EuroSail News #5295

In This Issue
• From Point Nemo towards Cape Horn
• Dylan Fletcher joins INEOS Brittania
• Balancing Act - Cariboni
• The First Block Island Race Week
• Benjamin Dutreux: Free agents in The Ocean Race
• The Globe40 Film
• IOC Executive Board meeting
• 2023 Classic Yacht Symposium in Helsinki
• Industry News
• Featured Charter: Araok - 58ft Ipanama Catamaran
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Imoca 60 MERCI
• • Persico Fly 40
• • Ichi Ban TP52 from Botin 2017
• The Last Word: Edward Witten

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

From Point Nemo towards Cape Horn
The Ocean Race fleet passed Point Nemo just after 17:30 UTC on Tuesday afternoon, leaving the most remote and isolated place on the ocean in their wake.

It likely didn't feel as isolated as it usually would. All four boats passed the waypoint within a span of 23 minutes and at the head of the fleet, Team Malizia just eked out ahead of Team Holcim PRB to claim bragging rights by a mere 30seconds.

This is not what most race fans expected to see after 23 days and 9,000 miles of racing. It's not exactly what the sailors were anticipating either.

At 1400 UTC on Tuesday, the fleet remained compact - the spread on the leaderboard from first to fourth was under 10 miles. The boats have now passed the northernmost point of the ice exclusion zone and unsurprisingly are beginning to gybe south again. True wind speed is currently about 20 knots, in waves up to 3-metres.

There is a balance to be struck between here and Cape Horn, measuring up risk and reward. A cold front is approaching from behind with stronger winds and bigger seas. The impact will be more severe further south. The sweet spot will be to find maximum wind with a relatively mild sea state. To the south is a shorter distance to the Horn, and stronger winds, but managing the waves could make staying north a better, faster option.

The ETA at Cape Horn is Sunday evening UTC, and the most likely arrival date in Itajaí, Brazil is 1st April.

Race Tracker

theoceanrace.com

Dylan Fletcher joins INEOS Brittania
Meet Dylan Fletcher, the newest recruit to INEOS Britannia's sailing team. Fletcher is an Olympic Champion in the Men's Skiff - 49er, winning at Tokyo 2020, as well as a three-time world champion in this discipline.

Fletcher started sailing at the age of fourteen and quickly got the sailing bug. He quickly progressed through the 405 discipline and 29er youth class. He secured second overall at the 29er World Championships in 2006, and a European Championship silver medal and 49er World Championship bronze medal. Fletcher was then selected for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with his partner at the time Alain Sign. The pair medalled at every regatta in 2017, winning both the European and World Championships.

In October 2019, Dylan Fletcher and his partner Stuart Bithell were selected for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. They claimed a dramatic Men's 49er gold medal as they narrowly edged out Germany and New Zealand in a nail-biting finish. It was Team GB's first Olympic gold in the discipline.

ineosbritannia.com

Balancing Act - Cariboni
As the foiling AC40 flying monohull flies smoothly across the surface of the water the real magic is happening out of sight below the surface of the water and within the boat itself

Leaving barely any wake and with just a plume of spray streaming off the leeward foil like an airliner's vapour trail, the impressive straightline speed of the new breed of foiling America's Cup monohulls seems effortless. Yet, aside from the hardware that you can see, the technology that you can't see is frequently what makes this all possible. And in this department hydraulics experts Cariboni are at the heart of the new foiling generation.

Among the most recent Cup launches, the AC40 is every bit as impressive as the full blown 75ft Cup boats especially given that the 40's smaller size and skittish behaviour suggests that effortless flight would be even harder to achieve.

Full article in the April issue of Seahorse

The First Block Island Race Week
Did you know first Block Island Race Week in 1965 was actually considered a bit of a bust racing-wise due to fog and light winds? Only three races were completed over 6 days. Yet, it was still successful enough to come back. Not only two years later, but 29 more times! 175 boats and over 1,200 sailors turned out for that first Race Week and while the racing was not perfect, the social scene ashore made up for it - and still does 58 years later.

It all started in 1964 when Commodore Jakob Isbrandtsen and NY Herald Tribune yachting reporter Everett B. Morris were inspired by Cowes Week in the U.K and urged The Storm Trysail Club to organize something similar stateside. The thought was that Block Island was a great destination that was still close enough for most sailors and a good venue to establish such an event. The dominant theme was to be hard racing with fine competition and time for daily informal camaraderie ashore.

According to British Journalist, Bill Robinson's detailed summary in Yachting Magazine back in 1965: "It was a noble experiment; excellent idea, well organized for a first try, Much hard work by many. Wonderful spirit among the sponsors....Jolly good idea all in all!"

stormtrysail.org

Benjamin Dutreux: Now we can be free agents in The Ocean Race
When you take on the responsibility of leading a fully-crewed team in The Ocean Race, you have to be prepared to deal with whatever fate throws at you, and IMOCA star Benjamin Dutreux knows that better than anyone now.

Faced with the heartbraking reality that his 2015-vintage VPLP Verdier-designed foiler - formerly Hugo Boss - had delaminated in a section of hull under the cabin, Dutreux and his team on Guyot Environnement - Team Europe, could have given up.

But they have done the exact opposite. After an excellent start to Leg 3 of the race - the marathon from Cape Town to Itajaí in Brazil, that saw Guyot Environnement - Team Europe en running in second place behind early leader Holcim-PRB - the crew had to turn round and sail 600 miles northwest back to Cape Town.

Dutreux is generous in his acknowledgment of the role others played in helping to galvanise the team. He mentions the British sailor and two-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran Annie Lush, who was gutted to see their race in Leg 3 come to an abrupt end after less than three days, but was quick to see the upside. "Annie was instrumental in talking about her experience in The Ocean Race and what can still happen in this race and all the battles to come," said Dutreux.

And co-skipper Robert Stanjek of Germany, an Olympian in the Star class, was also a force of positivity after experiencing a structural failure in a boat offshore for the first time. "Robert was able to motivate everyone by explaining what happens in Olympic sailing, all the disappointment that comes down to the wire, and that you always have to keep fighting. That's how we managed to stick together."

The gameplan now is to make the very best of what is left in this marathon race with, as Dutreux points out, around 60% of the points still available from Brazil onwards. -- Ed Gorman

EuroSail News #5295 - 23 March

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