In This Issue
Shifty Northerly Breeze brings a new Lanzarote Challenge
Alinghi Red Bull Racing launches AC40
Your chance to own a piece of Zhik!
Hong Kong team set to line up on the 52 Super Series
Seven Event Line Up For The 2023 TF35 Trophy
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Rating Rules Shaped Our Boats
For the Record
Scandinavian Gold Cup and 5.5 Metre Worlds
Featured Charter: Sunfast 3200 - Hair Of The Dog
Featured Brokerage:
• • Elizabethan 30 - MOONSHOT
• • J 45 Elegance Yacht
• • Neo 570c
The Last Word: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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

Shifty Northerly Breeze brings a new Lanzarote Challenge
The first northerly breeze of the week brought flatter water and shifty, offshore wind conditions. Compared with previous big wave days at Lanzarote International Regatta, day six was a completely different challenge.

iQFOiL women
Over the four races in the iQFOiL women’s fleet, Pilar Lamadrid (ESP) put down the most consistent performance. It was a strong comeback after the Spanish rider had been forced to pull out of racing on the previous day.

iQFOiL men
In the iQFOiL men, Sam Sills started the day well but slipped in the later races. The British rider hangs on to the leader’s yellow bib by the skin of his teeth, as the reigning World Champion from Germany, Sebastian Koerdel, draws level with Sills on points.

Nacra 17
There’s a new leader in the Nacra 17 catamaran with the French team of Billy Besson and Noa Ancian moving to the top after three more races. -- Andy Rice

Nacra 17 (after 6 races)
1. Besson/Ancian (FRA), 13 points
2. Majdalani/ Bosco (ARG), 14 points
3. Wilkinson/ Dawson (NZL), 20 points

iQFOiL Women (after 6 races)
1. Tibi (ISR), 18 points
2. Kantor (ISR), 18 points
3. Spychakov (ISR), 27 points

iQFOiL Men (after 6 races)
1. Sills (GBR), 23 points
2. Koerdel (GER), 23 points
3. Goyard (FRA), 27 points

lanzarotesailingcenter.com

Alinghi Red Bull Racing launches new phase of preparations with the AC40
Barcelona: Smaller, simpler, but just as sleek and impressive as the AC75, Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s first AC40 was christened Monday by Lourdes Millet, Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s General Counsel. The boat had been due to arrive at the end of 2022 but was delayed to make changes to the structure following an assessment of damage to the Emirates Team New Zealand AC40 after a capsize. “It was worth the wait to receive the boat with the modifications,” said Diego Torrado, the AC40 Boat Captain.

Still located in a temporary base in Barcelona’s Port Vell until the final base becomes available this summer, the team has set up a tent to house the AC40 #1. “We are excited to be sailing our second boat. Next to the AC75, it looks like a toy, but with all the technology of its big sister,” said Arnaud Psarofaghis, Driving Group.

The 40-foot one-design - mandatory for all America’s Cup teams according to the Protocol - will be the boat used in the first two pre-regattas, and the Youth & Women’s America’s Cup events. For the team, it is a ticket to more training; the delivery of the AC40 marks the start of a new two-boat training phase (this will increase to three later in the year with the arrival of the second AC40). With the launch and maintenance likely to be much simpler, the sailors will be able to continue training on the AC40 when the AC75 is out of the water for maintenance.

The shore team is finalising preparations, and the AC40 maiden sail is scheduled over the next few days.

alinghiredbullracing.americascup.com

Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Your chance to own a piece of Zhik!
Zhik Innovative, technical water apparel brand Zhik has launched a crowd funding campaign giving everyday sailors and loyal customers the opportunity to become shareholders and invest in the company’s future success. Registration is now open following one of Zhik’s most successful years, with sales growing 40% in the financial year ending June 2022.

Zhik are inviting sailors, brand followers and water sport enthusiasts to register. Successful investors will receive VIP perks associated with their level of investment. See the introductory video below.

Triple Olympic medallist, Mat Belcher, who stepped up from the Zhik Board to take over as CEO in October 2022, is leading the equity crowd funding campaign to raise AUS $4m to drive future growth. “This campaign kicks off an exciting new chapter for Zhik. Our investment plan is centred around continuing to drive our digital capabilities and working closely with our extensive trade partners to expand into new territories and grow market share,” explains Mat. “Plus, we want to continue investing in developing more sustainable technical and lifestyle products, whilst expanding our range for the broader sailing, boating and watersports markets.”

To join Zhik’s journey to build innovative gear that drives the industry forward, discover more in this video with Mat Belcher and register your interest here.

zhik.com/crowdfunding

Zhik

Hong Kong team set to line up on the 52 Super Series
The 52 Super Series will welcome a new team to the world’s leading grand prix monohull circuit when Hong Kong based team Alpha Plus Racing debuts in the beautiful south of France when the 2023 season gets under way May 2-7 at the 52 Super Series Saint Tropez Sailing Week.

Their TP52 Alpha Plus which was built and launched as Luna Rossa in May 2018 and has been in refit with Guy Barron and a small techncial team in Sagunto near Valencia is due to be launched in April for test sailing just prior to the Saint Tropez curtain raiser.

The owners and crew have been very much inspired by the success and obvious enjoyment evident during 2021 and 2022 by Thailand’s Whitcraft family as Team Vayu. The owners are originally from China and now live in Hong Kong and have had boats for just over 10 years, always having the distant goal of racing a TP52 and then, when the time was right for them, joining the 52 Super Series.

After a Beneteau cruiser-racer they built a Ker 46+ and when the opportunity to buy Luna Rossa came up in January 2020 they seized the chance.

Some of the core members of the team started out on the Beneteau and have progressed together to this level so this is a close knit group which is looking forwards to their new challenge together. They have three Grade 3 professionals in the Alpha Plus crew but the main core of the crew are amateurs. But seasoned 52 SUPER SERIES pros will reinforce the line up in Saint Tropez and are understood to include Paul ‘Flipper’ Westlake, Craig Monk, Simon Daubney and Ian Walker.

52superseries.com

Seven Event Line Up For The 2023 TF35 Trophy
Click on image to enlarge.

Seahorse Magazine The 2023 TF35 Trophy season has been announced, with seven events scheduled, starting on Lake Geneva in Switzerland in May and finishing in foiling paradise on Lake Garda, Italy, in mid-September.

New to the circuit this season will be the TF35 Geneva Cup hosted by the prestigious Societe Nautique de Geneve over the 18-21 May. This will be the first time the fleet will have raced together after the long winter period, so the results for the Geneva Cup will be all to play for as the fleet gets back into TF35 mode.

Having recently celebrated their 150th anniversary the Societe Nautique de Geneve is home waters for TF35 defending champions and challengers to the 37th Americas Cup, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who have been training on their AC40 BoatZero since early February.

As ever, events will include relaxed hospitality ashore where owners and crew can mingle to recount race stories. TF35 class manager Bertrand Favre adds: "Going into our third season of racing, we are starting to see the field of competition even out as the teams get to grips with the TF35s. The racing is sure to be intense, and ashore the sailors have all been together for so long that it is like a family. We will have a new team joining the fleet for the 2023 season, so we look forward to welcoming some new faces on the water".

2023 TF35 Trophy Calendar
18 - 21 May - TF35 Geneva Cup, Switzerland
2 + 4 June - Realstone Cup for Leman hope, Switzerland
3 June - Geneve-Rolle-Geneve, Switzerland
10 June - Bol d'Or Mirabaud, Switzerland
22 - 25 June - TF35 Nyon Cup, Switzerland
31 August - 3 September - Malcesine TF35 Cup 1, Italy
14 - 17 September - Malcesine TF35 Cup 2, Italy

TF35.org

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

Seahorse Magazine

And the winner is... everyone!
Spectators and competitors alike gave the universal thumbs-up to Cowes Week's new Spectator app – but only after exhaustive refinement and testing to ensure it hit the ground glitch-free and operating at full capacity

One job one dream
Brilliant yacht racer, sailmaker and contented human being. Carol Cronin talks to Mike Toppa

Improving the odds
Got a once fast yacht? Danish designer Casper Nielsen could be the man to give it a few more years of competitive life... Oyvind Bordal

Elbows out
The Swedish Arcona yard invested heavily in design and development and have been fastidious in the execution to ensure that they enter the busy 50-footer market right at the very top

Focus on the sailing
Maurizio Cossutti is a world-renowned designer of some very fast racing yachts. Similarly his latest creation for the growing mid-size cruising yacht market was never going to be anything but an outstanding performer... Maurizio Cossutti

A class of their own
Now all these 40ish footers can compete fairly together within a new well thought out structure

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Rating Rules Shaped Our Boats
Early attempts at creating rating rules were based on the old British tonnage measurement system, which was created in the Pleistocene era to calculate the tonnage volume of large, commercial sailing ships. It gave the vessel’s carrying capacity in tons (at 35 cubic feet per ton) or, as some believe, in “tuns” (casks of wine). Sail area was not included, of course, nor were any credits given for less efficient rigs so, naturally, in the yacht-racing field the cutters predominated. Eventually, this rule was modified in 1854 as the Thames Measurement Rule: Tons = ((L-B) x B x .5B)/94. (L = length stempost to sternpost and B = maximum beam.) But rigs were still ignored, and the depth measurement was eliminated.

Moved Rudder
An easy way to beat such a rule is to shorten the keel measurement, and E. H. Bentall did this with the design of Jullanar in 1875 by moving the rudder radically far forward. (Remember, this moves the sternpost -eds.) Jullanar received a lower rating as a result, won more than her share of races, and was the first of the rule beaters. Because beam was such a large factor in the rule, another way to lower the rating was to make the yachts narrower and narrower. Jullanar was certainly slim, but the rule finally resulted in freaks like the Oona, with a beam 1/6 of her waterline length. Attempts were made to encourage greater beam by the 1881 Yacht Racing Association Rule, ((L + B)&sup2 x B)/1730, but the Shona, designed in 1884 by the famous G. L. Watson, was 42 feet overall, 5 feet 9 inches in beam, 6 feet 3 inches in draft, and carried 1,640 square feet of sail!

Small Yachts, by C. P. Kunhardt, published in 1891 and republished by WoodenBoat Publications, Brooklin, Maine, in 1985, shows a number of these narrow beamed, plank-on-edge cutters. One of my favorites is the Spankadillo (what a grand name!), which was 36 feet overall, 30 feet on the waterline, 5 feet in beam, and 6 feet 2 inches in draft. You may be wondering how these skinny cutters could stand up to their tremendous press of sail in a breeze, but the answer is simple: heavy displacement and lots of lead down deep. “Spanky” displaced 19,000 pounds and 12,300 pounds of that was lead - a 65-percent ballast ratio!

Full article in GoodOldBoat.com

... with a hat tip to SouthernWoodenboatSailing.com

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

Record: World Women's Windsurfer Record.
Venue: Luderitz. NAM.
Name: Heidi Ulrich. SUI
Equipment: Patrik Speed 37. Patrik Race 5.2
Dates: 25th November 2022.
Course length: 501 metres
Current: Nil
Start time: 10;19;22.43
Finish time: 10;19;43.12
Elapsed time: 20.69 seconds
Speed: 47.06 kts
Comments: Previous record: Zara Davies. GBR 2017. Luderitz. 46.49 kts

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
sailspeedrecords.com

WSSR

Entry open for 2023 Scandinavian Gold Cup and 5.5 Metre World Championship in Porto Cervo
Entries are officially opened for the 2023 Scandinavian Gold Cup and 5.5 Metre World Championship in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. The two events take place from 20-29 September.

Organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, it will be the first time the class has returned to Porto Cervo since 1984 and only the second time in the history of the class.

The Scandinavian Gold Cup is one of the oldest competitions in sailing, dating from 1919 and has been raced for by the 5.5 Metres since 1953, so 2023 marks the 70th year of competition for the 5.5 Metre Class, though it’s the 71st event (there were two events in 1986 and 2021 was cancelled).

The competition runs from 21-23 September in a unique format that only rewards race wins. After three races, only race winners proceed to the second stage and then the first to three wins takes the Cup. So, the event can be over after three races, but the maximum number of races is seven

The 5.5 Metre World Championship began in 1961, when the 5.5 Metre was still an Olympic class, and 2023 will be the 62nd championship. The 10-race series runs from 25-29 September.

In 2022 both the Scandinavian Gold Cup and the World Championship were won by Peter Morton’s Jean Genie (GBR 42, Elliot Hanson, Andrew Palfrey, Sam Haines). Morton has since sold GBR 42 and has a new boat GBR 43 in build to defend these titles this September.

2023 Scandinavian Gold Cup

2023 5.5 Metre World Championship

Featured Charter
Raceboats Only Sunfast 3200 - Hair Of The Dog. Located in the UK.

Built to win, the Sunfast 3200 provides effortless speed. Built using the latest technology to ensure the best strength-to-weight ratios, this boat is uniquely adapted to performance racing. The Sun Fast 3200 is particularly impressive while sailing off the wind. Available to Charter in the UK.

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

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

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
Raceboats Only 1973 Elizabethan 30 - Moonshot. 24,750 GBP. Located in Lymington, UK

MOONSHOT is a lovely example of an Elizabethan 30 cruiser-racer - designed by David Thomas. These yachts are regarded as fast and excellent cruising vessels that stand the test of time.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Ben Cooper
Berthon UK
Tel: 0044 (0)1590 679 222
E-Mail:

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Raceboats Only J 45 Elegance Yacht. POA EUR. Located in France.

Exciting 45’ offshore sailing yacht that may change all of your sailing plans. Leading edge hull design meets refined interior design to raise the bar on cruising comfort and performance like no J before it.

The association of J Boats’ American pragmatism and J Composites’ French flair is well documented, but somehow it has really taken on its full meaning in the J/45. It has taken over 3 years of collaborative work, mulling over every detail together in the constant search for the best possible balance.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
J Composites
1 Allee Titouan Lamazou
CS 20402 Olonne sur Mer
Les Sables d’Olonne
85109 Les Sables d’Olonne

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Raceboats Only Neo 570c

The neo 570c embodies the future of dual purpose yachts combining racing performance with high end design, styling and engineering. Carkeek Design.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Neo Yachts & Composites
S.P. 231 km 77,800 c/o Citta Mercato
70032 Bitonto (BA) - Italy
Office:+39 342.01.27.910
Commercial:+39 335.45.05.59
E-mail:
Pec:

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

The Last Word
...in respect of riches, no citizen shall ever be wealthy enough to buy another, and none poor enough to be forced to sell himself. -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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