In This Issue
• Route du Rhum will start on Wednesday
• 3rd ORC Congress Annual Meeting
• A modicum of relief - Oscar Navigation
• 52 Super Series 2023 season
• British star Alex Thomson in Saint Malo
• 18ft Skiffs Spring Championship, Race 4
• Cup Spy Nov 2-3: Swiss slowly taming their AC75
• Perfect cruising rally conditions for the start of ARC+ 2022
• For the Record
• "World on Water" Global Sailing Highlights
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Gunboat 72V
• • Carkeek 46 - "LOKI"
• • CF 520 IRC Racing Yacht
• The Last Word: John Bright

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

Route du Rhum will start on Wednesday
Postponed from 1302hrs (local) today (Sunday) due to forecasted stormy winds and huge seas expected in the English Channel, the re-scheduled start for the 12th edition of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe - the solo ocean race from Saint Malo to Guadeloupe - will now be on Wednesday 9th November at 1415hrs (local) with favourable weather forecast for the record 138 boat fleet.

Now, given the new start time, the skippers can plan ahead for the rescheduled start. At 1000hrs this morning (Sunday) at a press conference in Saint-Malo, the organiser OC Sport Pen Duick and the Race Director, Francis Le Goff officially announced that the 12th edition would start on Wednesday afternoon at 1415hrs. "At that point, the weather should be easier to deal with as there will be a 15 knot westerly wind," explained Le Goff. "The situation will be favourable and allow the boats to make their way out of the English Channel. The forecasts seem very reliable with a probability of more than 90%. The start of the race should be much less hazardous than if the start had gone ahead on Sunday."

The skippers taking part will attend a weather briefing on the day before the start. The 38 IMOCAs and eight Ocean Fifty boats will leave the docks in Saint-Malo on Tuesday afternoon (times to be announced). The Class40 and Rhum Mono and Rhum Multi categories will make their way through the locks on Wednesday morning. The arrangements will be similar to those in place on Friday for the Ultim 32/23 with stands in place allowing the public to watch the event.

www.routedurhum.com/en

3rd ORC Congress Annual Meeting looks forward to 2023 and beyond
Montecatini, Italy -- At the 53rd meeting of the ORC Congress today representatives from 46 nations and World Sailing met to approve recommended improvements to the ORC rating system, the world's largest, that has issued nearly 14,000 certificates for monohulls, multihulls, and Superyachts this year to date in 2022.

Reports and recommended improvements were made from the International Technical Committee (ITC), the Race Management, Rating Officers, Measurement, Offshore Classes and Events, Promotion and Development and Management Committees based on 40 submissions from 10 nations. Among the numerous approved innovations are the following:

- an improved Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) that uses three key changes to the force model for 2023:

(1) after two years of research, a Neural Network-based Residuary Resistance force model will be now be used that has been validated through a performance analysis made of a diverse test fleet of designs
(2) the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based aerodynamic de-powering model has been improved so that there is no longer any subjective effects (eg, default righting moment) that affect the handicap polars
(3) with help from the ITC's Research Associates group of nine prominent sailors, designers and sail designers, the sail force coefficients of Headsails set Flying (HSF's) have been adjusted to more accurately match their rated and actual performance

Full report: orc.org

A modicum of relief - Oscar Navigation
A collision with a large partially submerged object figures high on the oceanic racer's list of fears. Never more so than today when we have grown almost blasé about racing along at more than 30 knots... at night

"Game changer" is a phrase used far too often. New developments and refinements can indeed change the game in offshore sailing, pushing the limits in performance to new heights. Yet rarely is there a new product that approaches an ongoing problem in such a fundamentally new way that it rises to be truly worthy of this term. It's a pleasure to describe herein the Oscar system because for offshore sailors this is a revolution in imaging that will not only boost performance but likely save lives as well.

OSCAR stands for Optical System for Cognition and Ranging, and is the world's first optical-based system that can not only identify the range and bearing to targets in front of the vessel, but also, through its Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, develop the cognitive ability to recognise what these targets are as well.

Full article in the November issue of Seahorse

St Tropez, France will host season opener for five regatta 52 Super Series 2023 season
Following a very successful 2022 season, celebrating 10 years since the world's leading grand prix monohull circuit started in Barcelona in 2012, the 52 Super Series again follows the preferences of its passionate, committed owners in 2023 with an itinerary which is a mix of popular proven locations which offer a good variety of racing conditions plus one exciting new venue which, though well known, has never hosted the 52 Super Series before.

So the 2023 season will open in Saint Tropez in very early May with the fleet set to compete in France for the first time. For the first time It will be a 'home' regatta for the Petithugeunins' Paprec team which have raced on the circuit since 2012. After a short hiatus they rejoined the action in October this year at Barcelona Sailing Week with a newer generation boat.

The second regatta of the five scheduled for 2023 starts late May and marks are return to Scarlino in Tuscany, Italy for the fourth time.

Over the first week in July the 52 SUPER SERIES returns to Menorca where the open race course area is always regarded as a challenge by the team afterguards whilst ashore in the beautiful, historic city a warm welcome awaits. The fleet will compete for the Royal Cup here.

August is going to be all about Barcelona and the Rolex TP52 World Championships where the vibrant America's Cup city will be in full swing and the Garbi sea breeze is usually quite reliable.

And the demanding schedule - one event every month – concludes in Mallorca in September when Puerto Portals hosts the season's grand finale on the Bay of Palma.

The 2022 season finished with ten TP52s racing in Barcelona and current indications are that should be the baseline fleet size in 2023.

52superseries.com

Back in the 'hood... British star Alex Thomson in Saint Malo at Route du Rhum start
The Route du Rhum carries a frustrating memory for British solo racer Alex Thomson. With a comfortable lead, on course for his first ever IMOCA major ocean race win, he slept through his electric shock watch alarm and his IMOCA hit the island of Basse Terre. A consequent 24 hours penalty for using he engine to get off the rocks dropped Thomson to third and handed victory to Paul Meilhat.

After announcing a break from ocean racing to focus fully on family life and help other emerging teams, Thomson is back today in Saint Malo, relaxed, happy and wearing the colours of Canada Ocean Racing, the outfit which his Alex Thomson Racing are mentoring towards the 2028 Vendée Globe.

"It is fantastic to be back." Thomson volunteers, "Obviously there is a big part of me wants to be back doing this. But it is a pleasure to be back and see everyone and this is the first race start I have been to since the Vendée Globe. I have had a proper break."

The IMOCA fleet has grown almost twofold since the 2018 race - his only Route du Rhum - when there were 20 boats on the start line. He concurs that many of the new, youngest IMOCAs might not make the finish line.

"Thirty eight IMOCAs is insane. What a fleet. Obviously APIVIA, Charlie Dalin is favourite. For all the new boats it is really touch and go if they even make it to the other side as they have not done the miles. Most people will take it quite carefully. I can imagine many going far to the north or even to the west. I think a few new boats will get there. I think Jérémie Beyou will make it and do well, he has Franck Cammas in his camp and that is one of the smartest moves ever."

www.alexthomsonracing.com

18ft Skiffs Spring Championship, Race 4
Yandoo leads the series at the half way mark. Click on image for photo gallery.

Sydney Harbour: The Noakes Youth team of Tom Cunich, George Richardson and Jed Cruikshank took full advantage of the 3-buoys handicap system to come from behind over the final lap of the course and take out Race 4 of the 18 footer Spring Championship on Sydney Harbour today.

Noakes Youth defeated Smeg (Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge and Tom Anderson) by 1m1s with the early race leader Ilve (Cam Gundy, John Walton and Brendon Jenkins) a further 18s back in third place.

The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Alex Marinelli) came home in fourth place, followed by Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price) and 18 Footers Bar & Restaurant (Pedro Vozone).

Yandoo (John Winning) was well placed midway through the race but was relegated back into eighth place at the finish, but despite the incident still manages to retain the series lead, on 19 points, just ahead of The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines on 22 points.

Ilve is third on the overall points table with a total of 24 points, followed by Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Jim Colley) on 27, Smeg on 28 and today's winner Noakes Youth on 31 points.

Almost the entire fleet elected to go with the smaller #2 rig with the expectation of a freshening NE wind, but when the wind failed to reach those expectations it played more into the hands of Ilve, which was carrying her #1 rig.

Races 5 and 6 of the Spring Championship, for the Chris Webb Memorial Trophy, will be sailed next Sunday (November 13). -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

www.18footers.com

Cup Spy Nov 2-3: Swiss slowly taming their AC75
What happened in the Cup - November 2-3, 2022:

Luna Rossa sailed LEQ12 off Sardinia, and made good progress when the breeze was in - they're looking forward to the Mistral due this weekend.

American Magic sailed the AC75 off Pensacola, with Tom Slingsby on the helm and cyclors back in operation. Winds are still light and the water flat in Florida.

INEOS Britannia are yet to sail their newly launched LEQ12 from Mallorca

Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 from Barcelona - with coach Dean Barker on board, they are still going up a very steep learning curve.

Emirates Team New Zealand has not sailed for the last two days.

America's Cup Event announced the signing of a major documentary deal for a "Drive to Survive" unscripted documentary for the 2024 Cup.

Richard Gladwell's full report in Sail-World.com

Perfect cruising rally conditions for the start of ARC+ 2022
ARC+ 2022, World Cruising Club's two-stage transatlantic rally to Grenada, set sail today, 6 November, from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with 90 boats spirited away by the gentle tradewinds bound for Mindelo Marina, Cape Verde for the first leg of their ocean adventure. Over 400 crew are taking part in this year's rally onboard boats large and small, old and new, and each felt a mix of excitement and anticipation as their ocean crossing began.

On the docks of Las Palmas Marina this morning, lines were slipped and the marina slowly emptied as the diverse fleet headed out to the starting area off the Avenue Maritima on Gran Canaria's north-east coast. From the smallest boat on the ARC+ 2022 start line, Ciel Bleu (GBR) a Fountaine Pajot Maldives 32, to the biggest Oyster 675 Alika (GBR), it is the largest and most diverse fleet to be leaving Las Palmas de Gran Canaria since the event began in 2013. Celebrating its 10th edition this year, the two-stage Atlantic crossing has once again proved popular with adventurous families, with 36 children sailing on 18 different boats, the youngest being Herman Habenicht on Ballerina (SWE) aged just 3 years old. The youngest skipper, Ronja Dörnfeld is aged 25 and one of four female skippers to set off on ARC+ 2022 today.

The fleet is now on their way to Mindelo, on 865NM to the southwest of Gran Canaria. The weather forecast suggests north-easterly trade winds building through the passage enabling the boats to make good mileage, and the majority of the fleet are expected to arrive at Mindelo Marina, in Cape Verde over Friday 11 and Saturday 12 November.

Fleet viewer

www.worldcruising.com

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

Records claimed:. Around the Isle of Wight: Women. Singlehanded. 60 ft.
Yacht: "Medallia" IMOCA 60
Name: Pip Hare. GBR
Dates:.21st October 2022
Start time: 04;42;50 UTC on 21/10/22
Finish time: 09;31;28 UTC on 21/10/22
Elapsed time: 4 hours 48 minutes and 38 seconds
Course length: 50 NM
Average speed: 10.39 kt

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
sailspeedrecords.com

"World on Water" November 04.22 Global Sailing Highlights
Last week the British America's Cup challengers In-eos Britannia, launched their 40 foot test boat, t6, and forgive us, but some have likened it to the tesla truck, They are testing in Palma Mallorca.

This is your weekly Sailing global highlights show, the World on Water November 04, 2022.

If the 2021 edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race offered once in a lifetime conditions that propelled the fleet to enthralling speeds and course records, this year's race proved a marked contrast. In the face of brutally light winds, crews demonstrated significant patience and perseverance in maximising every opportunity to maintain momentum.

Meanwhile the Italian challengers had a interesting day on the water in Cagliari Sardinia as they turned turtle while testing.

www.boatson.tv

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The Last Word
He is a self-made man and worships his creator. -- John Bright

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