EuroSail News #5315 - 21 April
In This Issue
• Poole, Williams, Borch and Egnot-Johnson Advance To Semifinals
• Charleston Race Week - 186 boats in 15 classes
• Blend to taste - Dimension Polyant
• AON 2023 Etchells Worlds
• Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta
• Sailing World on Water
• ORC European Championship
• In Port Racing
• Currach Regatta Planned for Early May in Galway Bay
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Volvo 70 - Telefonica Black
• • J 45 Elegance Yacht
• • L30 One Design
• The Last Word: Clarence Darrow
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
Poole, Williams, Borch and Egnot-Johnson Advance To Semifinals
After three days of double round robin racing in the 58th Congressional Cup by Long Beach Yacht Club, Chris Poole (USA), Ian Williams (GBR), Jeppe Borch (DEN) and Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL) have advanced to the semifinals.
Going into Day Three of this prestigious World Match Racing Tour opening event Poole remained undefeated; while Borch and Williams looked solid. But the fourth and final slot in the semis was up for grabs. With six flights remaining, Egnot-Johnson and Eric Monnin (SUI) were in the hunt, while a rally from Megan Thomson (NZL) or Harry Price (AUS) could also have turned the tables.
After a six-race slump, Egnot-Johnson rebounded to take match 17 over Thomson, when she was OCS; putting Egnot-Johnson and Monnin in a sudden death position. "We knew it was him or us," Monnin described, "but it was all decided at the start. We wanted the pin end, but he got the side we wanted and there was never anything we could do."
In better breeze Egnot-Johnson commanded the race to triumph in that tie-breaking match. "We are thankful to get the win and stoked for more racing tomorrow," he said.
Racing throughout the Congressional Cup has been tight and aggressive. Chief Umpire Philippe Michel announced there were over 95 protests on Day Two, resulting in 16 penalties by the on-the-water umpiring team. "Massive pressure" on the officials he conceded; with a sizeable commitment by the LBYC organizers, as umpires on RIBs trail each opponent around the entire course, during every single match.
Ideal conditions are forecast as racing continues tomorrow through Saturday April 22.
Charleston Race Week - 186 boats in 15 classes
When Steve Attard took charge of planning the Hobie 33 National Championship, his thoughts immediately turned to Charleston Race Week. Priority one was picking a venue and Attard realized being part of an existing regatta would dramatically reduce the logistical challenges.
"It made a lot of sense to me because Charleston Race Week provides all the on and off the water support," Attard said. "I heard the currents and conditions were challenging and figured that would be a nice change of pace."
Hobie 33 will become just the latest in a long line of classes to contest championships at Charleston Race Week, which is one of the world's foremost destination regattas. As Attard noted, Charleston is a historic city with world-class restaurants, shopping, and attractions. It has been voted America's No. 1 small city for 10 years and counting.
Ten one-design classes along with ORC D will compete on three separate circles set on Charleston Harbor. Veteran regatta manager Taran Teague will once again serve as the overall principal race officer. Chip Till will handle PRO duties on Circle One (VX One, J/24, RS 21, J22/Inshore PHRF), Mark Foster will manage Circle Two (Melges 24, J/70) and Matt Hill will oversee Circle Three (J/88, J/105, Melges 32, Hobie 33). Bruce Bingman and Ray Redness return as principal race officers for the offshore courses being sailed by the ORC A, Pursuit Spinnaker A, Pursuit Spinnaker B and Pursuit Non-Spinnaker classes.
Blend to taste - Dimension Polyant
Less of a product... more of a system
There has been a lot of promotion of filmless and composite sail fabrics in recent years. With efficient mixtures and orientations of fibres, these materials can be used to create sails of great strength and durability. Dimension-Polyant's new Tyra PLY now enables all sailmakers to offer their customers this significant uptick in performance.
The customisation of sailcloth is not new for Dimension-Polyant, it's been in their core DNA since the company was founded in 1966. Since then they have continued to adapt to new ideas and technologies, with Tyra PLY the latest in this trend to fulfill the demand for high-strength, lightweight and durable materials applicable across the huge variety of boat types, from winged kites and windsurfers to offshore yachts.
Tyra PLY starts with a composite construction based on spread filaments of constituent highstrength materials, such as highmodulus carbon, aramid and Ultra-PE. The filaments are derived from yarns and spread into tape form known as Tyra-UD. These tapes are then laid into an inner matrix oriented at angles of between 0 and 90 degrees in varying densities, customised depending on the loads anticipated in the intended sails.
Full article in the May issue of Seahorse
AON 2023 Etchells Worlds
Miami: It's wide-open going into the final day of the AON 2023 Etchells World Championships Almost all the boats in the top 10 are still in contention with two races remaining. The standings changed dramatically after three races were held on Thursday and could do so again before all is said and done on Friday.
Skipper Steve Benjamin and the Tons of Steel (USA 1511) team also benefited big-time from the discard, replacing a 31st suffered in Race 4. Mike Buckley is serving as tactician aboard Tons of Steel, which posted a superb score line of 8-1-3 on Thursday.
That puts Benjamin in position to capture his second World Championship as Tons of Steel has a low score of 29 points, nine better than second place Veracity (USA 1477). "Mike was really on his game today. We had all good starts and were straight in phase coming off the line," Benjamin said. "Yesterday, we felt like we were a little late getting into shifts and kind of chasing things. Today, we were just slightly early and getting ahead of the shifts. It was just textbook."
Thursday's racing was held in predominantly northeasterly winds ranging from 10 to 13 knots with 30 degree shifts. Tons of Steel won Race 8 by a whisker, narrowly holding off Veracity at the finish.
Top ten results:
1. Tons Of Steel - Stephen Benjamin / Michael Buckley / Ian Liberty / Dave Hughes, USA, 29.0
2. Veracity - John Sommi / Victor Diaz de Leon / Will Ryan / Beccy Anderson, USA, 38.0
3. Lifted - Jim Cunningham / Steve Hunt / Erik Shampain / Serena Vilage , USA, 38.0
4. Cruel Jane 2.0 - Luke Lawerence / Andrew Macrae / Brad Boston, CAN, 47.0
5. Big Dawg - Malcolm Lamphere / Greiner Hobbs / Key Becker / Sonia Lingos-Utley, USA, 57.0
6. Skanky Gene - Jay Cross / Taylor Canfield / George Peet / Franny Schulte, USA, 59.0
7. Racer Smithy - Mark Thornburrow / Malcolm Page / Mike Huang / Duncan Gregor, HKG, 70.0
8. Oatmeal - Peter Duncan / Andrew Palfrey / Mark Mendelblatt, USA, 72.0
9. Rebel - Scott Kaufman / Gonzalo Ribero / Carlos Robles / Hugo Rocha, USA, 75.0
10. Big E - Rick Merriman / Phil Trinter / Eric Doyle, USA, 80.0
Full results on YachtScoring.com
Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta
The first official event of the 34th Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta took place this morning: the judging of the Concours d'Elegance. Fifteen yachts entered this prestigious challenge, with competition being fierce. The smallest boat was 31ft and the largest was 72ft, the competitors belonging to four different classes.
The four judges were particularly impressed by a 40ft steel Cornish lugger Eleanor B, built in 2005. Judges unanimously agreed to award her a Special Prize for epitomising the Spirit of the Regatta.
In Vintage Class the ultimate choice was difficult but in the end it was agreed that 72ft Herreshoff ketch, Ticonderoga, built in 1930, was the winner.
In Classic Class the beautiful 52ft Sparkman & Stephens yawl Mah Jong outshone her rivals and was voted first in her class.
In the closely-contested Traditional Class, the judges declared they had never seen the three Carriacou sloops that had entered looking so good. In the end, they awarded first place to 31ft New Moon who had worked so hard in the last few weeks to get her ready. This included stepping a new mast three days previously and fabricating their own rigging.
In the Spirit of Tradition Class, 47ft Freya of Midgard, designed by Bill Dixon and built in 2003, was the the obvious outright winner.
65ft Nat Benjamin Gaff Schooner Juno was voted Overall Winner of the Concours d'Elegance 2023; the judges pronounced the boat absolutely impeccable, thanks largely to the superb varnishing undertaken by the crew itself.
Sailing World on Water
Sailing these America's Cup boats is like tuning a musical instrument. If all is not in fine tune then anything can happen. Well it did this week for the British Americas Cup Challengers, as the boat suddently launched itself out of the water, leaping skyward. We bet that increased the crews heart rate!
In Auckland, local video shooter, Justin Mitchell, is once again the "man-on-the-spot, as the Emirates Team New Zealand's jib exploded at the tack', in 19 knots of wind, as it was under extreme load. Luckily no one was hurt.
This is your weekly Global Sailing Highlights show, the World on Water, for April 21, 2023. -- Geoff Waller
One Week to the start of racing at the ORC European Championship
Valletta, Malta: One week from today on Wednesday 26 April, 39 teams from 12 nations will set off on the first race of the 2023 ORC European Championship, organized by the Royal Malta Yacht Club (RMYC) under the authority of the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), the Malta Sailing Federation and with support from Yachting Malta.
This first race will be the Long Offshore Race portion of the program and is intended to last 30-36 hours for the slowest boat in the fleet, with finishes expected on Thursday 27 April. The remaining races in the championship will consist of Inshore windward/leeward races held on Friday and Saturday, 28-29 April, a Short Offshore Race of 10-12 hour duration on Sunday 30 April, and a final day of Inshore racing on Monday 1 May followed by the Prizegiving Ceremony.
Winners determined from scoring in three classes - ORC A, ORC B and ORC C - will be crowned 2023 ORC European Champions, and all-amateur teams will recognized with Corinthian division trophies as well.
ORC A class has 10 teams entered from Cyprus, Ireland, Italy and Malta. Among them is the ICE52 RS OTRA VEZ, owned by Aaron Gatt Floridia of the RMYC and a veteran of several Rolex Middle Sea Races that are held here annually in October.
ORC B class will be the largest and most internationally diverse at this event, with 18 teams from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Poland and Sweden.
ORC C class has 11 entries from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. It also has in its midst the reigning Class C ORC World Champion team: Ott Kikkas's mixed crew of Estonians and Italians racing on board his Italia 11.98 SUGAR 3. They won last year's ORC Worlds in Porto Cervo by a convincing margin, so they will likely be a team to watch next week in the waters off Valletta.
11th Hour Racing Team and Malizia to duel for top spot on In Port leaderboard
The Itajai In Port Race takes place at 1410 local time in Brazil on Friday afternoon (1710 UTC).
The forecast is for light winds, which could make for challenging and changeable racing on a course set near the currents from the Itajai-Acu River.
After two In Port races (Alicante and Cape Town), the leaderboard has 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malzia equal at the top with 8 points. Team Holcim-PRB, the winner in Cape Town, is three points further back.
The In Port Racing stands on its own as an event in The Ocean Race, but its leaderboard is important - this is the tie-breaking mechanism on the overall race scoreboard, so results here matter.
Biotherm, returned early on Wednesday for an unscheduled crane lift after snagging debris around their keel, but were back in the water later the same evening, none the worse for wear. And after an inspection and some minor work the team was on the course again Thursday.
The two days of action in the pro-am speed trials served as a welcome return to competitive sailing after the longest stopover in the Race.
In Port Race Series Leaderboard
1 -- 11th Hour Racing Team - 8 points
2 -- Team Malizia - 8 points
3 -- Team Holcim - PRB - 5 points
4 -- GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - 4 points
5 -- Biotherm - 3 points
70th Anniversary of 'Tostal na Gaillimhe' Currach Regatta Planned for Early May in Galway Bay
Click on image to enlarge.
The 70th anniversary of "Tostal na Gaillimhe", a traditional currach regatta, is to be celebrated off Salthill in Galway Bay in early May.
After a break of ten years, the event planned for May 6th and 7th has been billed as a "celebration of Galway's maritime life and seafaring customs" will be held off Ladies Beach along Salthill promenade.
It is being hosted by the Galway Hooker Sailing Club, in partnership with the Salthill village business community, Blackrock Cottage restaurant, the Gráinne Mhaol Rowing Club, and Galway City Council.
The event was initiated in the early 1950s, and "Tostal na Gaillimhe" of 1953 hosted by Bord Fáilte, marked the beginning of the All-Ireland Currach Racing Championships. After it lapsed in 1959, it was revived again in 2011, and new trophies were presented in 2012.
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Strong and well maintained Volvo 70. In excellent working order, she provides a good platform for the next owner to continue the charter experience or for personal offshore goals.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Berthon UK
Tel: 0044 (0)1590 679 222
E-Mail:
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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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1 Allee Titouan Lamazou
CS 20402 Olonne sur Mer
Les Sables d’Olonne
85109 Les Sables d’Olonne
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The Last Word
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could be president. I’m beginning to believe it. -- Clarence Darrow
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