In This Issue
• 44 candidates for the Vendee Globe 2024
• Volvo China Coast Regatta Starts 13 Oct
• Votes open for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image award
• IOM Europeans
• Sailing World on Water
• Reunion Island stopover for GLOBE40
• The One Year Countdown To The America's Cup
• The Bigger the Rig, the Harder it Falls
• Uruguayan Skipper wins race into hometown
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Kialoa II S & S Classic Racing Yacht
• • Southern Wind 78 ELISE WHISPER
• • RM 970
• The Last Word: Stephen Hawking

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

44 candidates for the Vendee Globe 2024
The Vendee Globe has never been so attractive. For the 10th edition of the non-stop, non-assisted, single-handed round the world race, 44 skippers have applied. A record.

There are a number of newcomers, the 18 'rookies'. The youngest skipper, Violette Dorange, is now just 22 ! She is due to compete in her first round-the-world race aboard the boat on which Jean Le Cam completed the 2020 Vendee Globe. King Jean, the emblematic face and oldest skipper in the race, should be lining up at the start for the 6th time, on his brand new IMOCA with straight daggerboards, which has just been launched.

Among the 6 candidates - as many as the 2020 record - Sam Davies, Justine Mettraux and Clarisse Cremer have high ambitions at the helm of high-performance boats and are looking forward to taking part in the battle for the podium.

Damien Seguin, the first disabled skipper to complete a Vendee Globe in 2020-2021, should be back alongside Jingkun Xu, ayoung Chinese skipper with an arm amputation. Their candidacy highlights that Vendee Globe is also an inspiring demonstration of inclusion.

Full list of skippers for 2024 as of 12 October

vendeeglobe.fr

Volvo China Coast Regatta Starts 13 Oct
Sailors are gearing up for the first major Big Boat event of the season; the Volvo China Coast Regatta which will take place from 13 to 15 October. 36 boats will line up for the start in what is anticipated to be three days of great racing, showcasing Hong Kong yachting at its best.

The 36 strong fleet will compete over six divisions: IRC 0,1, 2, 3, IRC Premier and PHS. The IRC Racer 0 division includes an impressive line-up of five TP52: with four local Hong Kong teams - Sam Chan’s FreeFire, Noel Chan’s Rampage88, Robert Wiest / Victor Kuk / David Ho’s Phoenix together with the new entry for this year - Dominic Law’s Happy Go and the Philippines entry Standard Insurance Centennial 3 helmed by Emerson Villena, who will be putting their crew through their paces before joining the Volvo Hong Kong to Vietnam Race on 25 October.

IRC Racer 1 comprises of mix of Fast 40s, including Bo Wu/Lu Xinqi Kiki’s Ker 46+ Unicorn, competing against their rival Marcel Liedts’ Ker 46 Zannekin; while Stanley Tse’s Carkeek 40 Kikukei’s Dream II will debut in their first China Coast Regatta. They will be joined by two Neo boats: Stefan Fillip’s Neo 400+ Neo One and Eddy Lee’s Neo Roma 430 Next and the returning winner William Liu’s Ker 42 Custom Seawolf.

IRC Racer 2 will feature close competition amongst three Cape 31s, including last year’s divisional 2nd placed Andrew Taylor/Denis Martinet’s Capitano, which will lineup against David Kong’s Out of Africa and Randy Yeung’s Tai Chi by Simplicity. The competition will be spiced up with the inclusion of Nick Burns’ King 40 Witchcraft (last year’s division winner) together with other strong local contestants; Glenn Smith’s Grand Soleil 44 Wild Card, Dennis Chien’s Mat 1245 Arcturus+, James Verner’s Nightshift, Albert Cheung's Bad Idea Bears on Full Tilt and Herman Wong’s FT10 Kiasu.

This year’s IRC Premier Class comprises two boats: Peter Churchouse's Moonblue 2 and Tom Attenborough's Parnassus and eight entries will compete in the PHS class (former HKPN class) joining the weekend action. The fleet includes many recognisable names from recent editions of the regatta such as the trimaran Niccolo Manno 's Carbon 3, Ming Lou 's Coral Harbour, Patrick Kwan's DBX2, Sunny Leung 's Jibulai, Carl Wilkinson 's Lisa Elaine, Stephen Hart 's Sea Eagle, Carl Law 's Victoria and Johnson Yuen 's Zoe participating.

The IRC Racer and Premier Class divisions will be racing on 13 to 15 October and PHS Class racing on 14 to 15 October. Sailors will be competing in a variety of windward/leeward and geometric and island courses in the waters south and east of Hong Kong Island. -- Vivian Ngan

chinacoastraceweek.com

Votes for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image award 2023 open at midday (CET)
144 professional photographers representing 30 nations, which is a new record, have submitted their best photo for the 2023 edition of the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image award.

Public voting is open from today midday (CET) until November 8 on yachtracingimage.com

The top 20 images will be exhibited at the world's largest maritime industry trade fair: METSTRADE Amsterdam, on November 15 - 17. The awards ceremony will take place on November 16 at METSTRADE at 4:30 pm. Yacht racing photographers form all over the world are cordially invited to the event.

Three prizes will be awarded to the winners: the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award (main prize), selected by the international jury, the 'Public Award', based on the number of public votes online and the 'Delegates Award' based on votes from METSTRADE visitors.

yachtracingimage.com

IOM Europeans
Click on image to enlarge.

Torrevieja, Spain: The European Radio Control IOM, which has been held since last October 9th at the Real Club Nautico de Torrevieja, closes its first chapter in this new format of competition for the class, with three qualifying rounds and two finals, today the first, and with the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Copper groups.

the race committee has been able to close a total of 15 races in the qualifying round of three days.

Today's race repeated the same script, with a start in an area with a northerly breeze to go to the east. The gold and silver fleet was able to complete six races, while the bronze and copper seven.

The Croatian Zvonko Jelacic (JK Zenta) has taken the lead with 57 points with three discards (2 in the qualifying round and 1 in the final). In today's round Jelacic was very regular, key to place himself in first place, although in the third round he scored an 11, a result he took off.

France dominates the podium, silver and provisional bronze thanks to sailors Alexis Carre (CV Cazaux-Lac) who has 72 points, while Olliver Cohen (SN Sablais) is third just 3 points behind his compatriot.

The European championshihp will be resolved on Friday, October 13th.

2023iomeuropeans.rcnt.com

Sailing World on Water
The INEOS Britannia Americas' Cup session looked to be going smoothly, until a failure in the rudder system saw it begin to move in an unusual manner, the boat then made a sharp 90-degree turn nosediving the boat and tossing the sailors around.

Nobody was hurt and the boat was towed back for extensive repairs in Barcelona.

This is your weekly Global Sailing Highlights show, the World on Water, October 13, 2023.

Carrying the flag for the UK, the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team is driven by the most successful Olympic sailor of all-time, Sir Ben Ainslie. Alongside Ainslie, Emirates GBR's crew line-up is packed with the country's top sporting talent, including the most successful female Olympic sailor, strategist Hannah Mills OBE. As well as becoming the first team to take franchise ownership, Emirates GBR has been a formidable force on the SailGP race track since it joined the league in Season 1 and often deploys fierce match racing tactics to get ahead of the fleet. We listen in to the on-board comms.

The DRHEAM-CUP / GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE DE COURSE AU LARGE 2024, the race between Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and La Trinite-sur-Mer will jump another hurdle in its fifth edition, as results will count towards the RORC Championship, and it will be the second race in the IRC Two Handed European championship. -- Geoff Waller

boatson.tv

Reunion Island a New Nautical Destination for the GLOBE40 2025/2026
Reunion Island is the new Indian Ocean destination for the 2nd edition of the GLOBE40. In November 2025, the urban area of Territoire de L'Ouest will play host to the event's competitors in Pointe des Galets Marina. A first for the island, it joins a rather special club of major international offshore racing destinations, in the wake of Lorient, Auckland, Polynesia and Brazil in the previous edition. Part of a crew project, preparations are already under way to enable Reunion to bring to the world stage the exceptional natural heritage that embraces both the maritime and mountainous assets of the aptly nicknamed Intense Island.

Following on from the prologue in Lorient, the Official Start and the 1st Atlantic leg, this second leg will be the first serious offshore clash for the skippers with the passage of the equator, the rounding of the Azores High, and a drop down to 34° South to negotiate the Cape of Good Hope, before climbing up Africa's eastern seaboard, leaving Madagascar to the west. As such, it's a very attractive introduction to the epic legs that await the competitors in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

The urban area of Territoire de l'Ouest groups together the main tourist towns to the west of the island, the coast to leeward of the trade wind (La Possession / Le Port / Saint-Paul / Trois Bassins / Saint-Leu).

The scope of the course for the GLOBE40 2025/ 2026: globe40.com/en/skippers-area/- see appendix 1

To discover Reunion Island visit: reunion.fr

To find out more about the island's Western communities visit: ouest-lareunion.com

The One Year Countdown To The America's Cup
We are now into the final push. It's exactly one year to go until the talking stops, the training and testing and the Challenger Selection Series are over, and the ultimate Challenger has been decided to line up against the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, for Race One of the America's Cup Match. The most anticipated day of every America's Cup cycle.

The pressure building on all the teams in this cycle is palpable with big decisions having been taken in terms of hull profile design but even bigger ones in terms of foils, systems, sail designs, crew protocols and racing playbook styles still very much up in the air. Through the summer in Barcelona, the teams have been working hard to familiarise themselves with the unique conditions that they encounter on a daily basis off the La Barceloneta seafront with its swells the chop, and all manner of conditions from flat calm to full-on. It's an ultimate sailing challenge but even more of a design conundrum.

Some parameters are set in stone for the racing with lower and upper wind limits set out in the Protocol governing the 37th America's Cup. Some of the componentry onboard the AC75s is also set to pre-ordained designs and standards but the race in a developmental battle with thousands of variables remaining for the world's best designers, engineers, mechatronics experts, AI developers and computer technicians to delve into to find the winning edge.

americascup.com

The Bigger the Rig, the Harder it Falls
Click on image to enlarge.

The main mast of a historic excursion vessel splintered and fell onto the deck Monday, killing one person and injuring three others aboard the schooner Grace Bailey off the coast of Maine, officials said.

A nearby Coast Guard vessel began evacuating the injured passengers within minutes of the mast's catastrophic failure and collapse on the deck, which occurred while the schooner was returning from a four-day cruise, the vessel's owner said in a statement. Thirty-three people were on board the schooner, which was about 1 mile east of the Rockland harbor, the Coast Guard said.

One person died from injuries and three people were transported to hospitals Monday, the Rockland Fire Department said. A helicopter transported one of the injured, while the other two were transported to a local hospital, fire officials said.

Charlie Weidman, owner of Charlie's Marine Service, was first on the scene at 10:26 a.m., shortly after the initial mayday, to find CPR was already being performed on one victim. Another victim had a head injury and two others had crush and spinal injuries, said Weidman, a trained emergency medical technician who pulled alongside and went aboard to assist.

"It is an unforeseen circumstance," Weidman said Monday afternoon. "No one trains to have a giant mast break on a schooner. Everyone acted with professionalism. Everyone was doing the best they could with the gifts that they had."

southernwoodenboatsailing.com

Uruguayan Skipper wins race across the Atlantic into hometown of Punta del Este 
Yacht Club Punta del Este has been crowned the winning team of the Clipper Race 2: Hundred Years Cup. The Uruguayan team entry, representing the Yacht Club Punta del Este, triumphantly sailed into its home port having taken the win of the 5,300 nautical mile race across the Atlantic from Puerto Sherry, Spain to Uruguay. This is the first time in a decade that a Clipper Round the World Yacht Race home boat has won into its own port.

The last time a home boat won into its own port on the Clipper Race was on the 2013-14 edition. The Derry-Londonderry-Doire entry skippered by local Sean McCarter win the race from New York to Derry-Londonderry in June 2014

Yacht Club Punta del Este topped the leader board after Race 1, where it placed second but scooped three extra points for being the only team to tackle the Scoring Gate. The team has now maintained its place at the top after being the first to cross the line into Punta del Este and picking up an extra point earlier in Race 2 when it placed third in the Scoring Gate.  

It's now a waiting game to see if the team can push further into the lead when the results of the Ocean Sprint are announced on Monday (16 October) at the Race 2: Hundred Years Cup Prizegiving ceremony.  

Following the stopover in Punta Del Este, the fleet will continue its circumnavigation on Leg 2 as it races the 3,555 nautical miles to Cape Town, South Africa, a destination making its eleventh appearance on the Clipper Race circuit. 

It will then head to Fremantle, Newcastle and Airlie Beach - Australia, Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, Qingdao and Zhuhai - China, Seattle and Washington, DC - USA, before returning to Portsmouth at the end of July, 2024, via Oban, Scotland. 

Race route:
Leg 1 - Portsmouth, UK - Puerto Sherry, Spain - Punta Del Este, Uruguay
Leg 2 - Punta Del Este, Uruguay - Cape Town, South Africa
Leg 3 - Cape Town, South Africa - Fremantle, Australia
Leg 4 - Fremantle, Australia - Newcastle, Australia - Airlie Beach, Australia
Leg 5 - Airlie Beach, Australia - Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam - Zhuhai, China
Leg 6 - Zhuhai, China - Qingdao, China - Seattle, USA
Leg 7 - Seattle, USA - Panama Canal, Washington, DC, USA
Leg 8 - Washington, DC, USA - Oban, Scotland - Portsmouth, UK

clipperroundtheworld.com

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The Last Word
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. -- Stephen Hawking

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