In This Issue
• Finals racing starts at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca
• Southampton UK as start and finish port for OGR
• Just in from Harken: a Low-Friction SPRING!
• America's Cup Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2023
• America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ does flypast
• Paris 2024 reveals testing programme
• Oxford Top Gun Invitational Trophy
• Industry News
• Featured Brokerage:
• • 2002 IMX 45 'Alice'
• • RM 1070+
• • Kinetic Catamarans - KC54
• The Last Word: Hunter S. Thompson
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
Finals racing starts at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca
With the 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar moving into the decisive Finals phase on the Bay of Palma, leading contenders today finally got their first real feel for how much the level has moved up since last season.
Gold fleet racing is always the real acid test. Leads earned through the initial Qualifying heats often prove transient when it is only the cream of each fleet battling it out for places in Saturday's Medal races.
At this key Olympic classes regatta last year, post Tokyo, one notable absentee was the Dutch three times medallist Marit Bouwmeester. She was heavily pregnant then, giving birth to her first child Jessie Mae in May last year. Since then the new mum has, predictably, limited her training and racing time.
After winning Laser Radial silver in London 2012 and gold in Rio 2016, bronze in Tokyo 2021 completed the full medal set, but it was something of a disappointment considering in 2020 – the year the Games should have run – she was reigning W orld and European. But an arm injury in 2021 meant that the Tokyo Olympic regatta was her only major regatta she could sail.
So Bouwmeester is back in the ILCA 6 in Palma, revving up her challenge for the fourth medal which would make her the most successful ever female sailing Olympian. And she is on typically impressive form.
Finals racing concludes Friday, Medal races are on Saturday.
2023 Ocean Globe Race announces Ocean Village Southampton UK as start and finish port
When Don McIntyre decided in 2015 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ever Whitbread crewed race around the world, it had to start in the UK. That's where the Whitbread story began.
He did the same thing when deciding to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race which also started from the UK. Sadly no support came from British ports so the 2018 GGR went to Les Sables d'Olonne in France (home of the Vendee Globe) where it was welcomed with open arms and strong investment that generated US$185m in media returns. The third edition GGR2022 is due to finish there in a few weeks.
Until now it looked like the Ocean Globe Race was going the same way. In an October 2022 press release announcing Cape Town, Auckland and Punta Del Este as the OGR stopover ports and after years of trying, OGR announced that 'sadly UK ports are not interested in hosting the start and finish of this epic adventure and historic occasion'. Final discussions were underway with European ports for the hosting rights.
Fortunately that statement was picked up by a large corporate entity with UK connections. They felt strongly that the OGR should stay in the UK. At the same time MDL Marinas wanted to save the event for the UK as a celebration of their own 50th anniversary. They were passionate about bringing this iconic sailing race back to Southampton and their Ocean Village Marina, the home of so many previous Whitbread races. A deal was struck with both parties and now Ocean Village Southampton is the home of the OGR! This is a huge win for the UK that has seen other significant events move to Europe.
Just in from Harken: a Low-Friction SPRING!
Aah spring... when a young owner's thoughts turn to, "Why didn't I do all this boat work last fall?" If conflict between what you planned to get done and what you got done bums you out, maybe Harken can help. Here are just two of many upgrades do-able before launch day.
One - If you've been putting up with leaking and slipping from your backstay adjuster for too long, it's time for the Harken integral hydraulic backstay adjuster. It's a simple, bulletproof solution. You pump the handle, the single-acting pump pushes fluid—just what you expect, for less than you'd expect. There are sizes for boats 9 M (30 ft) to 18 M (60 ft). Measure, order, and have it pinned in place before the mast goes up. See it in action.
Two - The Harken MKIV Ocean cruising furler is designed for easy replacement in one afternoon. DIY with hand tools. The foil sections are easier to assemble. The lower drum slides right over the headstay turnbuckle. The Ocean furler is smooth-rolling enough to make every furl a little less physical, and bulletproof enough to withstand your plough anchor landing on it. Watch an install below.
Here's to a Harken Low-Friction launch this spring.
harken.com/en/news/integral-backstay/
America's Cup Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2023
Click on image to enlarge.
The Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame welcomes John "JB" Barnitt, Iain Murray, and Hope Goddard Iselin as Class of 2023 inductees of the America's Cup Hall of Fame. They will be honored on October 17th, 2023 at the America's Cup Hall of Fame Induction gala at the New York Yacht Club in New York City.
"The members of this year's class hail from very different backgrounds but they all raced in the America's Cup and contributed to the Cup via another discipline, including photography, boat-building, and regatta management" said America's Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee Chair Steve Tsuchiya. "We're thrilled to welcome this multi-talented group to the Hall of Fame!"
The America's Cup Hall of Fame has inducted nearly a hundred individuals since its founding in 1992. Candidates eligible for consideration include members of the crew, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and other individuals of merit. Each nominee is judged on the basis of outstanding ability, international recognition, character, performance, and contributions to the sport. The members of the Selection Committee are intimate with the history and traditions of America's Cup and are committed to the integrity of the Hall of Fame.
According to America's Cup Hall of Fame President & Executive Director Bill Lynn, "The America's Cup is known for its constant innovation, and this group of inductees is truly emblematic of that dynamic. JB and Iain have played important roles in the evolution of the Cup to multihulls and now foiling monohulls, while Ms. Iselin was a key member of the afterguard on RELIANCE, the biggest and possibly most innovative boat to ever sail in the Cup. I want to thank the Selection Committee for their hard work and for giving us three excellent new members of the Hall of Fame."
Full bios at herreshoff.org
America's Cup: Emirates Team NZ does flypast
Emirates Team NZ finished their training session with a flypast North Head, at the entrance to Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, giving still and video shooters a never to be forgotten view of the AC75 sailing at over 40kts.
In fact the AC75 came so close to their vantage point, that we had to switch to a second camera with a wider angle lens, as the flying AC75 passed close by.
Higher up North Head, videographer Justin Mitchell caught the same action from the America's Cup champion late on a fine Autumn afternoon. Sharp eyed viewers will see that there are 10 crew aboard Te Rehutai - from the AC37 Recon team interview and report, there were two extras aboard that day from the engineering and design teams - getting a feel for the upgraded AC75.
For those in need of an America's Cup fix, check out the other 300+ videos in Justin's channel, Justin Mitchell TV covering the 2021 and 2024 America's Cups and the build up. So far Justin has had almost 3.5million views of his America's Cup collection.
Richard Gladwell in Sail-World.com
Paris 2024 reveals testing programme for upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games
With less than 500 days to go before the next edition of the Games, preparation for Paris 2024 has reached another milestone. From 9 July, the testing programme will begin, with test events and operational tests taking place in venues that will host Olympic and Paralympic competitions.
On Thursday 6 April, Paris 2024 unveiled its testing programme which includes test events and a large number of other activities to fine-tune preparations for next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games. The test events are not a carbon copy of the competitions that will take place at the upcoming Games but aim to ensure readiness for the summer of 2024, when the eyes of the world will be focused on the sporting events in the capital of France. They will also help identify any adjustments needed to deliver Games that are as optimised as possible.
A major part of the testing programme, the test events will be held in the 12 months leading up to the Games, with the last taking place in June 2024 (athletics and para-athletics at the Stade de France). The first event organised by Paris 2024 will see an international sailing competition take place at the Marina in Marseille from 9 to 16 July.
olympics.com/en/sports/sailing/
Oxford Top Gun Invitational Trophy
This weekend of 25th & 26th February saw Oxford University Sailing Club running the annual Top Gun Invitational Trophy. The top 8 university teams from across the UK and Ireland made their way to Farmoor Reservoir for a packed weekend of high quality team racing across 2 flights of Fireflys.
Saturday saw a prompt start at 10 am allowing for 53 races to be completed across the day in a fresh, but shifty 15 knots. Notable results came from UCD who managed to finish the day having lost only one of the 13 races they competed in. Some say this was due to their rather strange strategy of repeatedly shouting compliments to each other throughout the starting sequence, others say it was their ability to communicate in Irish allowing for full secrecy between teams. A speedy pack down allowed for all competitors to have ample time to get into their black tie for the Top Gun Dinner held at St Edmund's Hall.
Another prompt start on Sunday allowed the teams to get another 12 races in each before we ended the round robin to head into a best of 5 final between UCD and Cambridge. A shifty 12 knots made racing extremely tight and after 2 wins each we saw the final descend into a winner-takes-it-all final race. Incredibly good umpiring decisions saw almost all the boats in the final race spinning; however, UCD pulled through on the final beat and secured a win for an Irish team for the first time in Top Gun history.
Industry News
International yacht charter brokerage HELM has been re-acquired by its founders, Peter Harrison-Hill and Simon Morgan.
The HELM team following the re-acquisition by former founders Peter Harrison-Hill and Simon Morgan
The transaction was led by specialist business advisory firm FRP.
The business was sold to Borrow a Boat in June 2021 with Peter and Simon continuing to work within the group.
The agreement gave HELM stability in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company saw almost 700 booked charters in 2022 and is on course for more than 1,000 charters to be booked for summer 2023.
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British Marine has released its latest economic audit of the UK leisure marine industry and it was good news up until the cost of living crisis hit.
The organisation's Key Performance Indicators (KPI) report for the 2021/22 financial year, reveals that the marine industry enjoyed a successful post pandemic bounce back.
"Overall, the report is reassuring however we must remain mindful that these figures related to 2021/2022 and the impact of the current 'cost of living' crisis and the overall financial challenges affecting many UK businesses may well have a future impact on the sector," said Lesley Robinson, CEO, British Marine.
Boom and bust?
One of the key findings of the report was that that the UK marine industry benefitted from revenue growth of 25% in 2021.
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American Robotic Mark Manufacturer 'MarkSetBot' have appointed Cowes based sports marketing company FourthCape to develop, support and deliver the MarkSetBot system in the UK. Acting as an extension of the MarkSetBot HQ, FourthCape will support clubs, classes, and race organisers to adopt robotic marks and RaceOS software for events and racing.
With unrivalled success over the last few years the 'MarkSetBot' has become the go to option worldwide for international race organisers such as SailGP, TP52 Super Series, RC44 class to name but a few.
FourthCape MD Charles Darbyshire commented "I have worked on projects looking at digitising the sailing racecourse in the past, making the job of setting racecourses faster, easier and with more precision. The MarkSetBot team achieved amazing things, with great hardware, managed by a capable and fast evolving intuitive software platform – RaceOS. Whilst the focus can be on the robotic marks themselves, the software is evolving to manage races using a mixture of fixed marks, laid anchored marks, and robotic marks. This allows clubs to integrate the digital racecourse into their current infrastructure as they expand their use of robotic marks over time. Ultimately the goal of the digital racecourse is to improve the quality of the racing for competitors, to increase accuracy, and reduce the time it takes to get courses set for a race committee."
Robotic Marks 'Bots' are available to lease, purchase or rent in the UK immediately, with RaceOS digital course management coming later in 2023
For more information and to find out about how your club can access MarkSetBots email the FourthCape Team:
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Azimut-Benetti Group announced that the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, is now a minority shareholder with a 33% stake in the company. The Vitelli family remains the majority shareholder in the Italian builder.
"PIF will accompany Azimut-Benetti Group in the long term, offering strategic and important new business opportunities, including the Middle East, a geographic area which is undergoing development," group chair Giovanna Vitelli said in a statement. "The family, together with its trusted management, maintains large majority of the group and its strategic direction."
The transaction will be completed after antitrust and regulatory clearances.
Tamburi Investment Partner, an Azimut-Benetti investor in for more than eight years, will remain in the group's share capital with a reduced stake.
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he organising committee of the 75th Edinburgh Cup incorporating the International Dragon UK Grand Prix is delighted to announce that North Sails will be supporting the event. North Sails will provide an overnight sail repair service for the teams through its Cowes loft. In addition, they are offering a secure storage facility at their site in Gosport (only a short drive from both the Portsmouth Cross Channel and Isle of Wight ferry terminals) for visiting Edinburgh Cup teams who wish to arrive early and/or plan to participate in the Dragon Gold Cup in Torquay from 7 to 16 September and wish to leave their boats in the UK between events.
The International Dragon fleet is expected to be present in the UK in significant numbers this summer with the option to participate in three major events on offer. First up is Cowes Week which runs from 29 July to 4 August. The Edinburgh Cup is also in Cowes and will run from 15 to 18 August 2023, with pre-event registration and measurement taking place on 13 and 14 August. Finally, the Gold Cup will be raced off Torquay from 7 to 16 September.
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World Sailing has appointed four-time British Paralympian Hannah Stodel as the new Para World Sailing Manager. In this role, Hannah will oversee the promotion and development of Para Sailing with the objective of achieving reinstatement to the Paralympic Games.
She will also manage and build key responsibilities with international stakeholders, including governing bodies, committees, athletes, coaches, classes and equipment manufacturers.
World Sailing is committed to achieving its goals for Para Sailing, and the addition of an experienced Para Sailor will bring a unique perspective and level of insight to the role which will help World Sailing fulfil its promise to continue the growth of Para Sailing worldwide.
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Zone Industrielle des 4 chevaliers, Rond-Point de la Republique, 17180 Perigny, France
+33 5 46 44 73 00
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Kinetic Catamarans - KC54
A performance catamaran that can be comfortably sailed by a cruising couple. The KC54 offers a modern stylish design and all of our standard features.
The KC54 maximizes living space with panoramic 360-degree views from inside its large main salon. The coach roof-mounted mast and traveler facilitate a large forward cockpit for both sailing and leisure and an aft cockpit free of sail controls. It is built for fast coastal and offshore cruising in comfort. It can also be configured as a competitive racer.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Kinetic Catamarans
USA Tel: +1 954 732 2836
Kinetic Catamarans
SA. Tel:+27 44 382 0439
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The Last Word
All golfers fear the one-iron. It has no angle, no loft. The one-iron is a confidence-crusher, a fear trip, an almost guarantee of shame, failure, dumbness and humiliation if you ever use it in public. -- Hunter S. Thompson
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see eurosailnews.com/advertise/