EuroSail News #5306

In This Issue
• Trofeo Princesa Sofia
• Mixing it Up at RORC Easter Challenge
• Neuschafer defending her lead in the GGR!
• Milai In Lorient As The Epilogue Of The Globe40
• The Ocean Race: Lessons Learned from an XXL Leg
• Atlantic Challenge Stage One: Pointe-a-Pitre to Horta
• Rolex China Sea Race 2023 Line Honours
• Donal McClement
• Ruaridh Wright Wins Inaugural Richmond Award
• Featured Brokerage:
• • ClubSwan 50 Proxflyer
• • MC75 Multihull
• • Open 42 one-off
• The Last Word: Carl Sagan

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

Trofeo Princesa Sofia goes to Singapore's Formula Kite rider Max Maeder
Good, reliable easter sea-breezes on the Bay of Palma allowed rapid progress to be made through an ambitious roster of Medal deciding contests as the record sized 52 Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca Iberostar regatta reached a thrilling conclusion

Only the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7, Women's and Men's gold medals were pre-ordained, Marit Bouwmeester of Holland and Britain's Micky Beckett clinching the top awards on Friday before today's medal races.

As Great Britain racked up an impressive haul of six medals, four gold and two silver, across the ten Olympic classes which will feature at next summers Paris Olympics, the top award for the Mallorcan showcase regatta went to the 16 year old Singaporean Maximilian Mader – 2022 world championship runner up – who won the Men's Formula Kite class.

After a string of eight wins in the preliminary and Finals series he won the Medal Final to become only the second Asian sailor to win the giant regatta's absolute top award after China's Yue Ten dominated the RS:x Class in 2019.

Maeder's trophy triumph no doubt reflects his outstanding skills, the depth of competition and the truly international entry in this young, dynamic new Olympic class which will debut in the Olympic arena in Marseille next summer.

The next 2023 WSC event - French Olympic Week, Hyeres (22-29 April).

Final podium positions

470 Mixed
1. Keiju Okada / Miho Yoshioka, JPN, 56
2. Luise Wanser / Philipp Autenrieth, GER, 63
3. Jordi Xammar Hernandez / Nora Brugman Cabot, ESP, 66

49er
1. Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn, NZL, 67
2. Tom Burton / Max Paul, AUS, 76
3. Isaac Mchardie / William Mckenzie, NZL, 79

49er FX
1. Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze, BRA, 61
2. Odile Van Aanholt / Annette Duetz, NED, 76
3. Maria Sol Branz / Cecilia Carranza Saroli, ARG, 76

Formula Kite Men
1. Maximilian Maeder, SGP, 19
2. Connor Bainbridge, GBR, 33
3. Axel Mazella, FRA, 38

Formula Kite Women
1. Lauriane Nolot, FRA, 24
2. Ellie Aldridge, GBR, 33
3. Poema Newland, FRA, 42

ILCA 6
1. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 60
2. Zoe Thomson, AUS, 87
3. Maxime Jonker, NED, 90

ILCA 7
1. Michael Beckett, GBR, 44
2.. George Gautry, NZL, 72
3. Tonci Stipanovic, CRO, 73

IQ Foil Men
1. Samuel Oliver Sills, GBR, 32
2. Sebastian Koerdel, GER, 37
3. Tom Reuveny, ISR, 70

IQ Foil Women
1. Emma Wilson, GBR, 54
2. Lucie Belbeoch, FRA, 91
3. Veerle Ten Have, NZL, 94

NACRA 17
1. John Gimson / Anna Burnet, GBR, 43
2. Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Frascari, ITA, 47
3. Gianluigi Ugolini / Maria Giubilei, ITA, 61

Full results

trofeoprincesasofia.org

Mixing it Up at RORC Easter Challenge
The second day of the RORC Easter Challenge, supported by North Sails, featured three races for all IRC Classes. With building pressure during the day, the RORC fleet enjoyed exhilarating racing in The Solent . The RORC Race Team produced a variety of courses including technical windward leeward, round the cans races, and the rarity of reaching starts. Congratulations to today's race winners: Ian Atkins' GP42 Dark 'N' Stormy, Simon Perry's Cape31 Jiraffe, Michael Wilson's Shotgunn, Lance Adams' Corby 36 Oui, Nick Martin's Sun Fast 3600 Diablo, Rob Cotterill's J/109 Mojo Risin', James Gair's Team Hero on Zero, and Lucian Stone's Fareast 28 Vendetta.

The RORC Coaching Team led by Mason King was out in force backed up by drone video from the North Sails Rib. "What a fantastic day to go sailing!" commented Mason King. " A big thank you to Race Officer Stuart Childerley and the RORC Race Team for organising a very high standard of race management across a big spectrum of courses." After racing, the RORC Cowes Clubhouse was packed for the second day with experts offering advice to well over one hundred sailors via the RORC Easter Challenge Debrief.

RORC Deputy Race Manager Tim Thubron is part of the coaching team and has been answering questions but also spotted a small change to the course for the finish of Race Two. "Teams had to pass through a Leeward Gate before going directly to the finish," explained Tim Thubron. "What teams should have spotted was how close the Blue Finish Line buoy was to The Gate, in relation to the Committee Boat. In my opinion the Blue Buoy was half the distance. Today we saw races being won by just a few seconds after IRC time correction. In any race, every second counts, and there was a lot of time to be gained by spotting the Finish Line bias."

rorc.org

Kirsten Neuschafer out of doldrums and defending her lead in the GGR!
In the northern hemisphere, it’s been tense for Kirsten Neuschafer (ZAF), in less wind than her runner-up for longer. Every time it looks like she’s losing the lead, she finds the resources to grab some miles back, or clutch to the extra bit of wind to hold the lead. At the back of the fleet, Ian Herbert-Jones (GBR) and Jeremy Bagshaw (ZAF) still experienced heavy weather, with another storm for Jeremy at 30° South. The feat of the week goes to a retired GGR sailor, but nevertheless very much part of the GGR family. Guy Waites who rounded Cape Horn on the 3rd of April in rough conditions with winds ranging from 40 to 60 knots. He received a warm letter from his personal heroes at the International Cape Horners Association, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede. Congratulations Guy!

The week has been hard on Kirsten who has generally been in lighter weather for several weeks running, bleeding miles from her lead to Abhilash, falling from 300 miles last week to 50 today. Worse, the eastern option she chose, while closer to the finish has brought an in-and-out of the doldrums scenario with more frustrating light winds and psychological trauma. But yesterday she was in fresh winds, now on a higher route at speed towards Les Sables d’Olonne.

The contrast with Abhilash Tomy, Bayanat, is stunning. Choosing a closer route to Brazil, he had very narrow doldrums and found strong, consistent tradewinds earlier, allowing him to sail higher and faster for weeks. After several months of fixing/rebuilding equipment failures and rationing water to less than one litre a day, he is really enjoying the sailing, posting good speed, with time to relax and drinking plenty of fresh water.

goldengloberace.com

Milai In Lorient As The Epilogue Of The Globe40
MILAI Around The World, the epic Japanese project of the 1st edition of the GLOBE40 will have earned its name and completed its world tour by crossing the symbolic finish line of the 8th stage in front of Lorient this day April 8, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. local time.11 June 2022 / April 8, 2023: what an adventure for this crew which was one of the favourites, brilliantly featured on several stages but marked by fate had to stop its momentum for a month and a half in Argentina, before returning to Lorient via the Azores without take the start of the last two stages! The crew of the Japanese Masa Suzuki and Koji Nakagawa, reinforced by the Italians Andrea Fantini and Luca Rosetti, and by the French Estelle Greck, by the points classification game, and thanks to 3 victories, is part of the 5 "finishers" of the race and is rewarded with a nice place on the podium in third place.

Leaving Ushuaia in Argentina on January 6, MILAI was only one point behind the leader of the general ranking since Auckland SEC HAYAI and everything was therefore possible even if AMHAS intended to play in the top three by a few points. After a somewhat complicated Beagle Channel with no wind, a good option after the Lemaire Strait propelled the Japanese competitor in the lead, the Masa Suzuki / Estelle Greck team had gotten in well in the previous leg and seemed particularly comfortable. . But on the morning of January 12, a brutal shock with an UFO (unidentified floating object) abruptly stopped the adventure.

The shock, as serious as it was, damaged the structure of the boat but fortunately did not cause any distress or injury to the crew. He decided to go to the Argentinian port of Mar Del Plata to assess the damage. Arriving on January 16 at Mar Del Plata, it was easy to see the extent of the damage, cauliflower bulb and smashed partitions, which required extensive work that lasted a month and a half during the stopover in Argentina, or the welcome from the club and the Argentine authorities was particularly warm. On February 24, after 6 weeks of work, Masa Suzuki and Andrea Fantini set off for the Azores with a stopover in Recife. In Horta in the Azores Koji Nakagawa took the place of team-mate with Masa for the final journey to Lorient.

globe40.com

The Ocean Race: Lessons Learned from an XXL Leg
Finishing up with Team Malizia's victory ahead of Team Holcim-PRB, the third leg of The Ocean Race was full of twists and turns, a giant stage - the longest ever-lasting more than 35 days. Meteo ace Christian Dumard, Imoca skippers Charlie Dalin and Thomas Ruyant, designers Quentin Lucet (VPLP Design) and Herve Penfornis (Guillaume Verdier), Antoine Mermod, president of Imoca, as well as The Ocean Race director Johan Salen, speak to Tip and Shaft to give us their first assessment.

The Indian and Pacific in one shot. The Big South has probably never felt so long during The Ocean Race than this time. It is the first time since 1973 that crews have raced half a round-the-world on a single leg (12,750 miles compared to a normal Vendee Globe at 24,365). It was a true XXL leg from a sporting angle too, as it offered maximum five points twice, once at the passage of the scoring gate of Tasmania and again at the finish. Overall it was a real proving ground for the new Imocas. "Everyone was a bit apprehensive" suggests Herve Penfornis. "We had kind of imagined stopovers in Australia or New Zealand. But apart from Guyot, the boats were generally solid and in the end, it ended up in a postage stamp between the first two. It was great !"

And that satisfaction is shared by Johan Salen: "Leaving Cape Town, we were probably more uncertain than we were actually worried, but it's true that we had positioned the New Zealand gate far enough west for a boat to be able to get their points and then possibly make a stopover afterwards." This precaution was not necessary, even if no participant were actually spared damage: the cut in the mast on Malizia-Seaexplorer, damage to the two rudders and torn mainsail on board 11th Hour Racing Team, pilot problems on Holcim-PRB, hitting an Ofni for Biotherm...

But all were able to make repairs, which has Charlie Dalin commenting: "They push more, they break more, but then they repair much faster! Changing a batten solo is almost a day's work with the fatigue that follows. With a crew, it's a few hours, barely noticeable on the tracking."

From the lastest edition of Tip & Shaft

Atlantic Challenge Stage One: Pointe-a-Pitre to Horta
Racing is in full swing on the first leg of Le Defi Atlantique which left Pointe-à-Pitre last Saturday bound for Horta in the Azores, with the first four boats racing within about fifteen miles.

A week after the start, the leaders are now 600-700nm from Horta.

Top ten at 2200hr FR, 09 April
1. Credit Mutuel, Ian Lipinksi
2. Allagrande Pirelli, Ambrogio Beccaria
3. IBSA, Alberto Bona
4. TQuila, Alister Richardson
5. Project Rescue Ocean, Axel Trehin
6. Everial, Erwan Le Draoulec
7. Curium Life Forward, Marc Pepesqueux
8. Chocolat Paries - SCREB, Jean-Baptiste Daramy
9. Vicitan, Olivier Detrieu
10. Dopamine Sailing Team, Raphael Auffret

Race Tracker on Tip & Shaft

class40.com

Standard Insurance Centennial 5 claims Rolex China Sea Race 2023 Line Honours
Hong Kong: This afternoon at 12hrs 45mins 47sec, Ernesto Echauz's Standard Insurance Centennial 5 crossed the finish in Subic Bay with an elapsed time of 3d 1h 25m 47s, marking the first time in its 61-year history that a Philippines entry has taken Line Honours at the Rolex China Sea Race.

Even though this was the first time the Reichel/Pugh 75 participated in the race, its skipper Ernesto Echauz has competed in nine previous editions of the Race and has had his name twice engraved China Sea Trophy (1998 and 2008).

Standard Insurance Centennial 5 was the first boat to cross the start line and lead the fleet out of Hong Kong's iconic Victoria Harbour and maintained her very comfortable lead throughout the race.

As the rest of the fleet converge on Subic Bay, there have been major changes on the leader board since last night. Father and son team, Philippe and Cosmas Grelon on Figaro 3 Simpson Marine has moved up the ladder to first position in IRC Overall. With the shutdown of sea breeze in the area of Luzon in the evening, any team can move up the ladder. It'll be down to how skippers keep their boats moving through the very light breeze.

The next boat expected to arrive is TP52 Rampage 88 followed by the rest of the IRC 0 fleet including the other two TPs Happy Go and Standard Insurance Centennial 3.

Race Tracker

rolexchinasearace.com

Cork Harbour Sailors Take Us On A Voyage With Donal McClement
Recipe for a great day of celebration:

Put together a well-earned praise-fest in which the lead speaker is a senior Government Minister and sailing enthusiast of the calibre of Simon Coveney TD.

Add in a lively attendance of 270-plus that includes a raft of international sailing legends, and more former Admirals of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and RORC Flag Officers than have been seen together in the one place for many a long time.

Mix well with oodles of goodwill and much maritime camaraderie.

Savour the quality of the celebration of the continuing sailing life of Donal McClement, which was staged under the guise of the annual RNLI lunch at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Thursday.

Once an event of this style is up and running, it all seems effortless and self-generating. But let it be said that while many subscribed to the idea of such an event and felt they were involved in its inception, it was Clive Higgins who did the heavy lifting in putting it all together. And in John Crotty, he found the perfect MC to keep things running smoothly at exactly the right level of levity.

Donal McClement of Crosshaven is a one-man sailing universe, a unique and characterful bundle of enthusiasm outstanding in a sport already noted for the soaring individuality of its participants.

WM Nixon's full report on the lunch to celebrate Donal McClement in Afloat

Ruaridh Wright Wins Inaugural Richmond Award
Ruaridh Wright, based at our Gosport, UK loft, is the recipient of the inaugural Richmond Award. North Sails introduced this award in memory of our friend and colleague Sam Richmond, who passed away in 2022 after a tragic yachting accident. The Richmond Award is peer-nominated and given in Sam's honor to a North Sails employee under 35 who exudes many of the same traits as Sam.

Wright was selected for this year's award from 42 candidates. The selection committee included North Sails CEO Richard Lott, President Ken Read, COO John Welch, Grand Prix Leader Paul Westlake, and Sam's wife, Colette Richmond.

Ruaridh Wright on the honor of being named winner of the 2023 Richmond Award:

"I am shocked and deeply grateful to receive the Richmond Award. Sam was someone who looked after me wherever I went. Whether I was working for North Sails in Gosport or Sydney or traveling around the world sailing on various boats, he always kept an eye on me. He encouraged me to throw myself at whatever challenge lay ahead. He brought me back into the Gosport loft as a sailmaker after the pandemic and eventually brought me into the sales team. I now find myself in a job that I love at the heart of a great company. In repayment, I hope that I have gone some way to emulate those good qualities Sam embodied.

northsails.com

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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
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