In This Issue
• Hunting the breeze
• Mistral Winds at Semaine Olympique Francaise
• Making life easy - The Super Yacht Cup
• IMA Caribbean Maxi Challenge 2023 winner announced
• Cup Spy : American Magic ventures into Gulf of Mexico
• Youth & Women's America's Cup
• Gigs, Cakes and Prize-giving
• Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race
• 19th edition of PalmaVela
• Featured Charter: Felci 71 Performance Yacht 'La Videlle'
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Bella Donna
• • HH77/88 - NEW BOAT
• • Infiniti 52R
• The Last Word: Douglas Adams

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

Hunting the breeze
It hasn't been a straightforward start to leg 4 of The Ocean Race as the IMOCA teams zig-zag away from the coast of Brazil, seeking favourable conditions to the east, whilst keeping an eye on the overall goal of making miles north.

There's also big picture weather that dictates overall strategy to consider versus the very localised impact of clouds and squalls that must be deal with.

These shifts are what account for the tracks behind the boats on the race tracker as the fleet takes it in turn to weave up to the north and then to the right towards the more favourable winds offshore to the east.

As of 1400 UTC on Tuesday there is a small split in the fleet, with 11th Hour Racing Team, Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm now 30 miles to the north of Team Malizia and GUYOT environnement.

The teams will be yearning for more stable, stronger conditions as the fleet is yet to make a 200 mile day towards the finish in Newport.

Race Tracker

theoceanrace.com

Mistral Winds at Semaine Olympique Francaise
The Med's famous Mistral pushed the sailors to their limits and beyond on day 2 of the 54th Semaine Olympique Française de Hyeres - TPM. Glorious sunshine and 23-knot+ westerlies building throughout the day and gusting towards 30 welcomed the fleets in the Bay of Hyeres. Big wind specialists relished a rare chance to spread their wings, but for some - even Olympic medalists - it was the windiest conditions they had ever sailed in.

The 49er and FX classes were first out on the water in the morning to ensure they were able to start their regatta after being the only ones to miss out on Monday.

An overnight wind shift will see shifting lighter winds on Wednesday, although some westerlies in the night teens might blow through in the late afternoon.

Did not sail:
Formula Kite (men's and women's foiling kitesurfing)
Nacra 17 (mixed double-handed hydrofoil catamaran)
470 (mixed double-handed dinghy)

sof.ffvoile.fr

Making life easy - The Super Yacht Cup
Superyacht regattas are immense fun but for many owners the perception of increased stress in exchange for a few days' racing keeps them on the sidelines. The SuperYacht Racing Association is working to change that.

A recent online meeting of the SuperYacht Racing Association (SYRA) saw a selection of global superyacht event organisers focus their collective minds on one particular issue. On the agenda was the apparent hesitancy of some superyacht owners, along with their captains, to experience the delights of regatta racing.

While no single answer presented itself and there was a general acceptance that some owners prized their solitude and would remain beyond reach, the overall takeaway from the SYRA gathering was that a variety of identified obstacles should and could be addressed and overcome.

Full article in the May issue of Seahorse

IMA Caribbean Maxi Challenge 2023 winner announced
The modified Volvo 70 Pyewacket 70 off St Barth last week en route to IMA Caribbean Maxi Challenge victory. Photo by Christophe Jouany. Click on image to enlarge.

Les Voiles de St Barth-Richard Mille concluded yesterday with a regatta of straight bullets for Roy Pat Disney's modified VO70 Pyewacket 70 on her first visit to the Caribbean. Following this and her line honours and overall IRC victory in February's RORC Caribbean 600, Pyewacket 70 has won the second edition of the International Maxi Association's Caribbean Maxi Challenge. Roy P Disney and the Pyewacket 70 crew, including navigator Peter Isler, was congratulated on their victory by IMA President Benoît de Froidmont at Les Voiles de St Barth-Richard Mille's prizegiving at the event race village in Gustavia on Saturday evening.

The IMA, which is officially tasked by World Sailing to look after the interests of maxi owners and maxi racing internationally, established its Caribbean Maxi Challenge in 2022, following on from its equivalent Inshore and Offshore series which have run for several seasons in the Mediterranean. For 2023 the series comprised the RORC Caribbean 600, St Maarten Heineken Regatta and Les Voiles de St Barth-Richard Mille with competitors obliged to compete in at least two. Winner of the first Caribbean Maxi Challenge in 2022 was another former VO70, I Love Poland.

Pyewacket 70's owner Roy P Disney, is from the famous Hollywood animation and film dynasty and great grand-nephew of Walt Disney. The Disney passion for sailing began with his father Roy E Disney whose Pyewacket sailing program was launched in the 1980s (named after the witches' cat from the film Bell, Book and Candle). Over the years various Disney maxis, notably a Reichel-Pugh 75 and a canting keel maxZ86, have won line and handicap honours and set records in all of the major offshore races in the USA and further afield. Ashore, Roy E Disney was highly influential in the development of the US west coast ULDB sleds, synonymous with California's top offshore race - the Transpac.

Following the death of Roy E Disney in 2009, his son has continued his family's strong sailing tradition which culminated in 2021 in the acquisition of the latest VO70 Pyewacket (originally Telefonica in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race, subsequently raced in Australia as Black Jack.) In 2021 Pyewacket 70 won line honours (the 'Barn Door Trophy') and was second in class in the Transpac. -- James Boyd / International Maxi Association

internationalmaxiassociation.com

Cup Spy : American Magic ventures into Gulf of Mexico
What happened in the Cup:

- American Magic was towed offshore to sail their AC40 in a 2-4ft swell and in moderate winds. The US team seemed to focus on getting a greater ratio of tacks in than gybes - doing three times the number of tacks to gybes. Their dry tack percentage was well down (75%), possibly due to in experience with the AC40 in this sea state.

- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in a building breeze and very pleasant sailing conditions. The Italians were sailing with six crew, with the extra two crew probably having an impact on the LEQ12's ability to self-start its foiling, needing to be towed up on one occasion. But towards the end of the session the breeze came up to 18kts, with an accompanying sea-state, but there were no further issues.

- Emirates Team New Zealand sailed for the third successive day in the seabreeze which has been blowing for a full week. There were no incidents reported. The waterfront gossip has it that the AC75 is hitting 55kts or more - maybe not surprising in the steady windstrength of 18kts plus. Whether that is a bearaway speed spike, or a steady sailing speed is not known. The AC75 is sailing with legacy (2021Cup) wingfoils and the speed at which these are cavitating, and indeed how ETNZ's test foils on their 40fter are behaving in this regard remains as one of the intriguing questions of the campaign to date.

- INEOS Britannia sailed their 40ft test boat in a good breeze at the start of their session, getting some good rides, and staying foilborne for 50 minutes at one juncture. The breeze faded to 10kts later in the day bringing the session to an end.

- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC40 One Design out of Barcelona, again in a great sailing breeze, and were able to put in 33 tacks and gybes, and achieving a dry tack/gybe percentage of 94% which is the standard that top teams should be able to achieve in the One Designs.

- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).

Richard Gladwell's full report in Sail-World.com

Youth & Women's America's Cup
The line-up for the Youth & Women's America's Cup has been completed with the announcement that teams from Germany, Sweden and Australia will be joining the established six official entrants for the America's Cup representing New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, America and France alongside the already confirmed Youth & Women's America's Cup teams representing Spain, the Netherlands and Canada.

The newly confirmed entrants are as follows:

Germany - 'EmbRacing Team Germany' on behalf of the Kieler Yacht Club 3.V and Norddeutscher Regatta Verein

Sweden - 'Swedish Women's AC Challenge / Swedish Youth AC Challenge' on behalf of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club and the Royal Swedish Yacht Club.

Australia - 'Team Australia Challenge' on behalf of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

The new teams now start the planning and selection trials for both their Youth and Women's squads who will compete in Pool B against Spain, the Netherlands and Canada in a scheduled six to nine fleet race series, with all races to count, to determine the top three teams from each Group (A&B) to proceed to the Final Series where they will meet Youth & Women's teams representing the America's Cup syndicate countries.

americascup.com

Gigs, Cakes and Prize-giving
Photo by Claire Matches, clairematches.com. Click on image to enlarge.

This afternoon, to great acclaim, the traditional Gig Racing and Cream Teas returned to the Admiral's Inn once again. These events are unique to the Antigua Classics, with its unparalleled historic backdrop of Nelson's Dockyard, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the joyful and intimate ambience created from the camaraderie that evolved during the Regatta.

For the racing, classic gigs and dinghies were loaned from participating yachts and the races were directed by old hand, Flip Bamford as usual, a brilliant way to wind down after the main regatta races. The classes were male or female racing as singles, doubles or mixed and families with their children.

The prize-giving ceremony was held this evening at the Dockyard Museum compared by Tommy Paterson. Barrels of rum sponsored by English Harbour Rum were presented to first, second and third placed winners of each class in the regatta

Full results on Yachtscoring.com

antiguaclassics.com

Five J109s - including the ISORA Champion - Line up for Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race
The all-conquering North Wales-based Mojito is one of five highly competitive J109 offshore cruiser racers that will contest June 7th's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race organised by the National Yacht Club.

Two of the J109s entered are West Cork based, with Finbarr O'Regan's Artful DodJer from Kinsale Yacht Club and Tony O'Brien's Tighey Boy from Schull Harbour.

As regular Afloat readers will recall O'Regan's Artful DodJer was one of five boats to controversially suffer a 20 per cent time penalty after being judged to have entered the Tuskar Shipping Traffic Separation Scheme in the 2021 race.

The other two are drawn from the Dublin ISORA fleet, with Simon Knowles Indian from Howth entered and the Shanahan family's Ruth coming from the host club who took third overall in an arduous 22-mile ISORA last Saturday.

The five J109s are part of a red-hot Class One D2D fleet of nine boats, including the defending champion in the 270-milers, Denis Murphy's Grand Soleil 40, Nieulargo.

Organisers have 35 entries for the race so far and expect a fleet of over 40, a highlight of the 2023 Irish offshore sailing calendar.

afloat.ie/sail/

The Classic and Traditional Yacht fleets even stronger in the 19th edition of PalmaVela
Photo by Nico Martínez / PalmaVela. Click on image to enlarge.

Palma, Spain: A little over a week to go before the first race of PalmaVela, this year celebrating its 19th edition, and once again, the regatta is proudly supporting its vocation as a multi-class event. It will gather not only the ORC, One Design and big boat classes, but the fleets of classic and traditional yachts; even more numerous in this new edition organised by the Real Club Nautico de Palma (RCNP).

The fleet will be made up of fourteen boats, compared to the seven participants in the last two editions, and will be represented by five countries: Spain, Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Switzerland. The promise of a spectacular show out on the racecourse, where some of the treasures of sailboat racing will be competing for their title in the first major event of the Mediterranean regatta calendar.

The winner of the last edition, Gabriel Catala's January Sails has confirmed they will be back on the start line this year, alongside the 2021 winners in the Classic and Traditional Yacht divisions, Jens Ricke's Legolas and Tim Liesenhoff's Marigan. All three are competing under the RCNP flag.

Among others, the three Wally Nanos will also be back: Marcus Schiermann's Little Thila, Sir Andrew Cook's Nostromino and Stefan Seuss' Niji.

The racing programme for the Classics will begin on Friday 5th May at 13:00h, with a total of up to three coastal races planned for their three days of racing.

palmavela.com

Featured Charter
Felci 71 Performance Yacht La Videlle. From 16,000 per week EUR. Located in West Mediterranean.

A semi-custom performance cruiser, La Videlle was launched in 2006 by Italian shipyard CN Yacht 2000 (now known as ICE Yachts).

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Charter Department
Bernard Gallay Yacht Brokerage
Phone : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail :

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
1999 BELLA DONNA Open 50. 185000 EUR. Located in France.

Very robust, reliable, spacious and versatile boat fully refurbished to participate in the Route du Rhum 2022.

The boat was built in 1999: she took part in the Transat Jacques Vabre, she then completed the Transat Québec-Saint Malo and the Route du Rhum in 2002 before being stored ashore for several years. She therefore completed three short-handed transatlantic races without difficulty.

In 2021, she was fully refurbished, she took part in the Middle Sea Race 2021 (6th doublehanded) and she took part in the Route du Rhum 2022.

Complete refit in 2021 and 2022

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

Phone : +33 (0) 467 66 39 93

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HH77/88 - NEW BOAT

The new HH88 is all about customization. Never before has a platform this big built from 100% carbon fibre and carefully crafted from computer cut moulds been so adaptable. The HH88 is an ocean going cruiser that has pace, with enough space to look after its guests and owners in true luxury. With or without a flybridge, with or without additional crew and guest cabins, with or without a jacuzzi, these are just the beginnings of the world of customization that is on offer.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Hudson Yacht & Marine

+1 864-324-7825
+1 401-924-4566

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Infiniti 52 R POA EUR.

The Infiniti 52 R is a custom-designed Grand Prix racing yacht developed to take full advantage of the performance benefits of DSS. Ideally suited to race coastal and offshore in locations all over the world and competitive under all rating systems, the Infiniti 52 R changes the game in this size range. Developed in conjunction with 4-time Whitbread/Volvo winner Stu Bannatyne, the Infiniti 52 R was developed to fulfil the wishes of a number of clients who were looking for a yacht that would provide a significant performance increase over current options but able to sail and race with 50-60% of the crew traditionally required for yachts of this size.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Infiniti Yachts
Tel: +44 7920 395397
Email:

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Anything that thinks logically can be fooled by something else that thinks at least as logically as it does. - Douglas Adams

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