EuroSail News #5330

In This Issue
• Biotherm complete the Leg 4 podium
• Black Pearl maintains a Modest Lead in Antigua to Bermuda Race
• Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race
• Leaders Morvan and Le Berre under pressure
• Cup Pathway Opens for Women's and Youth Sailors
• How the $1 Million Final was won - SailGP Final 2023 - San Francisco
• 70 Finns to challenge for European titles on Balaton
• Fourth time lucky for Fastnet monohull line honours?
• ORC Mediterranean Championship starts in one week
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Swan 48-203 'Mia'
• • Balance 750
• • Arcona 415
• The Last Word: Leo Tolstoy

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

Biotherm complete the Leg 4 podium
Skipper Paul Meilhat and his Biotherm team had a long wait to get to the finish on Thursday morning in Newport, Rhode Island.

With an initial ETA of 0530 local time, the light overnight winds nearly died completely with the sunrise, leaving the team to battle adverse conditions for a few more hours before they finally glided across the finish line at 08:04 in the morning local time in Newport, 12:04:38 UTC, for a leg 4 time of 17 days 19 hours 49 minutes and 38 seconds.

It's a third place finish for Meilhat, and leaves his team in fourth spot on the overall race leaderboard, five points behind of Team Malizia and 11th Hour Racing Team, who sit equal on 18 points, just a single point adrift of the race leader, Team Holcim-PRB.

The Leg from Itajaí to Newport started well for Biotherm, who were in the lead, or very close to it, for most of the race up the coast of Brazil. An unfortunate few hours in the doldrums saw the team completely becalmed, while the others raced away, effectively ending their chances of competing for a leg win.

Roberts was one of three new crew members to join Meilhat for this leg, who said the new group gelled quickly to become a strong crew.

Meilhat said the team suffered minor damage across several areas during the storm three days ago that saw their rivals on GUYOT environnement - Team Europe dismasted. The Biotherm team will focus on getting the boat ready ahead of the Newport In Port Race, scheduled for Saturday 20 May ahead of the leg start on Sunday 21 May.

Leg 4 positions / points
1. 11th Hour Racing Team - 5 points 2. Team Malizia - 4 points
3. Biotherm - 3 points
4. GUYOT environnement - Team Europe - suspended racing
5. Team Holcim-PRB - retired from leg - 0 points

The Ocean Race Leaderboard (through leg 4)
1. Team Holcim-PRB -- 19 points
2. 11th Hour Racing Team -- 18 points
3. Team Malizia -- 18 points (tie is broken by In Port series standings)
4. Biotherm -- 13 points
5. GUYOT envrionnement - Team Europe -- 2 points

Black Pearl maintains a Modest Lead in Antigua to Bermuda Race
After trailing Tod Slyngstad's HH 66 catamaran Nemo by approximately 50 miles on Wednesday, Stefan Jentzsch's Botin 56 Black Pearl had pulled ahead by 3 miles as of 0600 Thursday morning and has expanded the lead slightly to 9 miles Thursday afternoon. The wind has been following them but appears about to swing to the North which should favour Black Pearl. Both yachts past the halfway point this morning.

Black Pear's l lead in the CSA fleet on corrected time has expanded to 2 ¼ hours ahead of Peter Blunden's Dufour 500 Life of Reilly. Following 1 1/4 hour behind is the sister entry from the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Ray Rhinelander's J133 Bella J. -- Les Crane

antiguabermuda.com

Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race
Photo by Pierre Bouras. Click on image to enlarge.

Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagraviere (FOR PEOPLE), first in Brest

By crossing the finish line of the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race Brest-Brest this Thursday evening at 8:15:02 p.m. local time, Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagraviere (FOR PEOPLE) take first place (before the jury) in the 2023 edition. of the test. Their race time is 4 days 06 hours 15 minutes and 02 seconds.

* Jeremie Beyou and Franck Cammas (Charal 2) second in Brest

By crossing the finish line of the Guyader Bermudes 1000 Race Brest-Brest this Thursday evening at 8:41 '43' local time, Jeremie Beyou and Franck Cammas (Charal 2) take second place (before the jury) on the edition 2023 of the test. Their race time is 4 days 06 hours 41 minutes and 43 seconds. Their gap to the first duo (Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagraviere) is 26 minutes and 41 seconds.

guyaderbermudes1000race.com/en

Leaders Morvan and Le Berre under pressure
Cap Ingelec, Camille Bertel, Pierre Leboucher - Transat Paprec 2023 at sea. Click on image to enlarge.

Gaston Morvan and Anne-Claire Le Berre remain resolute leaders of the Transat Paprec holding a cushion of around 2.8 nautical miles but they have seen their margin halved since yesterday.

And as the trade winds ease very slightly the tail of the main peloton is also gradually losing touch with the top four mixed doubles duos. There are 12 miles between Morvan and Le Berre on Region Bretagne-CMB Performance and fourth positioned Guillaume Pirouelle and Sophie Faguet on Region Normandie, but then there are a full 18 miles back to fifth and sixth.

The Courtois sisters, Pauline and Julia, are both in the fight. In second Pauline is racing with Corentin Horeau on Mutuelle Bleue whilst Julia is seventh, co-skipper with Maël Garnier on AGEAS Ballay Cerfrance Baie de Saint Brieuc.

"Saint-Barth is still a long way off," stated Julia Courtois flatly during the radio session this Thursday morning. They are well over half way but still have just under 1500 miles to sail with an ETA in Saint Barths around the 19th or 20th May.

Top five at 1700hrs BST Thursday 11th May 2023
1 Region Bretagne CMB Performance (Gaston Morvan/Anne Claire le Berre) 1496 miles to finish
2 Mutuellle Bleue (Corentin Horeau/Pauline Courtois) +2.4 nms
3 Skipper MACIF (Loïs Berrehar/Charlotte Yven) +4.8 nms
4 Region Normandie (Guillaume Pirouelle/Sophie Faguet) + 12.3 nms
5 Cap Ingelec (Camille Bertel/Pierre Leboucher) +30.1 nms

transatpaprec.com

Cup Pathway Opens for Women's and Youth Sailors
Newport, R.I.: Over the past nine months, the New York Yacht Club American Magic Women's & Youth America's Cup Task Force has assembled a talented core roster of sailors with the drive and ability to claim the inaugural editions of the Women's and Youth America's Cup regattas in late summer and early fall of 2024.

"It should come as no surprise that the United States has a wealth of young sailing talent," says Peter McClennen, co-director of the Task Force. "We've been very pleased with the quantity and the quality of the sailors who have tried out for our squad. We have a great core of athletes that will be competing at the highest levels of our sport this coming summer and fall."

Complacency, however, is the kryptonite of an America's Cup campaign. While current team members are spread across the globe sailing in everything from TP52s to Olympic class yachts to foiling monohulls and mulithulls, the Task Force has scheduled an Open Evaluation Event for this June in Newport in Persico 69F foiling monohulls.

Applications for the Open Evaluation Event are due by Friday, May 19. Accepted sailors will be invited to attend the two-day Evaluation Event, June 17 to 18. Based on performance during the Evaluation, a select group of athletes will be asked to continue for a three-day training session, June 19 to 21, and subsequent three-day Persico 69F Regatta, June 22 to 24. At the end of the week, team coaches may select any sailors they deem qualified to join the Women's & Youth AC Team Development Phase.

Each application must include a short resume highlighting high performance sailing experience, and references who can attest to an individual's sailing skill level. It's important to prepare those two items before completing and submitting your application here. -- Stuart Streuli, Director of Communications

nyyc.org

How the $1 Million Final was won - SailGP Final 2023 - San Francisco
In the time it takes to watch this video, one team won $1million.

When the SailGP show rolled into town in San Francisco for the Season 3 Finale there was one key question being asked... Who was going to join the Australians and Kiwis in the million dollar final?

Barring any boat breaking dramas, throughout the season the two Southern Hemisphere teams had clocked up enough points to secure their positions in the Season 3 showdown already.

So, would it be, the British or the French? The pair were separated by just one point. Ben Ainslie, Tom Slingsby, Hannah Mills, Quentin Delapierre and Peter Burling give their analysis of the key moments from the weekend while Matt Sheahan provides an overall view of the final and crucial event in SailGP Season 3.

planetsail.co.uk

70 Finns to challenge for European titles on Balaton
More than 70 Finn sailors from 21 nations are heading to Lake Balaton in Hungary for the 2023 Open and U23 Finn Europeans, which opens on Saturday after two days of equipment checks and registration.

Lake Balaton is the traditional home of the Hungarian Finn fleet with many of the clubs around the lake home to Finn fleets and a lot of experience in hosting Finn championships. After the 2007 Europeans and the 2017 Finn Gold Cup were held the other side of the lake at Balatonföldvár, next week for the first time, Procelero Sport Club (PSC) in Csopak, in the north-east of the lake, will host the 2023 Open and U23 Finn Europeans.

The pre-entry line up in Csopak includes 73 boats from 21 nations, the largest entry for this event since pre-pandemic times. It will also produce a new European champion, with last year's winner, Miguel Fernandez Vasco, from Spain, absent after taking a sabbatical from Finn sailing this summer.

Unsurprisingly the home fleet have entered in strong numbers and include double U23 world champion and 2023 Finn Gold Cup runner-up Domonkos Nemeth, and 2021 Europeans Masters champion, Akos Lukats.

Measurement and registration in Csopak are taking place from 11-13 May with the practice race and opening ceremony on the 13 May. A series of 10 races is scheduled from 14-18 May. -- Robert Deaves

2023.finneuropeans.org

Fourth time lucky for 50th Rolex Fastnet Race monohull line honours?
Rambler 88 rounds the Fastnet Rock. She returns this year rechristened Lucky. Photo by ROLEX/Kurt Arrigo. Click on image to enlarge.

While the top prize in the Rolex Fastnet Race is the Fastnet Challenge Cup for the winner of IRC Overall, considerable kudos comes with finishing first on the water. This will be especially true for the monohull line honours winner of this year's 50th anniversary edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's premier event, who will also receive the Erroll Bruce Cup and a Rolex timepiece.

Not since Jolie Brise in the first race in 1925 has any yacht secured the 'triple' ie overall and line honours plus setting a new record.

For this year's historic 50th Rolex Fastnet Race the environment seems right for a yacht to achieve the 'triple'.

For 2023 there is a stand-out line honours monohull winner in Lucky, the former Rambler 88, now being campaigned by American Bryan Ehrhart. Her nearest competition, depending upon conditions, will be Peter Morton's Maxi 72 Notorious or the two VO70s Il Mostro and HYPR.

The 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race starts from Cowes, Isle of Wight on Saturday 22nd July. For further information, please go to the Rolex Fastnet Race website: rolexfastnetrace.com

ORC Mediterranean Championship starts in one week
Sorrento, Italy: One week from today 36 teams from 9 nations around the world will be assembled in the harbor in Sorrento, doing their final preparations to start racing on Friday, 19 May through Sunday, 21 May for the ORC Mediterranean Championship and Campionato Nazionale del Medio e Basso Tirreno. The event is organiszed by Circolo Remo e Vela Italia under the patronage of FIV and in cooperation with Yacht Club Italiano, Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and UVAI.

These entries represent high levels of both local and international talent, with some having just finished the week-long ORC European Championship in Malta 10 days ago. These include Karl Kwok's (HKG) TP 52 BEAU GESTE, who is the new 2023 ORC Class A European Champion, and will be racing among 14 entries from 8 nations (ARG, ESP, FRA, HKG, ITA, SUI, SWE and USA) in this class.

In Class B there will be 10 teams from two nations – ITA and FRA – and only one alumnist from the ORC Europeans in Malta: fifth-placed MORGAN V, Nicola de Gemmis's Club Swan 42.

Class C will feature 12 yachts from CZE, ESP, and ITA, and three from the ORC European Championship in Malta. These include Class C Silver medalist SCUGNIZZA, Enzo de Blasio's (ITA) Italia 11.98, Bronze medalist HEBE V, Jakoubeck Zdenek's (CZE) M37, and fifth-placed GUARDAMAGO II, Massimo Piparo's Italia 11.98.

tregolfisailingweek.com

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