In This Issue
• World Match Racing Tour Final
• Italians first to claim victory at Youth Sailing Worlds
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Bacardi Winter Series 2023/2024 Kicks Off
• A Well Navigated Life
• Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large
• Portuguese J70 Nationals • Global Sailing World on Water
• Palamos Christmas Race
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Ker 40+ - 'Elvis'
• • Bavaria C57
• • Southern Wind 78 'Elise Whisper'
• The Last Word: Leon Russell

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

World Match Racing Tour Final
Shenzhen, China: The second day of the 2023 WMRT Final in Shenzhen, China, carried a recurring theme of challenging light wind conditions and a slim margin for error. The start was delayed with a postponement due to light winds until the breeze filled in, and racing began at about 1300 local Shenzhen time.

Sweden's 'Master of Marstrand', Bjorn Hansen, and his crew of Philip Kai Guhle, Mathias Bredin, Nils Bjeras maintained their dominance over the fleet today, notching up an additional two wins for an undefeated score of 5-0. There is a lot of racing left, but consistency like this in these conditions has proved difficult.

A highlight of the day was a photo finish between veteran match racers Ian Williams from GBR and Chris Poole from the USA. The thrilling finish saw Poole narrowly edge ahead, crossing the line just half a meter in front. Both Williams and Poole are likely favourites coming into this event, with Williams being a six-time world match racing champion and Poole holding the current number-one rank in world match racing.

With eight flights completed, the round-robin stage will resume tomorrow at 1000 local Shenzhen time.

Get live race results from matchracingresults.com

wmrt.com

Italian duo first to claim victory at Youth Sailing World Championships
Quan Cardi and Mattia Tognocchi were the first sailors to secure their place at the top of the podium at the Youth Sailing World Championships, as they gained an unassailable lead in the 420 male/mixed class.

The Italians continued their fine form in Buzios to give themselves a nine-point cushion ahead of Friday's final race.

Elsewhere, Sarah Jannin and Fleur Babin (FRA) guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal in the 29er female with a pair of bullets and will battle it out for gold with Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska (POL) on Friday.

Roos Wind (NED), Kristyna Pinosova (CZE), and Stanisław Trepczyński (POL) all climbed to the top of their classes with plenty still to be decided on the final day of sailing.

Nacra 15
Marie Mazuay and Clément Guignard (SUI) won both races in the Nacra 15 class to move 11 points off the summit.

The Swiss pair have now won three of the last four races, with two more still remaining, as they close in on the medal positions.

The gold medal spot is still held by Cody Roe and Brooke Mertz (USA), whose lead is now just two points from Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa (ESP) after finishing eighth and seventh respectively on Thursday.

Formula Kite Male
Max Maeder (SGP) was unable to seal gold in the Formula Kite male class despite winning three of the four races on Thursday.

Maeder has led the way throughout the competition with 13 bullets in a row but a 13th-place finish in race 14 meant he was unable to wrap up victory on Thursday.

Instead, Qibin Huang (CHN) took victory in the final race of the day with Gian-Andrea Stragiotti (SUI) second and Lucas Pes Fonseca (BRA) third.

Full results at worldsailingywc.org

Seahorse December 2023
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Selfless to the last
Marc Lombard was successful in all areas of yacht design. Thousands of boats, but his biggest legacy is the many young careers that he helped to launch. Patrice Carpentier

The best of everything
When Spirit Yachts and Ben Ainslie's BAR Technologies set out to create a wooden foiling motor launch, they chose West System and Pro-Set epoxies

Rod Davis - Starting 101
Exactly as it says on the tin

Seahorse build table - A day late
Kevin Dibley's waited a long time for thi

First blood
The trains ran on time, more wind would have been nice and, yes, there were a lot of teething troubles but the first event of AC37 was a success. Especially if you're American. Carlos Pich

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Bacardi Winter Series 2023/2024 Kicks Off
The opening event of the Bacardi Winter Series 2023/2024 kicks off this weekend, December 16-17, in Miami. The J/70 and Melges 24 fleets will be competing on Biscayne Bay.

Hosted at Shake-A-Leg Miami, the event will have around 40 teams in action for the six-race series. Anticipation is high as the weekend spectacle promises intense competition, and the weather promises to make conditions extremely tough for these world class teams. Let's see what happens when you throw some choppy water, chilly temperatures, showers and gusty winds. 30 knots are forecast for the opening day, with more of the same on Sunday. A thorough test of agility, teamwork and consistency is on the cards as we wait to see who takes center stage.

Racing is scheduled to get underway for the Melges 24 at 11:00 am on Saturday, December 16, followed by the J/70, for the opening three races, and a further three races on Sunday. Post-race, the Bacardi hospitality will keep everyone entertained with cocktails and music.

The J/70 features a stellar lineup of teams, including the notable names of the USA's David Jannetti on 'Very Odd', Robert Hughes on 'Heartbreaker' and Daniel Goldberg on 'Bazinga'. Also figuring to have a strong showing in the competition is Peter Cunningham on 'Powerplay' representing the Cayman Islands, Dick Kalow's 'Superior 1' and Trey Sheehan on 'Hooligan'. Four Corinthian teams will also vie for leaderboard places among the class legends.

The Bacardi Invitational Winter Series 1 is just the beginning. The series continues with Winter Series 2 on January 26-28, 2024, leading to the finale at the Bacardi Cup Invitational Regatta from March 9-11, 2024. For the Invitational Regatta, the J/70 and Melges 24 will be joined by the Snipe, VX One and Viper 640 classes. The historic Bacardi Cup will celebrate its 97th anniversary from March 3-9, 2024, and once again showcase the prestigious Star Class. -- Luissa Smith

bacardiinvitational.com

A Well Navigated Life
Last week's story about the life of Peter Mounsey, produced a flood of comment and correspondence. He obviously affected many peoples lives in a positive way.

One such of these emails came from Jan Newland, daughter of Graham Newland. It reads...

What a fantastic article. I was only a kid when Peter and Lesley stayed at our house in MIddle Cove. Mom and Dad (Graham Newland) were great buddies. How can I get in touch with Peter because he might be interested in the book I have just published about Graham?

Well after further correspondence we have learned a bit more about Jan's book.

The hidden life of one of Australia's greatest ocean racing navigators is discovered in a box of scrapbooks

When Graham Newland's daughter inherited a box of old scrapbooks, she had no inkling of how rich her father's life had been.

Of course, Jan Newland knew about the two Sydney to Hobart victories her father had won when she was young. There were rumours of Admiral's Cup glory while she was living in Perth. She had heard mention of other contested cups including the Congressional Cup and the One Ton Cup but she lived in London and Toronto. And then there was the race from Bermuda to Copenhagen using nothing but a sextant to find the way and the America's Cup in Newport, Rhode Island on Gretel II.

Read more in SouthernWoodenboatSailing.com

Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large
The fifth edition of the Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large will be held from 11 to 21 July 2024. Entries for the race, which is now listed in the French Sailing Federation, RORC and UNCL / Yacht Club de France calendars, open on 2 January.

La Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large also features in the UNCL calendar (which has become the Racing division of the Yacht Club de France), as it is once again on the programme of the Channel / Atlantic IRC Championship in 2024.

It has been written into the Royal Ocean Racing Club's annual Championship and will be the second leg of the IRC Double European Championships, held just after the first, the Cowes-Dinard-St Malo. Several classes have already added it to their calendar, including the Multi 2000s, Figaro Beneteau 3s, as well as the Class40s, as the race will be part of the 2024 European Trophy, with the Spi Ouest-France, Armen Race and CIC Normandy Channel Race.

It will also be a major meet for the first season of the new Sun Fast 30 One Design, with a separate ranking for them.

drheam-cup.com

Kuboo Sailing Team wins first ever Portuguese J70 Nationals
Kuboo Sailing Team/SailCascais of Rui and Henrique Brites, Luis Pinheiro and Francisco Melo were crowned the first ever Portugues J70 National Champions this weekend in Cascais. The local team kept their consistency scoring 2, 2, 8, 3, 4, 1 in the Cascais light breeze. Good starts, solid boat speed, and conservative tactics were the recipe to the champions. It was not an easy championship. A tough 14 boat fleet coming from 6 countries (POR, ESP, SWE, GER, UK, FIN) had to tackle light and shifty winds as well as current and waves in warm and sunny Cascais.

The first race was all about the current, the win went to Bábá of Cascais' Nuno Santo Silva that ran to the right on the first upwind with all the fleet trailing him. Second race went to Tim Dickinson's Jellyfish, with his son Finn, current ILCA U21 World Champion, at the helm.

For the last day the fleet woke up to a foggy and windless Cascais bay. At noon the Racde comitte called the day off and the deed was sealed. Brilliant sailing, nice competition. 6 races, 6 wrace winners. Second place went to Jellyfish of Tim and Finn Dickinson, William Plank and Dan McGauhey four points behind the winners and Sparkly/Active Sailing of Sergey Kirshenin, Artem Basalkin, Olga Nilmaer, Yana Basalkina and Artem Anisimov from Germany closed the podium.

First Corinthian went to Jellyfish and first female to Portuguese double Olympian sailor Sara Carmo on Naturea Pet Foods/SailCascais.

Full results

Global Sailing World on Water
Last week saw the annual SOLAS Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour. The fleet was 3 100 foot Super Maxis and 6, 60 to 70 feet Mini Maxis. In the 100 Foot division, Christian Becks', Juan Ks, Law Connect, led home from Andoo Comanche and Sun Hung Kai Scallywag. Anthony Johnston’s Reichel Pugh 72, URM Group, was the winner of the Mini Maxi Division. We thank Christian Beck for the use of Law Connects' live stream footage for this report.

The Italians Roared into Auckland In Historic Mack-Intyre Ocean Globe Race Finish to Leg 2 After 36 days, and 7500 nautical miles of racing, Translated 9 I T, triumphed, taking first in Line Honours, Provisional IRC, and Flier Class, in Leg 2 of the Ocean Globe Race. Pen Duick 6 of France took 2nd, finishing at 01:41:20 (NZDT). Spirit of Helsinki, Finland, battling for 3rd in line honours. Max Maeder of Singapore, made a stunning start to the Formula Kite male competition, at the Youth Sailing World Championships, winning all six races to take a commanding lead after the first day of racing.

There was also more success for Ewa Lewandowska and Julia Maria Żmudzińska (Poland), who continued their strong form with another two bullets to make it five out of six in the 29er female class. It was also a positive day on the water for Spanish sailors, as Adriana Castro Nuñez rose to the top of the Ilca 6 female standings and Daniel and Nora Garcia de la Casa took the lead in the Nacra 15 class.

boatson.tv

Palamos Christmas Race
The 47th edition of the Christmas Race, the traditional international sailing regatta taking place from December 18th to 22nd in the waters of Palamós Bay, has kicked off with its traditional presentation at the Espai del Peix.

As of today, there are 233 registered boats, distributed across 8 categories. ILCA 6 Male (51), ILCA 6 Female (19), ILCA 4 Male (40), ILCA 4 Female (20), 420 Male/Mixed (48), 420 Female (17), 29er Male/Mixed (27), 29er Female (10).

In terms of countries, there are 18 in total: Germany (12), Austria (5), Australia (1), Belgium (1), Canada (1), Slovakia (1), Spain (88), France (34), Finland (1), Great Britain (24), Italy (13), Mexico (1), Netherlands (19), Poland (6), Portugal (7), Switzerland (7), Sweden (2), and Ukraine (9).

christmasrace.org

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The Last Word
I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for my life 'cause you're a friend of mine -- Leon Russell

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