EuroSail News #5326

In This Issue
• Australia Crowned SailGP Champions
• Transat Paprec
• Harken Black Magic Blocks
• Battling towards the finish
• Single-handed round Ireland record
• Galateia and Stormvogel claim Palmavela maxi classes
• Provezza power to Saint-Tropez title win
• The Happy Haunted Ship
• Orca and Yachts: Fact, Fiction and Fear
• Featured Brokerage:
• • 1944 Luders 24 - Belle
• • ClubSwan 50-008 ‘SPARTI’
• • RM 970
• The Last Word: P.J. O'Rourke

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

Australia Crowned SailGP Champions For Third Successive Season
Tom Slingsby’s Australia has reasserted its league-defining dominance by winning Season 3 in spectacular style and securing the SailGP three-peat on San Francisco Bay.

The Aussies claimed the one-million dollar prize in a nail-biting sprint to the finish after going head to head with Peter Burling’s New Zealand and Emirates GBR in the three-boat, winner-takes-all Grand Final.

Despite coming close to overtaking the Aussies and stealing the win, the Kiwis ran out of water in the dramatic sprint to the finish line and it was Australia once again who proved why they are the team to beat by soaring across the finish line.

Reflecting on the race, Australia driver Tom Slingsby admitted: “I thought we lost it.”

“That was not in the plan - I was very scared. I thought it could be the biggest choke of all time, but fortunately we were able to get it over the line.”

Fleet racing

The final fleet races of the event were packed with drama, with Jimmy Spithill’s United States colliding with Denmark on the start line of the fourth fleet race. Despite this, it was a solid day for Nicolai Sehested’s team, which picked up a third and fourth position to finish the event in forth overall.

France battled back from a terrible first day to pick up a race win in the fourth fleet race, but it was too little, too late for Quentin Delapierre’s team, which was denied a shot at the Grand Final by Emirates GBR.

The F50 fleet will next meet for the opening sail grand prix of Season 4 in Chicago on June 18-19.

sailgp.com

Transat Paprec
The leading group on the Transat Paprec have today passed offshore of the Straits of Gibraltar, the entrance to the Mediterranean, and are preparing their strategies for the approach to the turning mark off La Palma in the Canary Island where they turn west to cross the Atlantic to Saint Barth’s.

The Transat Paprec was formerly The Transat AG2R - La Mondiale and is a transatlantic race between Concarneau (Finistère) and Saint-Barthélemy (French West Indies) which takes place every two years.

The new sponsor Paprec and organisers OC Sport Pen Duick have initiated a change to the race format from 2023 so that is now 100% ‘mixed-doubles’ a double handed male-female partnership of co-skippers racing equally matched identical 10.89m (35ft 9in) Figaro Beneteau 3 foil assisted offshore one designs.

The course distance between Concarneau and Saint Barths is 3890 nautical miles.

The course record is 18 days 05hours 08 mins 03 seconds set in 2021.

Top five boats at 0030 French time May 8
1. Skipper Macif - Lois Berrehar / Charlotte Yven, 2418.6 nm to finish
2. Region Bretagne - CMB Performance - Gaston Morvan / Anne-Claire Le Berre, 2.1nm to leader
3. Region Normandie - Guillaume Pirouelle / Sophie Faguet, 2.2
4. Mutuelle Bleue - Corintin Horeau / Pauline Courtois, 7.3
5. Cap Ingelic - Camille Bertel / Pierre Leboucher, 15.5

transatpaprec.com

Harken Black Magic Blocks: It’s Time to Shrink Your Expectations
It’s not magic. Sailors tell us it’s the blend of strength and efficiency built into every Black Magic block that’s landed them aboard the world’s best race and performance cruising boats for a generation. Their performance comes from those very evident, very high-load roller bearings caged to eliminate bearing-to-bearing contact. Those are aided by captive thrust bearing balls for side loading, hidden just inside the sheave walls.

Today we make over 50 different Black Magic blocks including those with 150 mm sheave diameters with breaking loads over 13,500 kg appropriate for boats to 24 M.

You don’t own a maxi? Here’s good news. In a matter of weeks, we will ship the first completely maintainable, aluminum, Black Magic blocks with 45 mm sheaves. Expect the smallest Black Magic blocks ever! Perfect for primary sheet or halyard blocks for boats 9 M to 12 M, or equally appropriate when used in purchase systems for sail controls aboard bigger boats.

New 45 mm Black Magic will be initially available in single and double sheave models in soft and swivel attachment options. There will be singles and doubles with becket. Stand-up and runner blocks too. Shrink those expectations. Get big capability, size small.

harken.com

Watch a quick refresher on Black Magic blocks

Battling towards the finish
The competition level is high as 11th Hour Racing Team and Team Malizia duel towards the finish.

The ETA for the leading pair is trending towards 0400 local time in Newport on Wednesday morning (0800 UTC).

There is still some uncertainty in the models and complications in the choices available to Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team which could push this slightly in either direction.

Early on Sunday afternoon, 11th Hour Racing Team made a tack to the west that can only be considered a tactical option to positing the boat better for the weather to come, as it meant sailing slightly south of west, costing miles towards Newport.

As the American boat crossed just one mile ahead of Team Malizia, Harris elected to follow on the same line.

Some 8 hours behind the leading pair, Biotherm continues to fight through some light weather.

"We just haven't got much wind," said Alan Roberts, poking his head on deck, with a glassy sea state all around. "We just passed a little front and now we have quite light winds. We need to get into the northwesterly breeze to keep moving, but it's quite tricky."

Meanwhile, on GUYOT envrionnement - Team Europe, Seb Simon celebrated his birthday, complete with candle and cake and calls home.

What will make him happiest of all is gaining over 50 miles on Biotherm in the past 24 hours. On the 1400 UTC update, the GUYOT team was less than 100 miles behind.

theoceanrace.com

Single-handed round Ireland record: Tom Dolan's time is up!
Time ran out on the solo Round Ireland record attempt of Irish sailor Tom Dolan this Sunday of the Dun Laoghaire finish line. Unexpectedly light headwinds for more than 24 hours whilst he was sailing round the north coast and into the North Channel between Scotland and Northern Ireland left him beating slowly upwind with periods fighting against a strong tide.

Requiring to maintain an average of more than 7.2 knots, the Irish skipper at one point was more than 70 nautical miles ahead when sailing fast up the west coast on the heels of a moving weather trough but as he rounded the north west corner he was struggling to stay fast enough as the breezes dropped away and progressively went ahead.

Before he left Dun Laoghaire early on Wednesday morning the solo skipper of the 10m Figaro Beneteau Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan had warned that the weather window was a tight one which would either allow a time of around three days - well inside the 4d 1hr 53m record set in 2015 - or there would be a slow finish and the mark might be missed by a lot.

It was a tired, disappointed but totally objective Dolan who arrived back in Dun Laoghaire this afternoon,

A documentary about this adventure will soon be broadcast in France and Ireland. It will highlight the beauty of the coastline, Tom's performance, but also the protection of the environment so that future generations can enjoy it.

Race data :
Start 03/05/2023 03:27:54 UTC
Finish 07/05/2023 15:22:25 UTC
Established time 4d 11h 54min 31s
Record to beat 4d 01h 53min 29s
Gap +10h 01min 02s

tomdolanracing.com

Galateia and Stormvogel claim Palmavela maxi classes
Army of crew aboard Galateia, winner of the trophy for the best-placed IMA member and now early leader of the 2023 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge. Photo ©SailingShots by Maria Muina. Click on image to enlarge.

Sunday's race was a 19 mile coastal course in sub-10 knot conditions. As usual the two largest yachts, the Wallycentos Magic Carpet Cubed and Galateia were at each other’s jugulars. On this occasion it was Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones’ blue-hulled giant that made the best of the first upwind to lead around the top mark. However Galateia was swifter to dowse her Code 0 at the next turning mark, and managed to nose ahead, further helped when Magic Carpet Cubed chose to take the inshore route down the west coast of the Bay of Palma and was becalmed for a few minutes. However she subsequently came back strongly. The match racing between the two 100 footers continued right up to the finish line.

In winning the Maxi A class at Palmavela, Galateia also won Galateia also won the trophy for the best placed IMA member and strongly starts her campaign for the 2023 IMA Mediterranean Maxi Inshore Challenge, which she will continue with Rolex Giraglia next month and the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in September, before concluding the season at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.

Among the classics and modern classic maxis in the Maxi B class, Guillaume de Montalier’s Truly Classic 90 Atalante was the stand-out performer today although with the breeze dying this was a case of conditions favouring the faster boats. However Ermanno Traverso and the crew of the ‘original maxi’, Stormvogel, clung on and despite finishing more than an hour later than Atalante, both on the water and under IRC corrected time, scored a vital second place enabling them to win the Maxi B class by just a point from Atalante. -- James Boyd / International Maxi Association

palmavela.com

internationalmaxiassociation.com

Provezza power to Saint-Tropez title win
Ergin Imre’s Turkish flagged Provezza team kept their nerve and used their excellent light airs boat speed on the Gulf of Saint-Tropez today to lift the first title of the 2023 season as winners of the 52 Super Series Saint-Tropez Sailing Week.

While six different teams of the 11 competing won races from the eight sailed, Provezza were not among them. Rather it was their consistency across winds which ranged from 5 to 20kts which proved decisive. Going into the final race today tied on points with the 2022 champions, Doug DeVos’s Quantum Racing powered by American Magic, Provezza started well enough to earn a share of the favoured right side of the course and with a second place win the French regatta by six clear points.

With Kiwi Olympic bronze medallist John Cutler steering and compatriot Hamish Pepper calling tactics Provezza stayed focused today when their nearest challengers - who have a new afterguard this season - mistimed the light wind start and dropped to second place overall, sharing the same aggregate points tally as Tony Langley’s Gladiator who take third on countback.

Final standings 52 Super Series Saint-Tropez Sailing Week after eight races
1. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 2+5+4+6+2+6+7+2 = 34
2. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 6+8+8+1+3+1+5+8 = 40
3. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 5+3+3+11+10+3+4+1 = 40
4. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 4+4+7+4+5+2+11+6 = 43
5. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin and Gwen Fragomen, 1+1+6+8+7+9+10+3 =45
6. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 8+7+9+2+1+11+3+4 = 45
7. PLATOON (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 7+9+1+3+9+4+2+10 = 45
8. PAPREC (FRA), Jean Luc Petithuguenin, 11+6+2+7+6+7+6+11 = 56
9. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso and Tina Plattner, 9+10+11+9+4+8+1+5 = 57
10. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft Family, 10+2+5+10+11+5+8+7 = 58
11. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn and Tina Kang, 3+11+10+5+8+10+9+9 = 65

52superseries.com

The Happy Haunted Ship - Celebration At Killaloe For The Phoenix Sesquicentennial On May 15th 2023
Click on image to enlarge.

Until DBOGA President Adrian “Stu” Spence’s ancient 1873-vintage Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Madcap was sold away to France some years ago, John and Sandra Lefroy’s Phoenix was just one of three yachts of the circa 1870 era still in Ireland, the third one being the 1868 Dublin-built iron cutter The Nita, whose bare hull is currently in the Dublin yard of contractors John Sisk & Sons, awaiting a meaningful role as a monument of some kind.

But with Madcap’s departure, Phoenix is now unique, being still in full commission and prepared for her Sesquicentennial by David Lefroy and the family team. There are of course, some very ancient Galway Hookers in the west, bits of which are more than 150 years old. But as regular re-building is key to their survival, there’s no way that any of them can match the Phoenix for the amount of original material, which is still integral to an elegant vessel which has been such a well-loved feature of the Shannon scene for so very long. So long, in fact, that she now even has her own benign Ghost-in-Residence.

Sandra Lefroy put together some thoughts for a talk to the Dromineer Literary Festival on what the Phoenix means for her family and the wider inland waterways community, and we thank her for permission to use this expanded version of an extraordinary story.

* Editor's note: set aside half an hour for the full read and photos. For those of us who still cherish long form journalism, this one from WM Nixon and Sandra Lefroy is a gem. It's in Afloat...

afloat.ie/sail/

Orca and Yachts: Fact, Fiction and Fear
The Cruising Association (CA) is pleased to invite you to a Zoom webinar on ‘Orca and Yachts: Fact, Fiction and Fear’ led by the CA’s expert Regulatory & Technical Services group (RATS).

This is a free webinar for members and non-members which will be held at 1900 hrs on Thursday 18 May 2023.

The situation is naturally of great concern to the sailing community and the CA is committed to sharing knowledge and enhancing research on the phenomenon of orca interactions along the Iberian Peninsula and. The webinar will be presented by John Burbeck, member of RATS and lead of the orca project group, who will share valuable insights on the current understanding gained from orca experiences in 2022 and 2023.

At this live webinar, you will discover more about orca behaviour, interaction data and analysis, how to report an interaction or uneventful passage on the CA’s central reporting platform, along with information on orca tracking and location maps. The webinar will also share advice on staying safe and risk reduction if sailing in an affected area, including deterrent measures.

The webinar will conclude with a Q&A session. Questions can be submitted during the webinar or emailed in advance to . The CA will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible during the live webinar.

Members and non-members will need to register in advance to join via Zoom:

www.theca.org.uk

Featured Brokerage
ClubSwan 50-008 ‘SPARTI’. 1,100,000 EUR VAT Paid Located in Calpe, Spain.

Cs50 Sparti had been handled by professional captain and professional team, regularly maintained and always kept in perfect conditions. Super-fast boat been podium 3 times in the last 4 class world championships.

The ClubSwan 50 was developed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Nautor’s Swan shipyard and celebrate everything that has made this cutting-edge boat builder one of the most widely recognized and trusted brands in yachting

See listing details in Nautor Swan Brokerage

Contact
Jerome Mainemare

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1944 Luders 24 - Belle. 85,000 USD. Located in Newport RI USA.

A fast, pretty and successful Classic Day Racer, Belle, a Luders 24, Hull #2 is available after 34 years of current ownership. This thoroughbred has the coveted attributes of balance, ease through the water, and sheer good looks, together with “ahead of her time” construction, in top condition, make the phrase “Rare Opportunity” highly applicable here.

With a winning record of over 60 trophies; BELLE, a genuine CRFVintage class, is race-ready and in excellent cosmetic and structural condition. Laminated mahogany, hot molded and vacuum bagged, 38ft hull construction by Allied Aviation and finished at the renown Luders Marine Construction, CT (1944). Her 1991-1992 major refit included a cold molded underbody. Professionally and lovingly maintained, re-rigged, annually upgraded and inside stored.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
lminewport.com/lmi-luders-24-belle.php

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RM 970. From 162,750 ex VAT EUR.