EuroSail News #5292

In This Issue
• Canada wins New Zealand Sail GP
• All lined up with one way to go
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Arrival Of The Iconic Canadian Skipper Melodie Schaffer
• Seventh overall is Tom Dolan's best Solo Maitre CoQ yet
• 18ft Skiffs Queen of the Harbour
• Can IRC Rating Do More for Older Boats?
• New 2024 Cape2Rio Race Date Announced
• Invitational Rotary Keelboat Team Racing Regatta
• Featured Brokerage:
• • ClubSwan 50 Proxflyer
• • MC75 Multihull
• • Open 42 one-off
• The Last Word: Immanuel Kant

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

Canada wins New Zealand Sail GP
Canada made history by securing its first ever event win in a neck-and-neck showdown against home favorites New Zealand and season leaders Australia at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix.

In one of the closest Final battles of the season - on the waters of Whakaraupo, Lyttelton Harbour - the Canadians battled fiercely with Peter Burling's hometown heroes, with close crosses and lead changes throughout.

But Phil Robertson's team - despite falling off the foils and even picking up a boundary penalty in a dramatic encounter - were consistently faster than the Kiwis and crossed the finishing line first to secure the historic victory.

The next event is San Francisco, 6-7 May.

Final results
1. Canada - Phil Robertson
2. New Zealand - Peter Burling
3. Australia - Tom Slingsby
4. Emirates GBR - Ben Ainslie
5. France - Quentin Delapierre
6. United States - Jimmy Spithill
7. Switzerland - Sebastien Schneiter
8. Denmark - Nicolai Sehested
9. Spain - Diego Botin

sailgp.com

All lined up with one way to go
On Saturday it seemed as if the race couldn't get any closer. By Sunday morning UTC that was proved wrong.

Today, all four teams are lined up on a 13 mile line extending north to south, but separated by less than 3 miles on the leaderboard. All this after three full weeks of racing.

The reason for the close racing remains a stubbornly persistent ridge of high pressure and its light winds that is acting as a barrier to the teams making progress to the east.

In these conditions, the wind is marginally stronger to the south, so the teams have been taking it in turns to gybe south, dropping down the leaderboard by a few miles as they move towards the ice exclusion zone, before making gains back when the next team dives south.

This should remain the dominant weather pattern until Monday when the ridge begins to dissipate and stronger winds return.

The latest weather routings have the teams passing Cape Horn in one week, on 26/27 March, while the ETA in Itajaí, Brazil - with less certainty - is the first weekend in April.

theoceanrace.com

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

World News
A softer approach from Carnac, a new craftsman's Mini, Manuard goes Swiss, France re-joins the Cup family, Phil Sharp goes greener than green while Clarisse Cremer finds 'Baby Steps' were not the answer that they were looking for. Plus washed away in New Zealand and levelling the playing field (weather permitting, that is) Patrice Carpentier, Halvard Mabire, Dobbs Davis, Stephan Kandler, Bruno Dubois, Stan Honey, Ivor Wilkins

The Holy Grail
Dry and light! In two short years North Sails Performance clothing has firmly established itself among the most elite technical clothing suppliers... with the benefit of some pretty high quality assistance!

Rod Davis - Inheriting the baton
Take a moment to reflect on how you got here and on those who gently steered you on the way

IRC - Nice shape
Of hulls and hull factors... Jason Smithwick

RORC - Pass the duct tape
... and

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Arrival Of The Iconic Canadian Skipper Melodie Schaffer
Canadian competitor Melodie Schaffer rounded off her circumnavigation of the globe today by crossing the finish line of the final leg in Lorient at 09H20 hours UTC. Aboard her WHISKEY JACK with American Tom Pierce, she completes the course in 174 days having covered 34.353 nautical miles around the Planet. This 4th place in the 8th leg earns her a 5th place in the event's overall ranking.

Melodie Schaffer has been a truly iconic character in this first edition of the GLOBE40. An engineer and a mother of 3, with racing in her blood, she loves the open ocean and has several participations in the Clipper Race and one Transat Jacques Vabre to her credit, all of which prompted her to live life to the full and follow her passion by participating in the first edition of the GLOBE40. She has raced with a succession of co-skippers in this race, from Canadian Gary Jacques to Swede Mikaël Ryking, Spaniard Jeronimo Santos Gonzalez, Canadian Robert Philipps, Briton Paul Stratfold and American Tom Pierce.

Only preparing for the race late in the day, Melodie was supported by Canadian equipment manufacturer STORMTECH and has had to overcome a long list of difficulties. Indeed, virtually the entire sail wardrobe suffered rips in the long leg between Cape Verde and Mauritius, which led to a pretty epic arrival in Port-Louis with a genoa in tatters, which she transformed into a skirt for the prize-giving with her usual good humour. Having got off to a great start, even leading the fleet at one point in the leg between Mauritius and Auckland, a crash gybe near Amsterdam Island and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands left her in a tough situation for several days in the Roaring Forties whilst she repaired all the damage. In Papeete, her mainsail had exhausted itself and had to be replaced, prompting a penalty according to the event rules. In the following leg to Cape Horn, which saw her get off to another great start, she was penalised again after breaking her bowsprit, which was subsequently repaired in Ushuaia thanks to the talent of the head of the technical team, François Angoulvant. In Recife, after a less successful 3,800-mile leg from Ushuaia, she had just a 4-day leg to get everything shipshape again for the following leg to Grenada. In the final leg to Lorient, she also had to stop off for a day in Guadeloupe to repair her rudder.

globe40.com

Seventh overall is Tom Dolan's best Solo Maitre CoQ yet
Ireland's leading solo offshore racer Tom Dolan laid to rest the ghosts of three past Solo Maitre CoQ events when he finished seventh overall from a 30 boat fleet Saturday. After his 11th in Wednesday's short inshore race the skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan fought back from a schoolboy error early in the 340 miles offshore race to finish eighth across the finish line off Les Sables d'Olonne on Saturday late afternoon.

He passed the wrong side of a mark on the way south towards La Rochelle and had sailed three miles passed it before he turned back and made good his course. Not long after he was 29th but he once again proved one of the fastest sailors in the strong breeze when he pulled back through the fleet in blustery winds to 35kts at times.

Of the navigational error he said "I gave the boat a good thumping with my fist I was that angry with myself but having vented I just got on with concentrating on my strategy and bit by bit it paid off." reported Dolan who blew his chances of a good result last year when he tore his gennaker sail. The previous edition he twisted his ankle and had to retire from the offshore and on his first attempt he lost his focus entirely when he made a few bad early decisions and finished way down the fleet,

"This long offshore was tough, with calm and a real battle in the strong winds, it just got windier all through last night. It was trying, both for the nerves and physically and hard on the boats and so I am glad I did not break anything."

tomdolanracing.com

Final top ten:
1. Mutuelle Bleue - Horeau Corentin, FRA
2. Group Reel - Alexis Loison, FRA
3. Queguiner-La Vie En Rose - Elodie Bonafous, FRA
4. La Charente Maaritime - Alexis Thomas, FRA
5. Region Normandie - Guillaume Pirouelle, FRA
6. Edenred - Basile Bourgnon, FRA
7. Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan - Thomas Dolan, IRL
8. Skipper Macif 2 - Charlotte Yven, FRA
9. Region Bretagne Cmb-Performance - Gaston Morvan, FRA
10. Monatoutenergie.Fr - Arthur Hubert, FRA

solomaitrecoq.fr

18ft Skiffs Queen of the Harbour
Karly Zinga, 18 footer Queen of Sydney Harbour with the Yandoo team of John Winning, Fang Warren and Josh Porebski . Click on image for photo gallery.

Karly Zinga became the Australian 18 Footers League's Queen of Sydney Harbour when she teamed with John Winning, Fang Warren and Josh Porebski on Yandoo to win the annual event today.

Yandoo's crew grabbed the lead soon after the start and led for the entire course before crossing the finish line 20s ahead of Smeg (Michael Coxon, James Dorron, Tom Anderson and Nicole Mensforth) with The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Ryan Ewings, Matt Doyle, Dave Ewings and Caitlin Hartnett) finishing a further 27s back in third place.

Balmain Slake (Henry Larkings) finished in fourth place, ahead of Finport Finance (Keagan York), Lazarus (Ash Rooklyn), Burrawang-Young Henrys (Simon Nearn), Birkenhead Point Marina (Kirk Mitchell), Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price) and 18 Footers Bar & Restaurant (Pedro Vozone).

Today's race was sailed in a 8-10-knot North East breeze over a three-lap windward-leeward course, using the 3-buoys handicap system.

Today's race was the final race for the 2022-23 season.

The Australian 18 Footers League's 2023-24 season will commence in October. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

18footers.com

Can IRC Rating Do More for Older Boats? Sailors Weigh In With Their Thoughts
Is the IRC Rating system no longer fit for purpose? That's what some in the sailing community feel, and they've been sharing their thoughts on the Afloat Magazine Facebook page.

Commenting on our recent story noting the 91 IRC certs confirmed so far on the island of Ireland for the 2023 cruiser-racer season, Dublin Bay sailor Paul Bradley says the IRC Rating office "need to practice what they preach".

Citing IRC's claim to "promote the competitive longevity of race boats", Bradley says: "So how does rating a 27-year-old 31ft one-off cruiser-racer higher than a much younger J109 which is 4ft longer, has a much bigger sail area and is clearly quicker on the water compute to that mantra?"

He adds: "Surely the whole idea of IRC is to rate boats of all design and shapes fairly so they can all compete equally, and it's left to the level of crew work/tactics to decide who wins on the race course."

afloat.ie/sail

New 2024 Cape2Rio Race Date Announced At Winner's Celebration
After 3300 nautical miles and a shoulder operation, Cape2Rio overall winner Adrian Kuttel finally raised the iconic South Atlantic Race trophy in victory at a winners' celebration hosted at the Royal Cape Yacht Club on Friday.

South African solo sailor Adrian Kuttel made history in the Cape2Rio race with his outstanding performance to win the monohull category in 21 days 18hrs 59min and 37sec. An injured Kuttel sailed solo across the South Atlantic Ocean in the smallest vessel in the entire fleet of 16 boats. Atalanta (Sentinel Ocean Explorer), a JPK 1030, finished 61 minutes behind Michael Kavanagh's Ray of Light, but Kuttel won the Cape2Rio 2023 Race on handicap. Not a mean feat keeping in mind that he was sailing with a disconnected bicep – the ligament from his elbow to his bicep was torn and detached, and he had since had an operation to re-attach it.

Ray of Light won IRC line honours and second place overall. This family affair of father, son, wife and two nieces sailed a competitive race but still managed to find time for Marlin fishing during the crossing.

Sibusiso Sizatu captained the Alexforbes ArchAngel team from the RCYC Sailing Academy who were placed third overall. The crew from the Cape Flats chased a bold dream to cross the Atlantic, something that has not been done by an Academy team before.

The evening was concluded by RCYC Commodore Neil Gregory announcing the next race date when the fleet will set sail for Rio (South America) again, on 17 December 2024.

cape2riorace.com

2nd Cagliari Invitational Rotary Keelboat Team Racing Regatta
The Invitational Rotary Team Racing Regatta 2023 is an exclusive keelboat team racing competition sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cagliari in collaboration with the Societa Canottieri Ichnusa Cagliari. It will involve some of the most prestigious international Yacht Clubs. Racing will be from 25 to 28 May 2023.

This year, the second edition, amongst those attending will be last year's winner the Royal Thames YC (GBR), the Royal Yacht Squadron (GBR), Bayerischer YC (GER), YC Costa Smeralda (ITA), and Societa Canottieri Ichnusa Cagliari (ITA). A video with the highlights of the first edition (2022) is available on the Facebook page of the Rotary Club of Cagliari .

All the information is available at this link: invitationalrotaryregatta.org

The proceeds of the 2023 second edition will be donated to a service project supporting mental health through the funding of a research grant on the theme "Prevention of suicide in minors", which will be donated to the Department of Child Neuropsychiatry at the Microcitemico Hospital in Cagliari.

At the time of writing there is still room for another team ... don't miss the opportunity to participate in exciting races in a perfect regatta setting, together with social evenings in perfect Italian style that will culminate in a great party evening .

For information, contact the President of the organizing authority Stefano Liguori at , or the regatta secretariat at

Featured Brokerage
2018 ClubSwan 50 Proxflyer. 980000 EUR. Located in Sandefjord, Norway.

The CS 50 ‘PROXFLYER’ is ‘race-ready’ and has been maintained by a professional team.

Interior and equipment is adapted as per Chief Measurer instructions, meeting CS50 ISAF Class Rules minimum weights and functionality (cruising setup delivered ready for installation)

She will be sold with everything needed to race, including cradle.

She was delivered in 2018 and is waiting for her new owner to step on board.

See listing details in Nautor's Swan Brokerage

Contact
Jens Petters :

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MC75 Multihull POA USD.

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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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