In This Issue
• Technical stopover in Hobart planned for Thomas Coville
• Finn Class returns to Aarhus for 2024 Finn Gold Cup
• Rewriting the playbook - Gunboat
• 18ft Skiffs Smeg Race 3 Australian Championship
• 2024 Newport Bermuda Race Extends To 636 Miles
• Want to read the 1906 issue of The Rudder?
• Cup Spy : Brits claim that one of their One Design AC40s is faster than the other
• AmericaOne responds to US Sailing lawsuit
• A Partnership Comes To An End
• GLOBE40 2025/ 2026
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Charter: Sunreef ECO 80 Apollo 99
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Reichal/Pugh 69 - Moneypenny
• • Grand Soleil 56
• • SW100X Allseas
• • TP 52 Georgia
• • TP52 Koa
• The Last Word: Albert Camus

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

Technical stopover in Hobart planned for Thomas Coville
Clearly slowed and compromised slightly over recent days Thomas Coville the skipper of the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest's second placed Sodebo Ultim 3 will stop in Tasmania his team announced Tuesday, at 1830hrs UTC. Part of his bow pulpit and the port side net have been damaged. His arrival into Hobart is expected Wednesday evening.

For the Sodebo team, this decision is "a safety and security decision". Part of the bow pulpit (the area at the front of the central hull) has been torn off - the same as what happened to Armel Le Cleac'h during his descent down the Atlantic. The port side trampoline net which allows the sailor to move from the bow to the central hull is also damaged.

The choice has been made to make a technical stopover before passing into the Pacific. With no further stopping options between Tasmania until after Cape Horn, Hobart is an obvious choice for Team Sodebo.

They also plan to service and fix the foil lowering systems which have suffered mechanical problems.

"The stopover allows us to "time out" from the very severe weather conditions between Tasmania and New Zealand in the next 48 hours." The team add.

These conditions will affect Armel Le Cleac'h.

In a display of sporting and human solidarity Coville called Le Cleac'h, skipper of the Maxi Banque Populaire XI, to tell him of his plans.

"I needed to warn him of my intention to stop. In our sport we have this way of thinking, he needed to know. It's a strange feeling to have to stop but it's to be able to start again better."

Sodebo Ultim 3 is expected in Hobart this Wednesday. This will be the 5th stopover since the start of this Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest: only Charles Caudrelier (Maxi Edmond de Rothschild), still in the lead, has not stopped since the start. -- Andi Robertson

arkeaultimchallengebrest.com

Finn Class returns to Aarhus for 2024 Finn Gold Cup
The 2024 Finn Gold Cup will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, from 31 August to 7 September. Hosted by Sailing Aarhus it will be sailed out of the Aarhus International Sailing Centre. Entry opened on Jan 1 and entries are already coming in fast.

The class was last in Aarhus for the 2018 World Sailing Championships, as well as for the Finn Silver Cup in 2017 in Kaløvig. In fact, the 2024 Finn Gold Cup will be combined with the 2024 Finn Silver Cup, for the U23 championship. The enthusiastic and growing Danish fleet are fully behind the event, which is expected to act as a catalyst for growth regionally and attract a large number of Finn sailors from neighbouring countries such as Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The Finn Gold Cup will be preceded by the Danish Championship from 23-25 August, hosted by Egå Sejlklub a few km to the north of Aarhus, and sailed on the same waters, so offers a great opportunity for some practice ahead of the world championship. The boats can be left there for the following days before the Gold Cup starts, if needed. Entry will be open on Manage2Sail shortly. Links on the Danish class website here: danskfinnjolle.dk

The Finn Gold Cup coincides with the Aarhus Festival, one of the largest cultural events in Scandinavia, showcasing local, national and international artists. For 10 days the city becomes vibrant with entertainment, art, gastronomy and music.

The event website contains accommodation options and more information is being added all the time. Limited camper van spaces will be available near the club, while there are many hotels and apartments within easy reach. -- Robert Deaves

Entry is open and the Notice of Race and all details can be found on the event website: 2024.finngoldcup.org

Rewriting the playbook - Gunboat
Technology and design tools from the America's Cup, Ultime trimarans and Imocas have been combined to phenomenal effect in the Gunboat 80

The Gunboat 80 belongs in a different category from any other sailing yacht. On one hand it offers thrilling full Grand Prix performance, sailing faster than the wind from a mere four knots upwards, reaching maximum boat speed of over 30kts when cracked off the breeze, and will average well over 350 miles daily on an Atlantic crossing. Yet it's also a superyacht with space, comfort and amenities that can only be matched by 100ft monohulls.

At this level of the market, owners naturally want a vessel that's precisely tuned to how they intend to use it. However, custom builds require owners to have their own large and skilled team, while the entire project duration can be as much as six years. In an era in which both yacht design and sailing systems are advancing at a relentless pace, that's a huge lead time.

Full article in the February issue of Seahorse

18ft Skiffs Smeg Race 3 Australian Championship
Smeg won the Ferry Patrons Trophy and now leads the season point score series. Photo by SailMedia. Click on image for photo gallery.

NSW champion Yandoo increased her lead at the halfway mark of the Australian 18ft Skiff Championship today with a brilliant win by her crew in the Smeg Race 3 of the series , sailed on Sydney Harbour.

Skippered by Tom Needham, replacing the injured John 'Woody' Winning, with Fang Warren on the sheet and Lewis Brake in the bow, the team were superb in the testing 15-knot South-East wind to record a near all-the-way win over the high quality fleet.

Yandoo crossed the finish line 3m13s ahead of Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price, Josh McKnight, Finn Rodowicz) after the pair had staged a close battle over the first half of the course.

Andoo (John Winning Jr, Seve Jarvin, Harry Smith) finished third, 19s behind Rag & Famish Hotel, with defending champion Finport Finance (Keagan York) in fourth place, followed by Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell) and Smeg (Nathan McNamara).

With three more races to complete the Australian Championship, and each team still to discard its worst race result, the progress points are: Yandoo with a total of four points, followed by Rag & Famish Hotel on nine, Andoo 10, Vaikobi 12, Smeg 20 and Balmain on 21.

Race 4 of the Australian Championship will be sailed on Sunday (4 February). -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.

18footers.com (click on the TV link to watch the race live)

Newport Bermuda Race Extends To 636 Miles
In 1906, the flamboyant New York-based editor of the maritime journal The Rudder, one Thomas Fleming Day, was so infuriated by the Powers That Be insisting that only yachts of 80ft LOA or greater were capable of ocean racing that he organised a race to Bermuda from the Brooklyn Yacht Cup in New York.

Only three yachts started, and one of them was dismasted almost immediately. But the other two made it to Bermuda and the hospitality of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club in Hamilton, with the winner being the 38ft yawl Tamerlane, skippered by Day himself. But perhaps more remarkable was the second-placed Gauntlet, as she was only 28ft long, and in a further affront to the Powers That Be, her crew included a female sailor, 20-year-old Thora Lund Robinson.

For the 2024 Race, by lengthening the course by only one mile to give more of an in-harbour start, with just one mighty leap they've put themselves and their race start centre stage, and the official announcement sets the scene:

"The biennial Newport Bermuda Race is thrilled to announce an exciting new approach to the start of the 2024 race: free shoreline viewing and a live broadcast from Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, which will also be streamed online at bermudarace.com. The Race's starting line has been relocated one mile north of Castle Hill in Narragansett Bay to provide spectators a new opportunity to witness 200 boats up close - thus extending the race course distance to Bermuda from 635 to 636 miles.

Read WM Nixon's full editorial in Afloat magazine

Want to read the 1906 issue of The Rudder on the Newport to Bermuda Race?
Click on image to see covers and ads, text from a handful of the issues

Well... your humble narrator can't help you with that particular year... but close. For sale is my collection of 15 vintage issues of The Rudder. Fascinating reading, particularly the adverts. Here is the list:

April 1914
January 1927
December 1928
April 1930
July 1932
July 1935
June 1936
April 1937
July 1939
April 1942
March 1946
November 1951
March 1952
May 1952
June 1952

Issue June 1930 is missing front and back cover, April 1914 is missing the back cover. The others are complete, some in fair to good shape, most in very good condition, particularly given that the newest one is 72 years old. All have been in protective plastic covers for decades.

Cost including shipping via USPS Media Mail to anywhere in the USA is $225 USD. Shipping to Europe and elsewhere price on request.

Contact

Cup Spy : Brits claim that one of their One Design AC40s is faster than the other
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 73 - January 25, 2023 - Jeddah. Photo by Alex Carabi / America's Cup. Click on image to enlarge.

The British team sailed their two AC40's against each other, with only a custom design jib being the difference between the two boats. In the post session interview, skipper Ben Ainslie opined that one of the AC40 One Designs was faster than the other for reasons they had not been able to establish.

"We are seeing a difference between the boats, which is interesting from a one-design class perspective," he said after the sailing session.

"We're seeing that Boat B "Sienna" is just a click faster than Boat A "Athena". I guess we wish we had Boat B earlier in the year."

"We're trying to figure out what's causing that difference. So we're lining up the boats to make sure that everything's symmetric in terms of foil arm positions, rig and the systems on the boat, to see if there's any differences. It's important to figure out what's making that difference that will help us understand these boats in general."

Ainslie also intimated that the focus of the boat on boat competition in the AC40 One Designs was to develop a matchracing play book for the foiling monohulls, and some moves that are unique to the boat type.

What happened in the Cup - January 25, 2024:

- Orient Express Racing Team - Began tow testing on Wednesday, at Barcelona rigged and unrigged, and testing flight control systems, but no sailing reported from a Recon team.

- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - continued to sail their pair of AC40s off Jeddah, in fresh winds.

- Emirates Team New Zealand - Did not sail.

- American Magic - are on a six day break, having retired their test AC75, Patriot, on Tuesday.

- INEOS Britannia - Brits sailed their two AC40s off Barcelona.

- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - no sailing reported by the Recon Teams.

Richard Gladwell's full commentary in Sail-World.com

AmericaOne responds to US Sailing lawsuit
This statement comes from the AmericaOne Foundation following recent legal action by US Sailing against the organization:

As the largest private financial supporter of US Sailing Association (USSA) and the US Olympic Sailing effort for more than a decade, this has been a disheartening and disappointing week for us at the AmericaOne Foundation. Now, in the final run-up to this year's Olympics, we have been laser-focused on providing support for our American sailors. US Sailing should be doing the same.

Unfortunately, instead of putting their efforts into what matters most - our Olympic athletes - US Sailing is pursuing a meritless lawsuit against AmericaOne. Despite the unprecedented levels (over $6M) of assistance AmericaOne has provided to USSA and our sailor athletes over the past 15 years, USSA is actively defaming our reputation.

The accusations being levied against Bill Ruh, Paul Cayard, Jose Spina, and AmericaOne by the US Sailing Board of Directors are unfathomable. But what is even more egregious is that they would take this action immediately after the U.S. Olympic trials - a time when we should be celebrating our athletes who have trained so hard for the past four years and supporting them as they get ready for the biggest race of their lives.

Now is when our sport's national governing body should be doubling down to help our sailors, but instead, USSA is trying to attribute blame for their shortfalls to AmericaOne. Instead of ramping up focus on fundraising and athlete support, they are working to divide our community by publicly attacking their largest supporter.

Read the full statement in Scuttlebutt

A Partnership Comes To An End
After 11 years of goals that have entered the history of ocean navigation and more than two hundred thousand miles covered, the collaboration between Giovanni Soldini and Maserati, a long and exciting partnership born in 2012 around the project of the monohull Maserati VOR70, and in 2016, confirmed and strengthened by the passage to the trimaran Maserati Multi70, which brought foiling technology to the ocean, being the first to mount a foil under the keel, comes to an end.

Starring spectacular and unforgettable challenges, Maserati Multi70 also remains the only MOD to have sailed around the world. And not just once, but four times (one on the monohull and three on the Maserati Multi70), the last of which, in 2023, in full energy autonomy thanks to the installation on board of a photovoltaic system and an electric engine. As a result, Maserati Multi70 also became the first ocean racing yacht capable of self-producing all the energy needed for long sailing.

Since 2022 the trimaran has been at the service of UNESCO's monitoring programme, and has contributed along its routes to the collection of data such as CO2, salinity and temperature, which are very valuable for the scientific community.

Giovanni Soldini comments: ";It has been a great honour and also a great responsibility to take the Trident and its values around the world: an exciting, adventurous experience full of discoveries, conquests, innovations and flights over the ocean. With the invaluable support of Maserati it has been possible to experiment at the highest level and go further with feats and results that we are proud of."

maserati.soldini.it

GLOBE40 2025/ 2026
Around ten crews have already taken the first important step of officially filing their entries for the second edition. Boasting a strong international contingent and a mixture of experienced amateurs and professionals, the current line-up is an illustration of the event's identity as it continues to build on the success of the inaugural edition of the race, whilst also opening itself up to further innovation and evolution. The organisation team is very much on track with a target of 15 teams on the start line and a year and a half to go until the race start. The competitive appeal of the race has increased too, with the first scow bows and the most high-performance sharp bows among the entries. The event also inspired naval architects for 2 new Class40 projects.Having set out the framework for the 6 legs course in the Notice of Race, several stopovers are now official and the countries have been chosen from a selection of different options. The full presentation of the stopovers is due to be revealed by late June 2024.

The main takeaway from the first 'early-bird' registration slot of 31 December 2023 is that 7 projects have formally signed up for the race, 2 new designs have been created especially for the GLOBE40 with one in build and the second progressing very well, and the purchase of at least 2 other Class40s are due to complete over the coming weeks with well advanced projects. Furthermore, at least a dozen crews familiar to the European circuit have been in talks for several months, a number of whom intend to sign up for the race. The official objective is still geared around hosting fifteen teams at the race start in the late summer of 2025.

See the registered projects at globe40.com/en/skippers/

Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Steve Burzon, Volunteer Dir Marketing / Operations, Caribbean Multihull Challenge VI

Interesting article on the 8th reporting on Bill Canfield's somewhat doom and gloom message ( in Scuttlebutt )…'Where have the boats gone'. I read it closely and appreciated a few of his thoughts:

For one, we have not seen a decline in entry numbers for the CMC and it is looking like the Heineken will be fine - at last year's number or more. In 2023, the CMC had 32 entries. Right now between what is on Yacht Scoring this morning and what we know are coming in the next few days, the CMC will have above 36 entries…and with three weeks to go…perhaps up to 40. Nice increase!

I see that also on Yacht Scoring the Heineken has 75 entries as of yesterday and with seven or eight weeks to go, it is easy to imagine that they will reach 100.

We do agree with the negative trend aspects of high boat, rigging, gear, and crew costs as a detriment to growth; as well as the pulling back of Caribbean racing funds in favor of more local youth activity at home. And we were in total agreement with the observation of the importance of smaller boat racing in Miami….case in point.

The CMC will have no less than ten VPLP designed / French built Diam 24 open trimarans racing in CMC VI set to begin on February 1, 2024 Inexpensive to buy, rig, and maintain; this fleet is growing rapidly on this island and in the Caribbean with Diam's now found in the French islands south of SXM and in the Virgins. The message I got as an organizer of the CMC is to focus a bit on adding other smaller multihulls to our marketing target for growth.

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Expressions of interest for this exceptional boat, along with POA to

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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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The Last Word
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. -- Albert Camus

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see eurosailnews.com/advertise/