In This Issue
• Wild start to Leg 3 from Cape Town
• Inaugural RORC Nelson's Cup Series decided
• Globe40... start of the final leg towards Lorient
• Your chance to own a piece of Zhik!
• 18ft Skiffs Club Championship, Race 15
• Ireland's Leading Creator Of One-Design Racers
• Building on success - Magenta Project
• Young and exciting talent recognised at YJA Awards
• Vale Syd Fischer AM OBE
• Featured Brokerage:
• • HH42 - INO XXX
• • J 45 Elegance Yacht
• • Gunboat 80
• The Last Word: Richard Feynman

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

Wild start to Leg 3 from Cape Town
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

It was an extraordinary 'stop-go' type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical mile adventure towards Itajaí in Brazil.

The race started with two and a half laps of an inshore course to give the crowds lining the Cape Town shore an opportunity to marvel at these hydrofoiling boats before they headed out into the big blue yonder of the Southern Ocean. It wasn't long before Paul Meilhat's team found 25 knots of wind gusting around the edge of Table Mountain and his Biotherm team shot away into an impressive lead as the rest of the fleet drifted across the start line well after the start had opened.

Biotherm then had a problem and it was clear the team was struggling to control its sails. A radio call to the Race Committee saw the team suspend racing to return to port to make repairs.

Then it was 11th Hour Racing Team who were the next to suspend racing with damage to a batten. But the American team elected to stay out at sea to make repairs and serve the minimum two-hour period.

theoceanrace.com

Inaugural RORC Nelson's Cup Series decided
Results are now in for the first-ever Royal Ocean Racing Club Nelson's Cup Series. Niklas Zennstrom's CF520 Ran (SWE) was the overall winner and OnDeck's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno was the winner of IRC Two.

The six-race regatta, including the RORC Caribbean 600 offshore race is the first to be run by the RORC, with the support of the Antigua Yacht Club. Teams from all over the world took part including: Antigua, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States.

Two days of windward leeward racing in moderate trade winds was followed by a lay day before the teams were back in action for a high-velocity Antigua 360 Race (about 50-miles around Antigua). After a two-day break, the sixth and final race of the Nelson's Cup Series was the RORC Caribbean 600. Daily informal prize givings at the Antigua Yacht Club gave the teams the opportunity to rub shoulders with the competition.

The top three overall were racing in IRC One. Niklas Zennstrom's CF520 Ran (SWE) was the overall winner of the RORC Nelson's Cup by a single point from Frederic Puzin's Ker 46 Daguet 3 - Corum (FRA). Third overall was RORC Vice Commodore Eric de Turckheim's NMD54 Teasing Machine (FRA).

In IRC Two, the winner was decided by the narrowest of margins. OnDeck's Farr 65 Spirit of Juno (ANT), skippered by David Hanks won on countback from Marie Tabarly's 1973 ketch Pen Duick VI (FRA). Szymon Kuczynski's Figaro Hultaj (POL) was third. -- Louay Habib

2024 RORC Nelson's Cup Series:
13 February - Inshore Races
14 February - Inshore Races
16 February - Antigua 360 Race
19 February - Start RORC Caribbean 600
23 February - Final Prize Giving

caribbean600.rorc.org

Globe40... start of the final leg towards Lorient
Start of the last leg of the Globe40 towards Lorient! The skippers give us their impressions before this return transatlantic which promises to be decisive for the overall ranking of this first edition...

globe40.com

Your chance to own a piece of 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

18ft Skiffs Club Championship, Race 15
Great victory for Rag & Famish Hotel. Click on image for photo gallery.

The Andoo team of John Winning Jr, Seve Jarvin and Sam Newton became the Australian 18 Footers League 2022-23 club champions despite Seve and Sam being unable to contest Race 15 (the last race) of the Club Championship with John Jr on Sydney Harbour today.

The team will now go into the Winning Group 73rd JJ Giltinan World 18 footer Championship as likely favourites to retain the title the skiff won last year, but the vastly improved form of the Rag & Famish Hotel team is beginning to pose a major challenge

In today's race, which was sailed in a fluctuating North-East wind breeze, Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price Josh McKnight and Harry Hall) showed impressive form to defeat Yandoo (John Winning, Fang Warren and Josh Porebski) by 1m40s with early race leader Big Pete (Sean Langman, Ed Powys and Rhys Mara) a further 9s back in third place.

Smeg (Michael Coxon) finished in fourth place, followed by Australian champion Finport Finance (Keagan York) and Andoo (John Winning Jr)

Final pointcores in the 2022-23 club championship are: Andoo on 49 points, followed by Yandoo on 56, Smeg 58, Rag & Famish Hotel 74, Lazarus (Marcus Ashley-Jones) 76 and Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Jim Colley/Dave O'Connor) on 99.

With just one more race to determine the winner of the Season Point Score series (to be sailed in conjunction with the Queen of the Harbour race on March 19, Burrawang-Young Henrys leads the competition on 113 points, followed by The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines on 119.5, Yandoo on 125, Smeg 140, Lazarus 143 and Andoo on 151.

NOTE: The Winning Group 73rd JJ Giltinan World 18 footer Championship will be sailed on Sydney Harbour from March 4-12. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

18footers.com

Ireland's Leading Creator Of One-Design Racers Was The Very Scottish Alfred Mylne
Alfred Mylne lives anew. The modern build classic-style schooner Naema is a contemporary amalgamation of design concepts used by Alfred Mylne in two of his large schooners We're accustomed to thinking of successful and long-lived local One-Design keelboat classes as being a distinctive feature of Irish sailing. Thus we tend to overlook the fact that one particular Scottish designer created more of these Irish boats than anyone else. But as a majestic new tome about the life and works of Alfred Mylne (1872-1951) reminds us, this talented visualiser of enduring timber-built classics and Irish One-Designs was Scottish to the core. Yet while we might like to think of him as being energetic in the Irish One-Design cause, most of the creativity emanating from his Glasgow design office was devoted to ensuring a steady stream of work - preferably with substantial one-off vessels - for his company's boatyard, which was run in conjunction with his brother Charles on the accessible island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde.

In today's world of classics in the international sailing scene, Mylne is mainly renowned for decades-long production of elegantly distinctive and sometimes very large sailing yachts, the survivors now in an exquisitely restored or even virtually re-built condition. So inevitably this mega-book, by Alfred Mylne archive-holder and company owner David Gray and journalist Neil Lyndon - with input from sailing historians including Clare McComb - is primarily aimed at the current proud owners of the great Mylne classics which still sail the sea. -- WM Nixon

WM Nixon's full article in Afloat magazine

Building on success - Magenta Project
The number of female skippers in the latest Rhum has raised the bar for shorthanded oceanic events. No one has yet matched the late Florence Arthaud's overall win in 1990 but the queue in her mirrors is growing...

In the most recent Route du Rhum there were seven female skippers, four of them in the Imoca class. Of the four female Imoca skippers in this iconic solo ocean race, three finished in the top half of their fleet, with two finishing in top 10.

The Imoca class has proven time and time again that a woman can compete well against a man - and win, in the case of Ellen MacArthur's record-setting 2002 Route du Rhum. If a solo woman can handle such a beast of a machine and perform well, why are women absent from other classes? Is it the design of the boats that is not conducive for female physique or abilities, or is it that the community in certain classes is not welcoming to women?

Full article in the March issue of Seahorse

Young and exciting talent recognised at YJA Awards
The 2022 YJA Yachtsman of the Year and YJA Young Sailor of the Year trophies, regarded as the most prestigious awards in British boating, were awarded on the Main Stage at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show on Saturday afternoon.

The Yachting Journalists' Association Chairman Clifford Webb, Vice-Chairman Mark Jardine and Committee Member Lou Johnson were delighted to be joined on stage by Mike McIntyre, gold medallist in the Star class at the 1988 Olympics, as well as daughter Eilidh, gold medallist in the Women's 470 class at the 2020 Olympics, to present the awards.

First up was the YJA Young Sailor of the Year award, with Eilidh McIntyre opening the envelope to announce the winner as 17-year-old Charlie Dixon, who dominated the Youth Worlds in the Hague in the iQFoil windsurfing discipline with eight wins from eleven races, as well as wins at the International Games on Lake Garda, and the under-19 Worlds at Lake Silvaplana.

Next up was the YJA Yachtsman of the Year, with Mike McIntyre coming on to the main stage to present the trophy, which was first awarded in 1955 and includes legends of the sport amongst its recipients. The crowd cheered as he announced Hattie Rogers as the youngest-ever winner of the trophy. Hattie, described as 'the face of the foiling generation' by esteemed sailing journalist Magnus Wheatley, won the SailGP WASZP INSPIRE Grand Final in San Francisco and is an integral part of the Athena Pathway Programme in the ETF26 Series.

YJA.world

Vale Syd Fischer AM OBE
Yachting legend Syd Fischer passed away on Tuesday afternoon, he was 95.

Born 4 March, 1927, Fischer stood head and shoulders above the rest. His work life revolved around the building industry, property development and the marine industry, including Sydney City Marine, these days managed by grandson Brenton Fischer. He was hands-on in every aspect of his businesses and in sport.

"Tough as nails", was how business and sailing associates described Fischer "tough, but fair", Fischer would respond. The 'Fischer school of hard knocks', was another expression he enjoyed hearing. This comes from his life lessons - 'get a good deal,' was among them. A polarising figure, you could not help but respect and admire him.

Since turning 80 in 2007, he constantly proclaimed with a big grin, "I've mellowed," and indeed he had. He was a very different Syd to the one I worked for at four America's Cups, starting in 1986. However, the tough side still appeared on occasions…

Awarded an OBE in 1971 for multiple sporting achievements in first grade football, surf lifesaving (boat captain) and sailing, Fischer was inducted into the NSW Sports Hall of Fame in 2002-03 for these achievements.

In the 2017 Queens Birthday honours list, was made Member (AM) in the General Division for significant service to sailing as a yachtsman and international competitor and as a mentor to young sailors. They weren't the only ones to benefit, others employed by him, me included, were given incredible opportunities we would not have had otherwise.

More recognition came when he was named Australian Yachtsman of the year 1971/72 and again in 1992/93; Ocean Racer of the Year 1993, 1996, 2002, 2008 and Veteran Ocean Racer of the Year in 2007, 2012; Award for Services to Yachting 2003/03; Lifetime Achievement award at Australian Yachting Awards 2013. He was proud to receive the President's Award at the 2014 Australian Yachting Awards from Matt Allen.

Fischer's most cherished though, came with the announcement in March 2017 that he was to be inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame, the ceremony finally held at the Royal Yachting Squadron in Cowes, UK, on the evening of 31 August, 2018. It was collected by his grandson Brenton, as doctors advised Fischer not to travel (he was 91).

Seven weeks later, on the evening of 19 October, 2018, he was inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

A remarkable man by any standards, a great many owe a debt of gratitude to him. Fischer lived life to the full, packing more into a day than most do in a week, never wasting a minute. He will not be forgotten.

Fischer is survived by his four children: Penelope, Clayton, Annabelle and Dominique and seven grandchildren: Rebecca, Brenton, Emily, Jackson, Thomas, Petra and Peri. -- Di Pearson

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The Last Word
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard Feynman

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