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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe 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 Brad Van Liew Wins Velux 5 Oceans Ocean Sprint Three
Sprint three took the Velux 5 Oceans fleet more than 6,000 nautical miles from Wellington in New Zealand to Punta del Este via Cape Horn, for sailors one of the most respected and feared landfalls in the world. It was Brad's third solo rounding of Cape Horn, making him the only American to have raced round the famous landmark three times singlehanded. "Three legs won and three times round Cape Horn safely - those are two very important facts for me, two massive hurdles," Brad said as he stepped off the dock after 23 days at sea. "It's nice to have a nice point lead now and it's nice to be here in Punta. It's a fantastic place here and I have missed it. It's great to be back." Brad sailed 6,530 nautical miles in an impressive 23 days, 17 hours and 46 minutes at an average speed of 11.5 knots. After setting sail from Wellington on February 6, he reached Cape Horn in just 16 days. After a frightening experience at Cape Horn in 1998 during which his yacht was smashed by hurricane-force winds and seas over 20 metres high, Brad knew all too well the potential danger of the Horn. Brad is awarded the maximum 12 points for his leg win, cementing his lead at the top of the rankings on 43 points. Just a few hundred miles from the finish line a battle is raging between Derek Hatfield, Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski and Chris Stanmore-Major, all fighting for second place. At the 1800 UTC position report just ten miles separated the three skippers. All three are currently expected to arrive in Punta del Este on Thursday. Positions at 1800 UTC: Skipper / distance to finish (nm) / distance covered in last 24 hours (nm) / average speed in last 24 hours (kts) Brad Van Liew, Le Pingouin: Finished Tuesday March 1 2011 in 23 days, 17 hours and 46 minutes having sailed 6,530 nautical miles at an average speed of 11.5 kts Robust Conditions Take A Toll Virbac-Paprec 3 and MAPFRE, some 78 miles apart this afternoon, are trying to outrun the approach of a fast moving low pressure system, the regenerated, reinvigorated Atu (Atu v2.0?) and escape around Cape Horn into the Atlantic. But it is the fleet's tailgunners on We Are Water which has struggled the most today after being temporarily knocked flat by a big wave, taking water inside the boat. At between 1815hrs UTC this Tuesday evening the mast of Central Lechera Asturiana broke with half of the spar falling into the water. Co-skippers Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio are reported to be uninjured and have been successful in recovering the broken half of the spar, the genoa which went in the water and all of the standing rigging is reported to be largely intact. They have managed to set a jury rig comprising part of their mainsail and a small staysail and were making a speed of around 7 knots towards Farewell Point. On arrival in the New Zealand capital they will carry out a detailed assessment of the damages with representatives of North Sails and Southern Spars from Auckland. After breaking their mast off Lisbon on the 2nd of December whilst on the delivery passage from Sanxenxo to Barcelona, they won their three week race to step a replacement rig on time and managed to make the race start on 31st December. Central Lechera Asturiana made a technical pit-stop Cape Town to repair their hydraulics for their keel ram. The boat raced in the first edition of the Barcelona World Race with Pachi Rivero and Javier 'Bubí' Sanso as Mutua Madrileña and completed the 2004-5 Vendee Globe in third place as Mike Golding's Ecover 2. Rankings at 1400hrs Tuesday 1st March 2011 Get Out Of The Doldrums, Register Now For Dyneema&Reg; Experience Team - Free Rigging, Sailing Master Class, Fun, Fun, Fun DSM Dyneema, producer of Dyneema®, the world's strongest fiber™, and its partners are recruiting the globe for 40 'skippers' to test running-rigging made with Dyneema® fiber and share their experiences through social media. If you are selected as part of the 2011 Dyneema® Experience Team, we will re-rig your boat completely free of charge with ropes made with Dyneema®. All we ask of you is that you test and experience rigging with Dyneema® and share this with us, your friends, family and other sailors worldwide, through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. The most active social media 'skipper' of the 2011 'Dyneema® Experience Team' will also enjoy a masterclass with a friend on one of the Volvo Ocean Race Yachts in Alicante. Dyneema® has proven to be highly versatile for a wide range of products in the yachting industry. The combination of high performance and durability makes it the ideal material, for running rigging for performance cruisers and professional sailors. The closing date for applications is March 4, 2011. The 2011 Dyneema® Experience Team ends on September 23rd 2011. Register now at www.dyneemaexperience.com Join the team www.dyneemaexperience.com Budget Marine Match Racing Cup
Holmberg, who earned $3,000 for his second-place effort, had won both previous editions of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. But Brady, and his all-star crew of Chris Larson and Marc Plaxton, clearly had his number today. In the earlier finals to determine third and fourth place, Colin Rathbun's Team BVI dispatched veteran U.K. match racer Simon Shaw and his squad, also by a 2-nil score, to earn the $2,000 check for third. Brady, Holmberg, Rathbun and Shaw advanced to the Final Four in the eight-team field after an earlier round-robin on Simpson Bay conducted in often fluky, shifty winds ranging from 6-8 knots to the mid-teens. Brady was undefeated in the initial ten-flight round-robin series, sailed in Jeanneau SunFast 20s. The other four teams in the series were skippered by Russian sailors Eugeny Nikiforov and Peter Kochnev, Brit Marc Fitzgerald and young, rising star Erik van Poelgeest of Holland, currently serving an internship here in St. Maarten. However, the day belonged to Brady and his crew. "It was just one of those days, you can't ask for more," he said. "It was shifty, it was tricky, it was all about sailing. Our goal today was just to get faster and faster because if you get to the finals you want to be confident in your speed so you can focus on the wind shifts because the breeze dies down and it does get tricky." For complete results of the Budget Marine Match Racing Cup, including photos and video, as well as information on the GILL Commodores Cup and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, visit www.heinekenregatta.com RORC Increase Rolex Fastnet Race Limit
The Rolex Fastnet Race reached its entry limit 10 days after opening and over 130 boats are on the waiting list. "We were staggered at the speed with which people signed up," said RORC Commodore Andrew McIrvine. "We had to do something to satisfy the huge interest, and taking the non IRC yachts out of the total is a fair solution allowing more loyal RORC racers to get their boats into the race." Removing the non-IRC classes will add about 50 more places to the total. To cater for the number of boats arriving in Plymouth, Sutton Harbour Marina has increased the amount of space by making the whole of the berthing area adjacent to West Pier and the Barbican available to the Rolex Fastnet fleet. Sutton Harbour has also become the official berth provider for the race. To accommodate the increased number of entries, space has been booked in Queen Anne's Battery, adjacent to Sutton Harbour and in Plymouth Yacht Haven in the Cattewater, where a water taxi service will be set up to connect competitors with the race office based at Sutton Harbour. The 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race starts in Cowes, Isle of Wight on Sunday 14 August. ORACLE RC44 Cup San Diego After the inaugural U.S. event in Miami at the end of the 2010 season, the class is now heading west to make its 2011 debut at the Oracle RC44 Cup San Diego. The event features 11 RC44 teams representing nine nations. Match and fleet racing will take place over five days on San Diego Bay with spectacular free spectator viewing areas from portions of Broadway Pier, Harbor Island and numerous areas along the downtown waterfront. Among the top sailors set to compete on the 2011 RC44 Championship Tour are class designer Russell Coutts (NZL), American yachting legend Paul Cayard and San Diego native son Rod Davis, Audi MedCup winners Morgan Larson (USA) and Jose Maria Ponce (ESP), Olympic Gold medalist Kevin Burnham (USA), along with some of the world's top match racing talent including Cameron Appleton (NZL). The RC44 class was conceived and co-designed by four-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts. With an evenly split amateur and professional crew line-up, the class attracts the world's leading business minds as their owner-drivers, along with many of the world's top sailors. For Oracle RC44 Cup San Diego information, or to book a hotel room, visit www.oraclerc44cupsandiego.com 2011 ORC GP Class Rules Now Posted The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is pleased to announce the 2011 Grand Prix class rules for the GP26, GP33, and GP42 classes have been finalized and posted on the ORC website at www.orc.org. While the GP33 rules have remained unchanged from 2010, the GP26 and GP42 rules have some new features in response to requests from designers and sailors in these classes, reflecting the evolutionary trends seen in similar offshore-capable keelboats of these sizes. This is the last set of ORC rules to be finished for 2011, and will remain in effect until new rules get approved and published in 2012. Any modifications or interpretations will be administered within each class. Each GP class rule has been designed to create custom or semi-custom boats within very tight shape and construction controls. Designers may exercise some design freedom within the parameters expressed in each class rule, while the opportunity exists for them to pursue optimizations in design within the designated boxed parameters. In the GP26 rules, changes include a lower minimum rig weight, allowance of 2-spreader alloy masts, and allowance of a carbon fibre keel blade, with a corresponding adjustment in the keel bulb weight parameters. In the GP42 rules, the maximum crew weight has been reduced by 80 kg to 720 kg, bowsprits are now allowed, as well as square-top mainsails seen on so many offshore boats in this size range. JP Morgan Asset Management RTIR Launched In London
The 80th anniversary of the world famous JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race was launched in London today, with a photography exhibition called 'Around the Island in 80 Years' and celebrates the beautiful images shot over the last 8- years by some of the worlds leading yachting photographers. This year will mark the 80th anniversary of the event which attracts over 8,000 competitors on almost 1,800 boats and sees families racing against the world's greatest sailors n the 60 mile course around the Isle of Wight. This years race will be held on Saturday 25th June 2011. For further JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race images please visit: www.w-w-i.com/round_the_island_race_2010/ Dubarry Crosshaven - Born In The South Dubarry Crosshaven - boots born in the Southern Ocean. Extreme Sailing Series 2012-2014 Host Venue Bid Process Commences In 2011, four new host venues of Qingdao (China), Istanbul (Turkey), Boston (USA) and Nice (France) have signed up to the circuit, as the fleet returns to previous host venues of Muscat (Oman), Cowes (UK), Trapani (Sicily), Almeria (Spain) and Singapore. As of today, proposals are welcomed from cities and regions that feel they can offer what it takes to host a great Extreme Sailing Series event for the next three years, beginning in 2012. Bids will be evaluated on the same criteria that were applied to select the 2011 venues. First and foremost, a suitable venue that can facilitate the 'stadium' racing concept, strong support from local governments and authorities, the ability to attract tens of thousands of spectators and a solid regional and national marketing and communications plan. To receive the Host Venue Tender document that outlines the full rights package and criteria, please email Fabien Delahaye Joins Normandy Channel Race This latest entry testifies to both the vitality of offshore racers in Normandy (Halvard Mabire and Christophe Coatnoan have already registered, as well as Axel Strauss based in Caen) and the development and rooting of the event in the territory. A top level dinghy racer for several seasons, Fabien Delahaye made an auspicious entrance in the Figaro circuit in 2009 as 1st rookie in the Solitaire du Figaro that year, then in 2010 he came 4th in the French Championship of solo offshore racing, a year also marked by a victory in the Transat AG2R alongside Armel Le Cleac'h. Breton co-skipper Bruno Jourdren is a highly experienced regatta sailor and offshore racer, a former European champion in the Class 8, a familiar face on the podium of the Melges24 circuit and winner of the Transat AG2R in the Figaro Beneteau in 1998. After this he was a silver medallist in the Paralympics of 2008 in Beijing and has also spent several years on the Class 40 circuit with, most notably, a 3rd place in the first Class40 transatlantic race, the Solidaire du Chocolat in 2009. As such it's a highly competitive crew that will be sailing aboard the Rogers design Class40, number 59. -- translated by Kate Jennings 18ft Skiffs Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship, Race 13
Unfortunately for all teams the race was absolutely no gauge to the upcoming titles as it was sailed in possibly the worst wind conditions for several seasons. At no time did the breeze get above 5-knots and as for direction it was somewhere from a westerly direction. After nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes, John Winning, Andrew Hay and Dave Gibson brought Yandoo home the winner and have increased their lead in the Club Championship. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) and SLAM (Grant Rollerson) took second and third placings respectively after staging a boat-for-boat battle in practically non-existent wind on the final leg of the course. Yandoo's winning margin was 14m30s with another 30s between second and third. It would be practically impossible to describe the race as it was a matter of where each boat was when small pockets of breeze were about. The JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship will commence this Friday afternoon when all teams will contest the Invitation Race. First point score race of the championship will be sailed on Saturday 5 March. Following races will be sailed on 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13 March. Frank Quealey www.flying18s.com Mascalzone Latino Back in the USA Onorato's team is therefore back to the Florida's celebrated peninsula, to race in the 2011 Miami Melges 32 Chamionship. With the presence of about 20 boats, Mascalzone Latino will have to contend with a very strong American contingent, headed by John Porter 's Full Throttle, the current World's Vice-Champion. The Italian contingent is completed by Lanfranco Cirillo's Fantastica. Mascalzone's team will be on board its Melges 32 after an eight months' focused on other programs like the Louis Vuitton Trophy and to the RC44 Class, where they showed recently a great form by achieving two brilliant victories in the last two events: in Miami last November and in Key West just few weeks ago. The racing schedule starts on Friday the 4th March, and will last for 3 days with a maximum number of eight races. Vincenzo Onorato will be at the helm of Mascalzone Latino ITA 2121 and there will be sailing with him, at the tactic Francesco Bruni (2009 World Vice-Champion), Alberto Bolzan as mainsail trimmer, Andrea Ballico and Stefano Ciampalini as trimmer, Matteo Savelli as pitman, Iztok Knafelc as mastman and Daniele Fiaschi as bowman. This regatta is will be the first event for Mascalzone Latino in the Melges 32 Class circuit, and it will be a good training for the Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series and for the top event of the season, the World Championship in Palma di Maiorca. Featured Brokerage Designed specially for IRC, the A40RC is a winner. 9/10ème rigging, fin lead keel, she can sail very close to the wind. Very spacious, her cockpit is equipped with two wheels and is always very easy to use as well for racing or for cruising. Brokerage through Jebsen Marine: www.yachtworld.com/jebsen/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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