In This Issue
• RORC Transatlantic: First Monohulls Expected On Day 10
• The Ocean Race: Opening day brings challenges
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• New Zealand Wins SailGP Singapore
• The Ocean Race - Final thoughts before setting off
• 18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 4
• 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 European Championship
• IRC Race Management guidelines updated
• Women's World Match Racing Tour Announces 2023 Season
• Featured Charter: Aragon - Maarten 72
• Featured Brokerage:
• • SW72 Far Out
• • McConaghy MC62
• • HH44 - NEW BOAT
• The Last Word: Fyodor Dostoevsky

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

RORC Transatlantic: First Monohulls Expected On Day 10
Three teams are in the shoot-out for Monohull Line Honours and the IMA Transatlantic Trophy. The exquisite 19th century sterling silver trophy will be presented in Grenada by the International Maxi Association Secretary General, Andrew McIrvine. The winner is expected tomorrow Tuesday 17th January 2023.

Contenders are: Volvo 70 I Love Poland (POL), skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski, IMOCA Canada Ocean Racing (CAN), raced Two-Handed by Scott Shawyer and Alan Roberts, and the Swan 115 Jasi (SWE), skippered by Toby Clark.

I love Poland is firmly in pole position for Monohull Line Honours and predicted to complete the race around midday (UTC) on Tuesday 17th January. At their current speed, I Love Poland is over a day faster than their elapsed time in last year's race. In 2022, I Love Poland was second over the line to the 100ft Supermaxi Comanche. I Love Poland currently has a 144nm lead, but the all-Polish team is taking nothing from granted, as Navigator Konrad Lipski commented by satellite from on board on day seven.

IMOCA Canada Ocean Racing (CAN) has kept the same speed as I Love Poland over the last 24 hours. This is an impressive performance as Canada Ocean Racing is competing Two-Handed with Scott Shawyer and Alan Roberts.

Swan 115 Jasi (SWE), skippered by Toby Clark is positioned close to the rhumb line and has been making significant gains on their final approach to Grenada. Jasi is 156 miles behind I Love Poland and unlikely to take Monohull Line Honours, but a battle with Canada Ocean Racing is playing out in the final stretch to the finish outside Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina. Jasi is taking a direct route to Grenada with a better wind angle than I Love Poland and Canada Ocean Racing. -- Louay Habib / RORC

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

The Ocean Race: Opening day brings challenges
The opening 24 hours has been challenging, but not unexpected. After running into a quiet spell overnight, during which both fleets concertinaed the forecast has played out its threat with strong winds and big seas sweeping across the Alboran Sea.

In the IMOCA fleet, after an impressively dominant performance from Biotherm (FRA) Paul Meilhat's team found themselves trapped in very light winds, unable to keep pace with competitors that had taken alternative routes.

By the morning, 11th Hour Racing Team was leading the field as Charlie Enright's crew hugged the Spanish coastline to stay in the flatter water.

in the increased wind pressure, conditions were becoming extreme. Back at race control in Alicante, where all the competitors' data is monitored and logged 24 hours a day, the American flagged team and Kevin Escoffier's Holcim PRB (SUI) were sailing upwind at 14knots in 40-knots of wind.

Rankings at 1600 GMT - 16 January 2023

IMOCA
1. 11th Hour Racing Team, 1652 miles to finish
2. Team Holcim-PRB, 2.3 miles to leader
3. GUYOT environnement - Team Europe, 18.1 miles to leader
4. Team Malizia, 20.4 miles to leader
5. Biotherm, 24.9 miles to leader

VO65
1. Ambersail 2
2. WindWhisper Racing
3. Mirpuri Foundation Race Team
4. Team JAJO
5. Austrian Ocean Race - Team Genova
6. Viva Mexico, suspended racing

theoceanrace.com

Seahorse January 2023
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Better and better
With new formats and fresh features added for 2023, the next Tre Golfi Sailing Week promises to be a vintage edition of this classic regatta

With its mix of competitive offshore and inshore racing held in a gorgeous springtime Mediterranean setting, coupled with a deep heritage in event management excellence now in its 68th year, Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia’s Tre Golfi Sailing Week sponsored by Rolex is one of the best events in the race week genre.

A broader view
More speed but also more space, more payload and better handling… as the booming multihull market continues to evolve, Outremer keeps on refining its winning formula

Ask the movers and shakers in the design world what defines performance and many will say that it is not always about straight-line speed. Instead, handling frequently comes top of the list. Multihull builder Outremer would be among the first to agree.

Sailor of the Month
Champion racer vs champion match racer

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New Zealand Wins SailGP Singapore
New Zealand battled back from a four point pre-event penalty to claim dominating victory over Denmark and Australia on the final day of racing in Singapore.

The Kiwis left Nicolai Sehested's Denmark and Tom Slingsby's Australia trailing in their wake and wowed crowds with a 100% fly time, an average speed of 53 km/h and top speed of 77.1 km/h.

It marks the third event win of the season for the team, which started the event with -4 points after a collision with the United States in practice.

A bad maneuver by Aussies on the third leg of the race sent them to the back of the pack before Denmark crashed into the water at Gate 3 - allowing the Kiwis to extend their lead to over 100m.

Nevertheless, Australia's third place finish marks another relentless performance by the Championship leaders, especially considering the loss of wing trimmer Kyle Langford to injury.

Denmark's second place finish will be a welcome result for Sehested's crew, which last finished on the podium at the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix last August.

Fleet racing
Elsewhere, the second day of racing saw a vastly improved showing by Sebastien Schneiter's young Swiss crew, which picked up its first win in the day's opening race and followed it with a second place finish in the final fleet race. The crew, which benefited from excellent tactical decisions from strategist Nathan Outteridge, missed out on its first place in a Final by just two points.

The nine-strong fleet will next meet at the Australia Sail Grand Prix on February 18-19.

Championship Leaderboard

sailgp.com

The Ocean Race - Final thoughts before setting off
Faced with some serious weather on the opening stage of Leg 1 of The Ocean Race and with the pressure of expectation much on their minds, the day to get out there and do it finally came on 15 January 2023 as teams counted down the minutes before the start of the 1,900nm leg to Cabo Verde.

Matt Sheahan was on the dock in Alicante and talked to some of the key players shortly before the start of the 32,000mile race to find out their last thoughts on what lay ahead.

planetsail.co.uk

18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 4
Shaw & Partners continues to show consistent form. Click on image for photo gallery.

The Andoo 18ft Skiff team of John Winning Jr., Seve Jarvin and Matt Stenta, wrapped up the 2022-23 NSW 18ft Skiff Championship after finishing in third place in today's action-packed Race 4 of the title on Sydney Harbour.

With two wins, a second placing and today's third place, Andoo has a total of seven points from the four races. Each team can discard its worst result and even if Andoo fails to finish next week can finish with her present score.

Even if her nearest rivals, today's winner Smeg and Yandoo awin the final race next Sunday their final points will not be good enough to take the title away from Andoo.

Today's race produced some of the best action so far this season and the result was up-for-grabs around the entire three laps of the North-East course.

At the finish, the powerful Smeg team of Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge and Mike McKensey won the race by 54s from Lazarus (Marcus Ashley-Jones, Rob Bell and Jeronimo Harrison) with Andoo a further 51s back in third place.

Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Steve Thomas) came home in fourth place ahead of Balmain Slake (Henry Larkings), Burrawang-Young Henrys (Brett Van Munster), The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Alex Marinelli), Yandoo (John Winning) and Birkenhead Point Marina (Kirk Mitchell).

NET progress pointscores after today's race are: Andoo on 4 points, Yandoo and Smeg on 9 points, Shaw & Partners Financial Services on 10, Lazarus on 11 and Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price) and Balmain Slake both on 19 points.

Race 5 of the NSW Championship, the final race of the championship, will be sailed next Sunday (January 22). -- Frank Quealey Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

18footers.com

49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 European Championship
The 49er and Nacra 17 classes are pleased to announce the 2024 European Championship of 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 will be held in La Grande Motte, France just before the Paris Olympics. The race days are May 7-12 and will surely be a final selection regatta for some nations selecting teams for the 2024 Olympics.

The fleet can expect typical Mediterranean sailing conditions, just like the Olympic venue as a final tune-up regatta prior to the games. The Nacra 17 class held its World Championship in La Grande Motte in 2017, and this venue is one of the French fleets home training venues in the foiling cat. The town has a long history of hosting sailing championships and many local capabilities for running regattas.

The Yacht Club de la Grande Motte will be the official host club and final racing will occur off the town sea front of the town square for spectators to be part of the action.

To follow the event sign up to our newsletter at 49er.org/subscribe or go to the regatta website, 49er.org/event/2024-european-championship/

IRC Race Management guidelines updated
The IRC rating Race Management Guidelines offer advice to event organisers for racing under IRC Rules. They include guidance and suggestions that a race organiser may wish to consider and give suitable wording that may be used in a Notice of Race, while allowing the freedom for these to be tailored to specific circumstances or the local fleet.

Subjects covered by the guidelines include crew limitations and ways to encourage youth and female crews, different ways to split your fleet into appropriate classes, protest limits, certificate validity and rating changes. The guidelines have recently been updated with the addition of the new secondary certificate and the subsequent importance of setting a suitable rating deadline, and suggestions for events that wish to allow autopilots.

If you organise IRC racing, whether a local regatta or an international offshore event, we encourage you to read the updated document and related information on the IRC website:

ircrating.org/irc-racing/race-management/

Women's World Match Racing Tour Announces 2023 Season
The Women's World Match Racing Tour today announced the line-up of four events for its 2023 season including San Francisco, Annapolis, Le Havre, and Copenhagen. The Tour is the world's only professional sailing series for women designed to promote and grow female participation in professional sailing.

Following the successful first season for the women's tour launched last year, the 2023 season will kick off in April at the inaugural Casa Vela Cup at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco from 24 - 28 April. Teams will compete in matched J/22 boats over 4 days racing directly in front of the Club with its impressive backdrop of San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.

Straight after San Francisco, teams will head to the US East Coast for Stage 2 of the Tour and the return of the popular Santa Maria Cup at Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD from 30 April – 4 May. The Santa Maria Cup has been a premier match racing event for women for over 20 years. After a ten-year hiatus, it now makes its long-awaited comeback as part of the WWMRT. The event will be sailed in J/22s on the Severn River in Annapolis.

The Tour will then head to Europe for the Normandy Match Cup in Le Havre, France from 26-29 May, sailed in First 7.5 keelboats. Last year's Normandy event was won by defending champion Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink Normandy Elite Team who went on to win the overall 2022 Women's World Match Racing Tour title at the Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour will see the teams return to Skovshoved Harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark from 21-24 Sept for the second edition of the KDY Women's Match Race Denmark hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club.

womenswmrt.com

Featured Charter
Aragon - Maarten 72. Located in the Mediterranean.

Sailing yacht Aragon is the perfect choice for competitively sailing in offshore/inshore racing while retaining comfort to go cruising or day sailing. The Reichel Pugh 72 was commissioned by a performance-oriented owner with a remarkable family history of racing lineage.

Aragon was the overall winner of the 2016 RORC TransAtlantic Race.

Yachting Developments completed the yacht in February 2006, and the boat was then shipped to Europe. She has been racing competitively ever since. The owners who have maintained and upgraded her to the highest levels.

Available for charter in the Mediterranean.

For full details please visit bit.ly/3Rk5WTd

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Lucy Jackson - LV Yachting
Call: +44 (0) 20 3920 6261
Email:
lvyachting.com

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
1999 SW72 Far Out. 775000 EUR. Located in Mahon, Menorca, Spain.

Far Out is a modern classic sailing yacht, designed and built to be strong, fast and ready for the toughest sea conditions. The seventh example of the successful Southern Wind 72 mini-series, she was delivered in 1999 and has undergone constant upgrades and refits.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Southern Wind Brokerage
Ph. (+39) 010 570 4035

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McConaghy MC62.

MC62 multihull - PERFORMANCE SAILING MEETS STYLISH LIVING

This range has been designed using a group of experienced owners and sailors (who between them have spent decades sailing and cruising multihulls), a highly experienced design and engineering team, and McConaghy’s 50 years of building yachts for the most demanding customers and conditions.

The MC62’s wide saloon offers a versatile and spacious living area that, with large windows running the full length of the hulls and retractable glass doors to aft, is exceptionally light and provides fantastic views. The galley is arranged open-plan to this area which creates an apartment-like feel and is particularly well suited to socialising.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

Tel: +852 5501 6001
mcconaghyboats.com

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HH44 - NEW BOAT

The HH44 includes all the features that set HH Catamarans apart, excellent sailing performance, robust carbon fiber construction, exquisite interior fit and finish, and state-of-the-art marine equipment. Every line and curve has been carefully considered and executed to create the most beautiful 44ft cruising catamaran on the planet.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Hudson Yacht & Marine

+1 864-324-7825
+1 401-924-4566

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

The Last Word
The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. -- Fyodor Dostoevsky

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