,400 mile ocean AZAB race and the K2Q distance is a mandatory qualification length for the AZAB.

The AZAB, also known as Azores and Back race starts in Falmouth and goes to the port of Ponta Delgada, on the Azore's Island of Sao Miguel. Competitors take a brief respite on the island before turning around and racing back to Falmouth.

afloat.ie/sail/events

Industry News
Grabau International is delighted to announce the opening of a new base in the Netherlands. Operating throughout the Benelux countries, seasoned international yacht broker Jascha Bach heads up Grabau International (Benelux). Extremely well known in racing and performance cruising circles as the founder and managing director of Bach Yachting, as well as competitive international racer and former ORC world champion, Jascha now joins the Grabau International team to develop brokerage activities within the Benelux region further and to continue his passion for brokering on a one-to-one level.

A long-time friend of Grabau International, joining forces was a natural progression. The Benelux region has long provided a rich source of buyers and high-quality sailing and motor yacht listings. Grabau International can now offer an unparalleled full brokerage service in the region by carrying out activities following ABYA Codes of Practice and utilising the latest English law industry contracts.

Away from the office, Jascha is a highly successful yacht racer, winning the ORC Worlds in 2016 aboard his Italia Yachts 9.98, taking 3rd in the 2012 ORC worlds aboard his Salona 37 and taking several Dutch Championships with his Bach Yachting racing team. More recently, Jascha has returned to his roots and races in the Finn class at an international level, while also enjoying more leisurely cruising aboard his S&S Swan 57.

If you are based in the Benelux region or are planning to sail in these waters during the 2022/23 season, Jascha would be delighted to hear from you. He can be contacted by email at or and by phone at +31 641 486879

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

Following last year's successful debut, the Olympic Yacht Show will be returning to Lavrion, Greece this year for its second edition.

Organised by OnDeck Events, the show will be held from 7-10 October in the newly renovated facilities of Olympic Marine in Lavrion, just south of Athens International Airport. Like last year, it is expected to attract a great deal of interest both in Greece and abroad.

The Olympic Yacht Show gives prominence to new yachts for sale within the premium yacht category. It is said to be the only yachting event in Greece aimed at medium-sized yachts and megayachts and to the growing industry that surrounds them.

The Olympic Yacht Show is held under the auspices of Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy, Ministry of Tourism, Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), Region of Attica, Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Piraeus Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Municipality of Lavreotiki.

www.ibinews.com

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

Yacht Racing Forum 2022 to be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Malta

Members of the yacht racing community and sailing industry from all over the world can look forward to an exceptional edition of the Yacht Racing Forum at the Hotel Intercontinental on November 21-22 in Malta.

Registration is open for the leading annual conference dedicated to the business of sailing and yacht racing. Organised by MaxComm and hosted by Yachting Malta, the event will reassemble the sports' key personalities from all over the world for two days of conferences, debates and business, not to mention an attractive social calendar.

The draft conference programme and speakers list are available online and nearing completion.

There are different opportunities to join the Yacht Racing Forum as a delegate, speaker, exhibitor or sponsor. Feel free to contact us to discuss participation options.

A preferential rate will be available for booking rooms at the Intercontinental on our website by mid next week.

REGISTER

Click here to find out more about our sponsorship opportunities

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

The UK has decided not to impose direct rule on the British Virgin Islands, despite a report finding gross failures of governance in the territory.

The review said the BVI's constitution should be suspended and its government dissolved amid corruption concerns.

But the foreign secretary will instead allow a new administration to implement reforms in the next two years.

If they fail to meet targets, Liz Truss has taken new powers to make imposing direct rule easier.

The former leader of the BVI, Andrew Fahie, was arrested in April for alleged drug smuggling and money laundering in the US.

The inquiry was commissioned in 2021 amid claims about corruption and misuse of taxpayers' money but was not directly connected to the arrest of Mr Fahie.

Led by British judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom, the report described the state of governance in the BVI as "appallingly bad".

He found that millions of dollars of state funds were spent each year by politicians and ministries without proper process, there was "serious dishonesty" relating to sales of public property, and there was widespread abuse of appointments.

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

French boatbuilder Beneteau Group, today released its Annual Report for 2021 together with its Sustainability Performance Report for the year:

press.beneteau-group.com/finance.html

Featured Charter
TS5 - Addictive Sailing

Available:
Caribbean - Spring 2022
UK and France - Summer 2022

Built by Marsaudon Composites in Laurient, the TS5 follows on from the TS42 and TS50 and offers a comfortable living space on a sporty chassis. They have made headlines for being among the fastest liveable multihulls in the world and can reach speeds in excess of 20 knots and are able to cover 400nm per day! Addictive Sailing weighs just 8 tonnes, has a rotating mast, fully carbon cross structure & fins and NKE instrumentation. Discover the magic of sailing on a performance catamaran. The TS5 has 4 double cabins, 2 heads and a spacious open plan living space that provides a fantastic platform for entertaining, and enjoying all the toys this TS5 has to offer. Addicitive sailing is perfect for active charters with lots of toys including paddle-boards, kitesurfing equipment, inflatable sailing dinghy and snorkelling equipment.

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Lucy Jackson - LV Yachting
Call: +44 2392 161272
Email:
lvyachting.com

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
2007 Swan 42 - Loco. 220000 USD. Located in Phuket, Thailand.

A great example of this timeless Club Swan 42 design. LOCO has been sailing in Asia since new and has more recently been IRC optimized, whilst retaining the boats inherent ORCi friendliness, One Design potential and cruising ability. A good honest boat and fantastically well priced.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats

+447759 424900
+442380 016582

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

Seaquest SQ46. POA USD.

Introducing the innovative SeaQuest 46 Catamaran. In a collaboration between Carkeek Design Partners and builder Eaton Marine, the SeaQuest Catamaran has arrived. Renowned racing yacht designer, Shaun Carkeek, delivers signature hull forms and sleek lines, currently proving themselves in races around the world including America‘s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, and Grand Prix Yachting.

Eaton Marine has manufactured award-winning sailing vessels for nearly three decades. This new venture is based in Dubai, UAE, the construction and manufacturing epicenter of the world where cutting-edge technology is utilized in all aspects of building and design.

The synergy between elite design, build excellence, and progressive technology achieves a completely new level of combined performance, style, and capability. Advanced hull design, semi carbon-fibre construction, and acute attention to weight throughout, deliver performance without compromising an ounce of comfort.

This listing is for a brand new catamaran, currently under construction. Launching in 12/2021. Commission, Sea Trial, Delivery 1/2022.

Contact

UAE: +971 5 8511 3400
USA: +1 312 772 0948
seaquestcatamarans.com

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

The Makara Series. POA USD

THE MAKARA SERIES - A sailing superyacht series with perfectly proportioned style.

Designed to glide with the lightest of breeze, the Makara yachts deliver the highest levels of sailing performance with minimal effort and maximum comfort.

"With the Makara series, McConaghy establishes its position in the semi-custom luxury yacht sector, introducing a highly advanced and complex design which, in its resulting simplicity of use, sets it apart" - Mark Evans, Managing Director, McConaghy.

For full details please go to... mcconaghyboats.com/makara-series

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

Tel: +852 5501 6001

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

The Last Word
Think long thoughts in short sentences. -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Editorial and letter submissions to

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