In This Issue
• Come from behind win for Black Star in GC32 Worlds nail biter
• New Wave Surfs to IC37 Championship
• What price a couple of seconds - 52 Super Series
• Once a 14er Always a 14er
• Entropy Wins Historic Queen's Cup Trophy
• British Classic Week
• The Rapid AC40 Begins To Emerge
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing
• Talbot Wilson
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Melges IC37 - Fargo
• • L30 One Design
• • YYACHTS Y8
• The Last Word: Martin Luther King Jr.
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
Come from behind win for Black Star in GC32 Worlds nail biter
K-Challenge Team France was the dominant force for the first half of this GC32 World Championship, held in Lagos, Portugal, but for the second half it was Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team which overtook the French after today's third of four races. With outstanding consistency, the Swiss podiumed in every one of the last 10 races. This afternoon they were crowned the flying catamaran class' fourth World Champions following Team Tilt, Alinghi and Red Bull Sailing Team.
Black Star Sailing Team only debuted on the GC32 Racing Tour in 2019 but trained to finish 2021 third overall. Impressively, this GC32 World Championship, the pinnacle event of the season, was their first ever GC32 Racing Tour event victory.
Black Star is unique for her owner trimming main, rather than helming. This instead is handled by Kiwi match racer Chris Steele. Also on board were Italian Pierluigi De Felice, Kiwi Stewart Dodson and Brit Will Alloway. Steele famously won the Optimist Worlds in 2007.
Jason Carroll's Argo showed promise but only managed to podium in today's final race while the new Polish team, Piotr Harasimowicz's HRM Racing Team and especially the Graeme Sutherland-steered Team Canada both had good moments today.
Delighted with his conclusion to the regatta was Simon Delzoppo and his .film AUS Racing which led the final two races, managing to convert those to two seconds.
The GC32 Racing Tour now moves on for its final event of the season in Mar Menor, Spain over 19-23 October. -- James Boyd
New Wave Surfs to IC37 Championship
Newport, Rhode Island, USA: With a five-point lead, and the IC37 National Championship and a Rolex Submariner timepiece on the line, Steve Liebel and the crew of New Wave went into the final race planning for a safe start. It didn't turn out that way as New Wave found itself owning the pin end of the line, typically a start that is on the Gordon Gekko end of the risk-reward ratio.
"That's where we ended up," says Liebel. "We weren't planning on it, but the pin end ended up being open. We were hoping we could get out. [After the start] we tacked to cross, and I bet there were probably five or six boats that we were crossing by five to 10 feet. If we couldn't get across any one of those, that last race would have ended a little differently."
Instead, however, Liebel and his team successfully crossed the fleet and won the final race and the National Championship, which was part of the 13th edition of Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex.
"This is a huge win, we're very, very proud of this," says Liebel. "I'm very happy for the team. Any national championship is a nice one to have, heck yeah."
The New York Yacht Club's Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex was first run in 1998, and takes place this year from July 13 to 16 out of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, in Newport. R.I. The biennial regatta, run at the apex of the summer sailing season, has established itself as one of the premier summer race weeks in the Northeast thanks to the attractive combination of great racing conditions off Newport and the superlative shoreside hospitality at the Club's waterfront Clubhouse overlooking Newport Harbor. Partners for the 2022 edition of Race Week at Newport include presenting sponsor Rolex and regatta sponsors Hammetts Hotel, Safe Harbor Marinas and Helly Hansen.
While New Wave opened and closed the 11-race series with race wins, it was the furthest thing from a wire-to-wire win. It wasn't until the first race on the final day, the ninth of the series, that the Florida-based team moved into the overall lead.
Liebel and his crew were remarkable in that way, recording all top-10 finishes, with one exception, a 20th in the seventh race.
What price a couple of seconds - 52 Super Series
In almost every respect, as a new venue to the 52 Super Series, Baiona and a first trip to Galicia proved a triumph. Flanking a tricky racing arena the lush, green hills and islands were a welcome contrast to the dry, dusty backdrops of the Mediterranean in summer.
There was a good range of wind conditions over a flatwater racetrack which was complex, dynamic and hard to read. A tactician's regatta. And ashore a fine historic yacht club that was always both friendly and welcoming. The TP52 owners and teams loved it.
If it maybe seemed like the old order resumed as Quantum Racing ran out winners ahead of Platoon and Phoenix, there were other signs that are encouraging for the future of the circuit which of course will only be determined by maintaining a congregation of passionate, happy owners.
Full article in the August issue of Seahorse
Once a 14er Always a 14er
How old are you?! Once a year the "golden oldies" of the International 14 fleet in England get together to show they can still do it, by competing in the Century Cup. The rules are simple, the combined age of helm and crew must be 100 years or more, and the older the combination the more favourable their handicap.
Taking place this year on 18th August at Itchenor Sailing Club on Chichester Harbour, it is just a week after the class World Championships in Germany, and it is hoped that some international teams will make the trip.
The single race – golden oldies can't handle more than one race a day – is followed by a dinner in the evening, when the tales of yesteryear flow thick and fast and the bull***t is knee deep around the bar.
Expected to be the oldest combo this year are Phil McDanel (70) still actively sailing 14s and John Roberson (75) who hasn't been in a 14 for about 40 years. Vast quantities of red wine may be needed at the dinner to dull the pain.
Those wishing to enter, or just come for the evening festivities, should contact Itchenor Sailing Club. -- John Roberson
Entropy Wins Historic Queen's Cup Trophy
Newport, Rhode Island, USA: Two hours after her Swan 42 Entropy crossed the finish line and won the 67th running of the historic Queen's Cup trophy, Patti Young still couldn't fully believe the results.
"I'm in shock," said Young, who navigated on the boat while her husband, Paul Hamilton, steered. "This is just as important to me as when I won the Mixter trophy for being the wining navigator in the St. David's Lighthouse division of the Newport Bermuda Race. I feel this it's just like that. And this was a team effort. Everybody on the boat contributed."
Entropy won the race with a corrected time of 2:52:50, just 19 seconds ahead of Victor Wild's Pac52 Fox, which finished second, and two minutes ahead of Tony Langley's TP52 Gladiator.
The Queen's Cup trophy (at right) was given to the New York Yacht Club by Queen Elizabeth II and officially presented to the Club by the British Ambassador in November 1953. It's a perpetual trophy that is raced for annually under the same conditions as the King's Cup that preceded it and was retired after the passing of King George VI in 1952.
The Queen's Cup is both one of the most-prized trophies in the New York Yacht Club and one of the most unique competitions in sailing. The rules specify that all entries must meet a certain minimum speed requirement and be helmed exclusively by an amateur sailor. The trophy is decided by one long buoy race, which always features some reaching legs, as opposed to the windward-leeward courses favored by most modern sailors. Finally there's a two-minute starting window, which enables teams to pick when they cross start racing. Provided a boat starts within two minutes of the starting signal, it's elasped-time clock starts only when it crosses the line.
Final top five:
ORC (ORC - 24 Boats)
1. Entropy, Club Swan 42, Patricia Young, Jamestown, RI, USA, 1
2. FOX, Botin 52, Victor Wild, San Diego, CA, USA, 2
3. Gladiator, TP52, Tony Langley, Retford, Nottinghamshire, GBR, 3
4. After Midnight, CTM41, Paul Jeka, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, USA, 4
5. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis, Jamestown, RI, USA, 5
Full results on YachtScoring.com
British Classic Week
Photo by Chris Brown. Click on image for photo gallery.
The 20th British Classic Week hosted by British Classic Yacht Club kicked off Saturday with champagne sailing in the Solent.
With 10-12knots of wind from the S/E, the race committee at the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) set two separate courses, which saw Classes 1 and 2 set off on a 17nm course around the cans, with Classes 3 and 4 sailing a separate 12nm course.
All class starts set off from the RYS inner line heading east with the flooding tide. As the wind funnelled down the Solent from the east it whipped up the sea state resulting in very choppy conditions and a wet ride for the crews on the rail.
Once over the line, Classes 1 and 2 raced upwind with the tide to SE Ryde Middle. Rounding the mark to port, poles were set, and spinnakers were hoisted for the downwind leg to Goodall Roofing. Then it was back upwind to Mother Bank. With the tide slackening off and the sea state calming, Classes 1 and 2 reached across the Solent to round Ancasta to port and downwind to South Bramble.
From South Bramble, the course took them back upwind in the consistent breeze to South Ryde Middle. Rounding the mark to starboard, the yachts hoisted their spinnakers for a third and final time for the run with the tide down to the Royal Yacht Squadron and the finish.
Meanwhile, Classes 3 and 4 raced a similar but shorter course from the RYS line upwind to Peel Bank.
The Rapid AC40 Begins To Emerge
Click on image for photo gallery.
With the news that the world's first AC40 is just weeks away from being shipped to its new base in Auckland, expectation is ramping up for this most exciting of classes. "We didn't hold back on the design," was how Dan Bernasconi, Chief Designer of Emirates Team New Zealand put it, "we took the IP of Te Rehutai (the Cup winning boat from AC36) and translated it into the best 40-footer we could create."
And as the first photos filter through from the build facility of this pocket-rocket that will be used in One Design mode for both the Women's and Youth events as well as being a testbed for the works teams, it's an exciting time for the America's Cup.
Very much off the boards of the Emirates Team New Zealand Technology & Design Department, the build of the yachts has been overseen by long-standing ETNZ team-member Richard Meacham whilst actually at the McConaghy factory in China, Kiwi Jamie Thompson has been the Project Manager running a dedicated team of builders and craftsmen working shifts around the clock to create this next-generation vessel.
Building the hulls away from New Zealand was always going to be controversial to some but Richard Meacham is clearly impressed with the work overseen by Mark Evans and project managed by fellow kiwi Jamie Thompson at McConaghy's: "We assessed the situation early on in the project, but it was clear that that with the scale and timeframe of the overall build of the fleet of AC40's there was a shortage of boat-building labour for the hull builds in New Zealand, so we had to look overseas. McConaghy's have been fantastic and very hard driving, but the key has been the Kiwi design and technology influence all the way through the process."
Indeed, the hull, foil arms, rudders, mechatronics, hydraulics, and programmable logic controllers have all come directly from ETNZ's design teams with the foil arms and rudders being created at ETNZ's build facility on Auckland's North Shore.
The boomless, double-skinned sails have been designed in collaboration with North Sails whilst the two-piece masts have been crafted by Southern Spars in Avondale, Auckland.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing will enter the team's second AC era in the next few weeks
In the next few weeks Alinghi, twice winners of the America's Cup, will start sailing after an absence of almost 15 years. Just over two years remain before most prestigious trophy in sailing is contested in Barcelona in September-October 2024.
Strict nationality rules mean that the all-Swiss sailing team, now rebadged as Alinghi Red Bull Racing, will be a radically different entity from that which ripped the heart out of the Kiwi nation in March 2003 on the Hauraki Gulf.
The six New Zealanders, compromising Olympic Gold medalist Russell Coutts and a crew known as the "Tight Five", who made up the core of the twice America's Cup winner's sailing crew, are now gone. They've been replaced by an all-Swiss team, chosen for its compatibility as much as its sailing ability. Yves Detrey (43) is the oldest of the current sailing squad and the only one remaining from the 2003 sailing team.
Nils Frei, now coach of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, was also a member of the victorious 2003 America's Cup winning team, along with Brad Butterworth, now a member of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Board.
Richard Gladwell's full article in Sail-World.com
Talbot Wilson
Journalist, photographer, bon vivant, superb dinner host and storyteller Talbot Wilson has passed away in Sarasota Florida. He'd been battling mesothelioma for while, and it suddenly took him according to his daughter Katie Roberts. Talbot served as the Bermuda Race press officer for nearly 3 decades. I met him in Bermuda many years ago at one of many Gold Cups he covered. Damn few things in life were better than joining Talbot for dinner at Portofino and hearing America's Cup tales well into the night. The America's Cup in Bermuda wouldn't have happened without Talbot's efforts and influence.
He and I shared a deep love for dogs, as I now have 7 in residence I've possibly matched him in simultaneous numbers.
I've not seen a formal obituary yet; I will certainly post one soon. Just letting our mutual friends and colleagues know that we've lost another of the old guard. Fare well Talbot. My condolences to his wife Virginia and their children and friends. -- David McCreary
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The Last Word
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