In This Issue
• Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race and Rally
• Words from the front line
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Dragon 75th Edinburgh Cup Video
• Cascais J70 Winter Series
• Cup Spy : Cup teams start new programs
• Sailing "World on Water"
• Difficult times around Cape Horn
• OK Dinghy European Championship
• Featured Charter: Fancy - 108ft Maxi Sailing Yacht
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Advanced A44
• • Mavea Yachts Slyder 55
• • Dazcat 1495
• • J/121 Jackhammer
• • 2008 KER 39 - Tiger 3
• The Last Word: Gregory Corso

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

Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race and Rally
Photo by Laurens Morel, saltycolours.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

After a challenging four-days of unusual Caribbean light weather, close competition on the race course and an adventurous island tour of St.Maarten /St. Martin and St. Barth's for the cruising set, the 6th running of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge Race and Rally concluded last evening at the prizegiving ceremony on the grounds of the host organization, the St. Maarten Yacht Club.

The Most Worthy Performer prize went to Alexis de Boucaud's Diam 24 Merlin, which strung together eight victories in a 12-race series to win the expertly driven 10-boat class of sprightly trimarans. In presenting the award, CMC steering committee member Robbie Ferron had high praise for the popular, growing fleet of one-design multihulls, which are taking the island by storm. "The Caribbean has never seen a fleet of this quality with racing this close and competitive," he said. "It was very, very impressive."

There was no shortage of rock-star talent in the CSA 1 class, with a pair of 66-foot heavyweights trading punches throughout the 8-race series. Aboard Ricardo Pavoncelli's Gunboat 66 Mana, the crew included two offshore legends: Brit Brian Thompson and Frenchman Loick Peyron. But American Todd Slynstad's squad on Nemo was no slouch, and included pro sailors Ryan Breymaier, Mat Bryant and Jan Majer. It was a winning combination, as Nemo registered three bullets on the final day of racing to seal the CSA 1 championship.

With the usual easterly trades on hiatus, the conditions were unlike what the Caribbean generally dashes up. In fact, with no breeze whatsoever on the event's third day with high pressure settled atop St. Maarten, principal race officer Chris Mansfield was forced to cancel the day's competition. But Mansfield and his team did an excellent job taking what the weather gods offered, and was able to conduct three fine days of competition.

caribbeanmultihullchallenge.com

Words from the front line
As the Arkea Ultim Challenge-Brest rolls into its fifth week of racing, all five skippers are fully engaged in the depths of the Southern Oceans. A press conference was organised today to allow the French media to catch up with some of the racers. It was not easy to connect with all of them but three, Armel Le Cléac'h (2nd), Thomas Coville (3rd) and Anthony Marchand (4th) - reflected on their state of mind, their personal battles, their sources of inspiration and motivation.

"It feels good to be back down in the 50s, the route is really not bad. Unfortunately, I extended the route but I had no choice. Passing north of New Zealand was the only way to just keep going. Thomas (Coville) is not far behind. His pit stop didn't cost him that much and we should now go a long way close together to Cape Horn. The race is super intense, especially in very challenging conditions as has been the case in recent days. We get used to it and we adapt."

He added, "Compared with Charles (Caudrelier) at the head of the race, our stopover in Recife (Brazil) really hurt us because then the weather window closed in front of us but that's all part of the game. The fact of being neck and neck with Thomas, that will allow us to do see how close we are at Cape Horn. We must hope to have better conditions to pass Cape Horn. The passage is narrow and I have not yet checked the weather forecast for passing it."

arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

Seahorse February 2024
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
The new-new bright young things, unravelling what you are seeing, the rescue of USA-55 and Richomme crushes it on the journey home. Jack Griffin, Terry Hutchinson, Patrice Carpentier, Sam Goodchild

Dropping little white plastic balls - Part II
From the Vanguard Glue Pots to the slickest racing hardware to iceboats and on to the America's Cup. Carol Cronin and Peter Harken

The greatest race
But the epic conclusion to the 1980 Finn Gold Cup was really just the start of it all. Peter Montgomery, Robert Deaves, John Bertrand, Larry Lemieux, Gus Miller

Sustainable future
Lifecycle assessment was the important first step in Southern Wind's drive to reduce their carbon footprint. Now they're making positive changes

Seahorse build table - We like it!
And good design comes in all shapes and sizes

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Dragon 75th Edinburgh Cup Video
Friday 19 January 2024 saw members of the British Dragon Association (BDA) and their guests come together at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge, London, for the BDA's Annual General Meeting and Dinner.

The evening kicked off with the AGM, where outgoing Chairman Simon Barter was delighted to report that participation in UK based Dragon racing has seen a strong resurgence, with numbers regularly racing in club and regional events at the highest levels for some years. The meeting then elected its new Class Chairman Andy Moss, of the Burnham on Crouch Dragon fleet. Andy, owner of Hands Off GBR 760, has been racing Dragons for 20 years and has been a regular traveller to the regional and national events, Oostende and France.

Also confirmed at the meeting were the dates and venues for the 2024 British Championship events, which are:

1-2 June South Coast Championship - Cowes, IOW
22-23 June Classic/Vintage Championship - Aldeburgh
7-8 July Northern Area Championship - Abersoch, Gwynedd
9-12 July Edinburgh Cup (Open British Championship) - Abersoch, Gwynedd
21-23 September East Coast Championship - Medway, Kent
28-29 September Scottish Championship - Edinburgh, Scotland

The Citron Trophy is awarded to the Dragon which has achieved the best cumulative results in the combined British championship events during the past season. The winner for the 2023 season was Gavia Wilkinson-Cox of the Cowes fleet and her team racing GBR831 Jerboa. A member of the British fleet for almost 50 years, this is the second time that Gavia has engraved her name on this prestigious award.

britishdragons.org

Another Affair wins 4th Stage of the Cascais J70 Winter Series
Portuguese Another Affair from Tiago Morais, Nuno Barreto, Luis Queiroz and Diogo Pontes from Clube de Vela Atlantico, Porto, held to the top on the last day to win the 4th stage of the Cascais J70 Winter Series. 14 teams coming from 6 countries gathered in Cascais for the first J70 event of the year in Cascais, part of its 23/24 Cascais Winter Series. It was a tight event until the last race with the team of the north of Portugal edging Brazil's Highlanders of Henrique Haddad by one point. Third place was for the Finnish team of Lucas Karlemo that sailed a consistent series to earn the last podium place.

The forecast for the long weekend in Cascais despite sun and warm temperatures was not easy in terms of wind and the race committee had to be flexible and work hard to fully complete the nine races scheduled.

On the last day Another Affair held their nerves and secured the win. Two bullets on the opening two races followed by a 7 and a 8 were just enough for the team of the north of Portugal to beat Brazil's Highlanders by one point, that on the day went 6, 3, 1, 5. It was a fight until the end as the Brazilians lost two places in the last 100 meters of the last race. Lucas Karlemo that scored 5, 7, 6, 2 closed the podium in the open division. The first Corinthian was JellyFish of Tim Dickinson from the UK.

Full Results:

cncascais.com

Cup Spy : Cup teams start new programs. ETNZ pull up short again with foil issue
Teams have settled into what looks to be their February work and testing program, with three teams running a combination of two-boat testing and race practice. The Kiwis had uncharacteristic wing foil control issues for the second day. The Swiss continue with their AC75 program. No report from Orient Express Racing.

What happened in the Cup - February 1, 2024:

INEOS Britannia - The British team continued in a variation of their program sailed on Wednesday. They started the session doing speed testing on a custom design jib design. They then held eight practice starts and races - shifting to match racing their AC40s against each other in similar format racing to that which will be used in the Louis Vuitton Cup series starting in August.

- American Magic - Sailed their two AC40s against each other sailing long legs, doing speed testing probably with a focus on sailing technique and boat set-up. The session ended with a short tacking upwind match race back to the harbour mouth where a short windward leeward loop was conducted to finish the day.

- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - The Swiss are now the only team sailing an AC75. They are the only team sailing using cyclors to provide hydraulic pressure/power. Today's session out of Barcelona involved systems testing, pre-start practice, and a race practice opposed by their Catalyst 45 chase boat.

- Emirates Team New Zealand - Experienced more control system issues for the second successive day. The issue appears to be centred around the port foil and its control system. Today the team sailed in vigorous conditions that were well within their sailing capability. The cause has not been revealed, aside from the view that the Recon Team believe it was an issue with control systems on their new test foil (on the port foil arm). The team was quite dismissive of the issue in the dockside, despite having two crew and crawl out onto the foil. Unfortunately fresh winds in Auckland on Friday have meant another sailing day lost this week, and with New Zealand heading into a long holiday weekend, it seems unlikely that they will resume before Tuesday.

- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - Got back into action with their two boat program involving their detuned LEQ12 and their AC40 sailing in one design mode and gear. They sailed 12 starts/practice race legs/races - which was another good day for the Italian team,

- Orient Express Racing Team - No report, and they were not spotted in any shots taken by other teams, however their social media, posted the cryptic message a few hours ago: "Stay tuned, Orient Express Racing Team is getting ready to go top gear!"

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

Sailing "World on Water"
When long time sponsor, Banque Populaire, dropped new Mum, Clarisse Cremer, for this year's Vondee Globe,, her "White Knight" turned out to be Brit, Super Sailor, Alex Thomson, and new sponsor, L'Occitane Sailing. Here is the latest report, on her build up to Novembers' Race around the world.

The Ilca 7 Men's World Championships, and Olympics qualification was held this week at the Adelaide Sailing Club, in South Australia. British Olympic Ilca Coach, Jon Emmet, was there and here are his reports on what happened in the two last days. His first, is for, Day 5.

Luuc van Opzeeland, of the Netherlands, and Emma Wilson, of Great Britain, lead after the first races of the i-Q FOiL, World Championships, on Day 2.

After losing the first day of racing to no wind, the second day proved long and more productive. The wind fluctuated between 10 and 15 knots, gusty at times. There was a change of race course during the day, moving from being in front of the marina, to Papagayo beach. -- Geoff Waller

boatson.tv

Difficult times around Cape Horn
Cape Horn has been the primary focus of attention for quite a few days now in the Global Solo Challenge, starting from the successful rounding by Ronnie Simpson on Friday February 2nd, to a trio of competitors on their approach to the dreaded cape dealing with a deep low pressure system and some serious winds.

On friday, at approximately 03:30 UTC, in the thick of the night, sailing heavy seas and winds gusting to nearly 60 knots, Ronnie Simpson successfully rounded Cape Horn with Shipyard Brewing, sailing with no mainsail and just the storm jib. The previous day a window of opportunity had opened up for Ronnie and he had to choose whether to wait for the weather system to clear the area or press on in heavy but manageable seas. Ultimately he decided that the conditions were safe enough for the rounding without any evasive action in relation to the cold front that was chasing him. He wisely opted to stay in deep waters off the continental shelf, too far to see the Cabo de Hornos lighthouse or any sign of having approached the south american continent.

In the Global Solo Challenge three skippers are monitoring closely the weather: Andrea Mura on Vento di Sardegna, Francois Gouin on Kawan3 Unicancer and Riccardo Tosetto on Obportus. Based on the forecast the situation was more delicate for Andrea Mura who had to decide whether to slow down or keep sailing to stay out of the worst of the winds and waves. Francois Gouin further back may actually not need to slow down to approach the same position. Riccardo Tosetto, further north, was due to be reached by the north westerly band of strong winds with little hope to avoid them.

globalsolochallenge.com

Entry open for 2024 OK Dinghy European Championship in Palma
Entry has opened for the 2024 OK Dinghy European Championship in Palma. This will mark the first ever OK Dinghy class championship to be held in Spanish waters and recognises the remarkable growth in the class there over the past three years.

There are now 17 boats at the Real Club Nautico de Palma, with 20-25 sailors regularly taking to the water, both Spanish and many ex-pats who live and work in Palma. In addition, many sailors from all over Europe fly in for training and weekend regattas. Only last week the Mid Winter Championship attracted the likes of five-time OK Dinghy world champion Nick Craig and HD Sails' Andy Davis for a weekend of coaching and racing.

As the fleet grew, talk started of the club hosting a championship, but there is never a better time than the present, so the fleet were awarded the 2024 European Championship to further encourage the fleet in Palma to grow.

The championship takes place from 28 October to 3 November in what is the low season for tourists in Palma but still with temperatures in the mid 20s. -- Robert Deaves

okdia.org

Featured Charter
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This yacht can accommodate up to 9 guests on board in her Master suite, VIP cabin and two double cabins, one of which includes an additional pullman bed. Moreover, FANCY features dining and relaxation areas, comfortable for relaxed evenings onboard whilst maintaining a high-level of service quality from her professional crew.

FANCY was launched in June 2023, and was presented in the Mediterranean in August for her first charter season.

Charter Desinations:
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WINTER: Caribbean Grenadines Islands | Antigua & Barbuda | Martinique & Guadeloupe | Saint Martin & Saint Barth

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

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A unique experience in pleasure and performance The Advanced Yacht concept has produced a sporty cruiser inspired by light, modern and open performance boats. Powerful waterlines and sailplan guarantee effortless planning and generous onboard space.

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Mavea Yachts Slyder 55. 1799000 EUR.

New-build hybrid aluminium carbon-composite performance cruising catamaran with hybrid propulsion system and full ‘on the water’ specification. 3 or 4 cabin layouts available.

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Lead broker: Lucio Pellegrini
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Dazcat 1495. 935,000 ex VAT GBP.

The Dazcat 1495, nominated European Yacht of the Year in 2016, really is our champion. She’s the perfect catamaran for long distance cruising or family weekends and has also won numerous RORC and MOCRA races.

Over 30 years of design and build experience have gone into the cutting edge, lightweight composite techniques; utilizing carbon in key areas to deliver the perfect balance between performance, stiffness and catamaran comfort. Ease of handling, modern, spacious & comfortable interiors and design finishes to the owner’s requirements all contribute to making this a superb choice of multihull.

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J /121-Jackhammer. 369000 USD. Located in the USA.

Jackhammer, embodies high-performance and ocean racing excellence. A J/121 40’ offshore speedster that can be day raced or distance sailed by just 5 or fewer crew. She boasts an impressive pedigree and is extremely well equipped.

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2008 KER 39 - Tiger 3. POA.

Tiger 3 was the last of the very successful Ker 39 design, built. She was finished as a bespoke project by the owner with no expense spared and considered by many to be the finest example of the design

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The Last Word
It is a great feeling to know that from a window I can go to books to cans of beer to past loves. And from these gather enough dream to sneak out a back door. -- Gregory Corso

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