EuroSail News #5392 - 10 August
In This Issue
• Three races completed - ORC World Championship
• 44Cup Cowes World Championship
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Austrian skipper attempts a World's First
• RWYC's 2023 Plymouth Fastnet 500
• Clipper to dock in Oban
• Home sweet home!
• The Bitter End Is Back!
• Industry News
• Featured Charter: YCH2 - Swan 90 Sailing Yacht
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Nautor Swan 55 CC
• • AC40
• • HH77/88 - NEW BOAT
• Back on Monday, no Friday Issue
• The Last Word: Mae West
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
Three races completed after a long day in Kiel at the ORC World Championship
Kiel, Germany - Yet another day of brisk westerly winds in the Kieler Bucht prompted race managers from Kieler Yacht-Club to hold another morning Coastal Race on Day Three of the 2023 ORC World Championship. This was the second Coastal race for Class A and the third for Classes B and C. Like the previous days, the start was close to the city of Kiel in front of Kieler Yacht-Club, with the course the same as the previous two days and a finish in front of the main venue at Schilksee Harbor.
Wind speeds today for this race were a more manageable 15-25 knots compared to near-gale force on Monday, yet there were still many teams that either dropped out or did not start due to damage from the previous two days of strong winds. The most common problem seemed to be broken sails, both headsails and mainsails, since many teams reverted to the back-up sails in their inventories to preserve their newest sails to use when the wind drops later in the week. These back-up sails were the most prone to problems, so the event's supporting sailmakers have been kept busy overnight with repairs.
The westerly did, however, start backing down in the mid-afternoon today to 15-20 knots, allowing race managers to set windward-leeward courses on three course areas dedicated to each class and positioned between the Schwedeneck headland and the Kiel lighthouse. With the first warning signal at 1500 local time, two races were run in succession for all classes, bring the total number of races to five in the series for Classes B and C and four for Class A when racing concluded today at about 1800...it was a long day indeed for these teams.
ORC World Championship 2023 - Summary of the results after Day Three:
Class A (15 entries) - 2 coastal and 2 inshore races
1. Beau Geste TP52 - Karl Kwok (HKG) 1+1+1+1=4
2. Outsider TP52 - Tilmar Hansen (GER) 2+4+2+2=10
3. Red Bandit TP52 - Carl-Peter Forster (GER) 3+3+3+4=13
Class B (29 entries) - 3 coastal and 2 inshore races
1. Windwhisper 44 Grand Soleil 44P - Marcin Sutkowski (POL) 1+1+1+2+1=6
2. Sirena Swan 42 - Peter Buhl (DEN) 2+2+2+1+6=13
3. White Shadow Landmark 43 - Torkjel Valland (NOR) 6+3+4+5+4=22
Class C (65 entries) - 3 coastal and 2 inshore races
1. Matilda 4 J-112E - Juss Ojala (EST) 1+4+2+1+2=10
2. Shadow J-112E - Harles Liiv (EST) 1+1+1+5+3=11
3. Team PRO4U First 36.7 - Patrik Forsgren (SWE) 2+4+2+2+1=11
Charisma Favourite Going Into 44Cup Cowes World Championship
The pinnacle of the 44Cup's 2023 season sets sail Thursday 10 August with the opening races of the 44Cup Cowes World Championship.
This is the second occasion the high performance Russell Coutts-conceived one designs have raced on one of yachting's most famous stretches of water: the Solent. In 2021 it was Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing with a crew led by Michele Ivaldi that won ahead of Team CEEREF and Team Aqua.
The Solent's fierce-some reputation as a yacht racing venue is due to its geography. With Southampton Water entering it from the north, the Solent is effectively the channel dividing the Isle of Wight from Hampshire. It's unique tidal characteristics plus being peppered with sand banks, shallows, ledges and spits and all their accompanying eddies and back eddies, makes it one of the toughest stretches of water to navigate. This week racing will be held northeast of Brambles Bank, off Lee-on-the-Solent.
To help understand the Solent's complexities, most 44Cup teams are relying upon specialist local knowledge. To help Team Nika for example, British tactician Nic Asher has employed his former 470 Olympic crew Elliot Willis, while Igor Lah's Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 already has as its tactician local Adrian Stead (fresh from winning the Rolex Fastnet Race) and has also enrolled leading international navigator Jules Salter. But perhaps best qualified is local sailor Graham Sunderland author of Winning Tides who is advising Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing. Could it be coincidence that the French team won here in 2021 when Sunderland was also advising them?
Racing starts with a first warning signal at 1130. It will take place in the central Solent but will again be sent off from the Royal Yacht Squadron line on Saturday, as they were for today's practice racing.
44CUP Overall Ranking 2023
(After two events)
1. Charisma - 2 1 - 3
2. Team Ceeref powered by Hrastnik 1860 - 1 5 - 6
3. Peninsula Racing - 4 2 - 6
4. Aleph Racing - 3 3 - 6
5. Team Nika - 5 4 - 9
6. Black Star Sailing Team - 8 6 - 14
7. Artemis Racing - 6 8 - 14
8. Team Aqua - 7 7 -14
Seahorse August 2023
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Trickledown… but a capital T
Multiple Olympic medallist and America’s Cup skipper Iain Percy is flat out - but he’s looking way past more trophy collecting. Tim Jeffery
Nailing it - Part II
As of now Don Macintyre is planning to take part in his next ocean racing event himself (but he did try that once before). Dan Houston
Blink of an eye
Faster tacks, smart logic, easy operation. Diverse Performance Systems has found some intriguing new ways to improve on the standard water ballast system
Sailor of the Month
Between them these two have everything covered
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Austrian skipper attempts an Extreme Sailing World's First
Skipper Norbert Sedlacek leaving the channel from Les Sables d'Olonne on his Open60AAL - photo © Innovation Yachts / Siegfried Becker. Click on image to enlarge.
Norbert Sedlacek, renowned skipper in Les Sables d'Olonne and founder of Innovation Yachts, is embarking on a historic journey today from les Sables d'Olonne as part of his ANT ARCTIC LAB project.
He crossed the starting line at 11h 33' 54" local time, which will also be the finish line in about six months.
Sedlacek will set a world's first by sailing non-stop around the world, crossing all five oceans, including Arctic and Antarctic Ocean single-handed and without assistance!
At the heart of this extraordinary endeavour is the innovative and sustainable OpenAAL designed and built by the Ocean Tribute Award winner 2023, Innovation Yachts.
The sailing yacht has been meticulously engineered to be environment-friendly and energy-efficient, showcasing Sedlacek's commitment to preserving our planet for future generations. The boat's advanced technology and design make it self-sufficient in terms of power, enabling Sedlacek to complete his voyage without relying on fossil energy sources!
This record-breaking attempt aligns perfectly with Sedlacek's deep-rooted passion for exploring uncharted territories and pushing the boundaries of human achievement. By sailing solo and without assistance, he aims to showcase the utmost skill, determination, and resilience required to conquer such a formidable challenge.
RWYC's 2023 Plymouth Fastnet 500
Many offshore races are old and steeped in tradition. Not the Royal Western Yacht Club (RWYC) of England's Plymouth Fastnet 500 race, which is set to begin its second edition on Sunday, August 6. The event is open to mono- and multihulls that measure between 24 and 70 feet, LOA and that carry a valid IRC or MOCRA certificate. Teams can opt to race in fully crewed mode, doublehanded, or - for the boldest skippers-singlehanded. And, as the event's name implies, there is a rather famous lighthouse rounding involved.
The race begins on the waters of Plymouth Sound, on the UK's south-southwest coast, and teams exit this body of water via its western entrance. They then round Fastnet Rock to port before passing the Isles of Scilly (again to port), before crossing a finishing line that's situated between Breakwater Lighthouse and Plymouth Sound's Queens Ground buoy.
All told, teams will race roughly 500 nautical miles on a course that avoids the three tidal gates (the first at Hurst Caste, the second at Portland, the third at Start Point) that can sometimes flummox teams competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race. Better still for yacht owners, the Plymouth Fastnet 500 starts and finishes at the same place, thus simplifying logistics.
David Schmidt interviews Adrian Gray, Rear Commodore Oceanic of the RWYC
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race to dock in Oban, Scotland for first time ever
For the first time in its 27-year history, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race will be making a stop in Scotland when it sails to Oban during its upcoming edition.
Clipper Race crew will experience the breathtaking beauty of this West Coast town and a warm Highlands welcome when they visit in July 2024 - the penultimate stop on the 40,000nm race around the world. The Clipper Race is renowned as one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet. Welcoming adventurers from all walks of life to take on the exceptional challenge of racing across the world's oceans on board a 70ft yacht, this unique event sees teams battle extreme conditions on its eleven-month circumnavigation. The Clipper 2023-24 Race sees nine Scottish crew taking part over the eight legs of the sailing event.
Whilst a brand-new stop on the Clipper Race circuit, Clipper Ventures has visited the destination as part of the company's other events and initiatives. In 2021, in partnership with Our Isles and Oceans, the company ran four weeks of sail training programmes out of Oban. These sessions were for young people who had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Its yachts returned to Oban in 2022 to run additional courses.
Oban has also featured on SKIRR Adventures' itinerary. Clipper Ventures' Arctic exploration brand, which takes crew up to the High Latitudes, has stopped to explore the West Coast town before heading up to Iceland and Greenland.
Home sweet home!
We approached the Bitter End Yacht Club by water and the scene that opened up before us hummed with early morning activity - boats tying up at the docks, the open-air reception area a dynamic pass-through for guests coming and going, and playful kids leaping off a floating pontoon into the warm turquoise water just off the beach. Those first impressions captured the essence of something that was different to what had been before, yet in many ways, was just the same as it always had been.
The world-renowned and beloved resort, which has existed in some iteration since the '60s, is open again for business after a devastating loss in the wake of Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The resort lost some one hundred structures; just one original cottage was spared. When disaster strikes, there is nothing more to do than to gather the pieces and start the next chapter, which is precisely what the folks at the Bitter End Yacht Club have been doing these past six years. Rebuilding the resort in the British Virgin Islands' North Sound has been as much of a spiritual endeavor as a physical task of reconstruction; it needed to be purposeful, as Kerri Jaffe, President, BEYC International, noted.
"We looked to our history because it was so important to us that people felt that legacy and sense of place when they arrived at the new BEYC," she said. "We had to find ways to reinvent that so it existed in every element of what we did." -- Michelle Slade
Full story in Caribbean Compass
Celebrating Fifty Years in 2023: The Bitter End Is Back!
Industry News
With the support of the Tourist Boards of Gran Canaria, Saint Lucia, and Grenada, World Cruising Club is pleased to be able to offer a limited number of assisted places to accredited media to cover preparations at the start of the ARC+ and ARC rallies in Las Palmas and/or the arrival of the fleet at the finish in Grenada or Saint Lucia. See below for details and dates of the ARC+ and ARC routes this season.
The support typically includes flights and up to 5 days accommodation. If you or a colleague would like to cover ARC+ or the ARC this year, and wish to be considered for an assisted place, please submit an application using the link below no later than Friday 1 September.
For journalists sailing on a participating boat, with commissioned articles about the ARC, support of one-way flights may also be available.
We will issue formal invitations in September when we have received all the expressions of interest. If you are interested in coming to Las Palmas and/or Grenada or Saint Lucia, please don't delay in replying, as we only have a limited number of places available.
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PredictWind, the world-leading provider of weather and routing services for the marine industry, is proud to announce the availability of the Iridium GO! exec. This device is the most versatile unit in the satellite phone market with its increased data speeds, improved functionality, and competitive pricing.
What makes the GO! exec unique for the marine user is the low power draw, battery backup and portability coupled with the improved speeds over its predecessor. The GO! exec allows the user to get more weather data while offshore, while retaining key safety features. The IP65 water rating and ability to make voice calls directly from the unit, with a sealed battery, make this unit life-raft capable and an essential safety device.
PredictWind Weather Routing has transformed the way cruisers get weather offshore. With the Iridium GO! exec, weather routing calculations are even faster and more accurate. "Gigabytes of data are used in the PredictWind cloud to calculate the route in a compact file that is less than 1% of the equivalent GRIB data," says Jon. "This data saving is a game-changer for low-speed satellite connections, and is now even faster to acquire with the Iridium GO! exec."
predictwind.com/iridium-go-exec/
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Sailmakers working at UK Sailmaker's network of over 50 lofts and service centers around the world may speak many different languages, but they share one common thread in their approach to making and servicing sails. Simply put, UK Sailmakers is committed to supporting sailing with sustainable sailcloth.
Sustainable sailing has manifested itself in numerous ways, ranging from the Racing Rules of Sailing that prohibit marine littering, and regattas that ban single-use plastic containers. Non-sustainability can rear its ugly head in the form of derelict boats and worn-out sails that end up in dumpsters, chippers, or landfills. None of those are good things.
UK Sailmakers has taken our sailing sustainability initiative one step further by acting globally to minimize the environmental impact of our sail manufacturing processes to help protect the world's oceans. We are doing this with the help of two companies from which we purchase the sailcloth used to make your new UK Sailmakers' sails.
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A+T Instruments, leaders in the high-end yacht instruments market, have announced Ronald Bunders, highly acclaimed electronics expert, as Technical Sales and Support. Ronald will lead the company's technical support for super yachts and race boats building on the current base of over 500 of the planet's largest and fastest yachts using A+T equipment.
Ronald, originally from Holland is now based in Palma. He has been an electronics specialist for close to 30 years and most recently engineer on SY Leopard 3. Ronald is very well-known in superyacht circles, having spent over 20 years as a Project Manager at Tijssen in Holland and then Palma.
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Jean-Paul Roche, CEO and founder of Alliance Marine Group, announces that he hands over the helm of the group to Jérémy Tedguy, currently Deputy CEO Finance and Acquisitions.
Jean-Paul Roche is a discreet man who entered the boating industry through a former career in the automative parts business. In 1993, he takes over the management of Vidal Diffusion Marine (VDM). Very soon, his expertise in distribution combines with a strong interest for boating and he creates Alliance Marine Group in 1999 also based in Toulon (Med part of France). The group is clearly and quickly assessed as a specialist in the distribution of boating equipment and this identity is soon reinforced with the acquisition of French companies SEIMI, Euromarine, Reya, Accastillage Diffusion, Berthelot, Plastimo, Kent, Berra and then Sogeric, HDS and Lognav.
In only 15 years of activity, Alliance Marine Group boasts a 100 M€ turnover and enjoys a solid share of the French equipment market in recreational boating, professional marine and industry segments. As from 2017, a major strategic step is taken as the group targets international markets and grows significantly with the acquisition of subsidiaries* in Germany, Italy, UK, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. 2022 turnover is 310 M Euros.
Featured Charter
YCH2 - Swan 90 Sailing Yacht. From 45,000 per week EUR. Located in West Mediterranean
YCH2 is a high performance sailing yacht out of the Nautor's Swan shipyard.
Offering exceptional comfort and safety, along with ample space for guests to relax, YCH2 is the perfect yacht for a Mediterranean or Caribbean cruise. She features sleek styling and quality construction in both her interior and exterior.
Designed by German Frers, the interior of YCH2 offers accommodation for up to 6 guests in 3 cabins. To ensure a full luxury experience, she is also accompanied by 4 full-time professional crew members.
See listing details in Seahorse Charters
Contact
Charter Department
Bernard-Gallay
Phone : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail : or
See the the Seahorse charter collection
Featured Brokerage
1995 Nautor Swan 55 CC. 275,000 EUR. Located in Preveza, Greece.
Hull No.17 of 22, extended reverse-transom German Frers designed Nautor Swan 55 with 3-cabin ‘family cruiser’ layout. Fully equipped for comfortable bluewater adventures and benefitting from comprehensive 2020 refit.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Alex Grabau
Tel: +44 (0)1590 673715
Email:
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AC40. Price : POA EUR/
Presenting the AC40, a scaled AC75 foiling day-racer designed by Emirates Team New Zealand and built by McConaghy. A one-design class that brings America's Cup foiling performance to a competitive racing circuit. With self-tacking headsails and battery power replacing grinders, the yacht is sailed by two helmsmen and two trimmers. An autopilot control system maintains stable flight. For full details go to mcconaghyboats.com/yachts/ac40/
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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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
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
Back on Monday
Your humble narrator will be celebrating 38 years of marriage to my dear Katie Thursday evening. See you on Monday.
The Last Word
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. -- Mae West
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Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see eurosailnews.com/advertise/
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