In This Issue
• Racing begins Friday at Charleston Race Week
• Kiwis launch and sail straight out of the box
• Yacht Racing Forum: Where the industry meets
• RORC's Griffin Training Scheme
• Lean On New England Ropes
• World ARC 2023-24 finishes in Saint Lucia
• Dream conditions for the start of the Cap-Martinique
• Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large
• Arcona 460 - Pacific
• Featured Charter: Fancy - 108ft Maxi Sailing Yacht
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Antares
• • Swan 78-007 'Nina II'
• • TP52
• • MOD 70 - Maserati Multi 70
• • 2011 Judel Vrolijk TP52 / IRC 52
• The Last Word: Ted Hughes
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
Racing begins Friday at Charleston Race Week
Charleston, South Carolina: Sailors, boats, families, and friends are rolling into town for their first major regatta of 2024: Charleston Race Week at Patriots Point. In some one-design classes where competitors have lined up against each other during winter racing, CRW is often a time for retribution and to set the wheels in motion for the 2024 racing season.
With a 42-strong fleet, Briane Keane, owner/skipper of the J70 Savasana, is also back to defend his title, sailing with his steady crew: two-time Olympian Thomas Barrows (tactician), Ron Weed (trimmer), and Conner Harding (bow). Savasana won almost every J70 regatta last year that they sailed and took fourth in the Worlds.
After taking second in the North American's last year in a tightly contested regatta, Bill Zartler, owner/skipper of the J105 Deja Voodoo, is dusting off the cobwebs and using Charleston Race Week as a warm-up to the Annapolis Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in early May. This is his second time racing CRW, and first time in the J105, a fleet that has grown significantly at CRW this year.
The Melges 32s are back in larger numbers, making CRW the highlight event for the class in North America.
CRW is proud to note the growth in classes this year, like the sixteen-strong Melges 24 fleet, where newcomers include Olympian Bora Gulari, driving Kingspoke, a boat filled with talent.
Returning is the Melges 20s fleet; CRW is a warm-up to their Charleston Yacht Club Invitational event in May.
Competitors are invited at 8am each morning for the online weather briefing presented by Quantum Sails. Join forecaster Shea Gibson from Sailflow Weather with Quantum Sails pros for interactive forecasts, local knowledge, and expert tips.
Kiwis launch and sail straight out of the box
Emirates Team New Zealand's new AC75 moved from first splash to first foiling tack in Auckland on Friday.
The accelerated sequence is the first time that the team has launched for the first time and sailed on the same day. Normally in a foiling America's Cupper, there is at least a tow test to check that foils and hydraulics are working correctly.
Quite why the Kiwis moved through the test sequence so rapidly is not clear, but regardless they have the distinction of being the first to sail an AC75 raceboat in the cycle of the 37th America's Cup. They also achieved their usual benchmark in a new foiling boat where their first tack is a dry one.
They did strike a very convenient weather window, after Auckland, was lashed with an equinoxial gale, causing serious flooding in many parts of New Zealand, and the delay of the start of the Three Kings Race by 24 hours
Read Richard Gladwell's Cup Spy in Sail-World.com
Yacht Racing Forum: Where the industry meets
Many of the sports' leading personalities have already confirmed their attendance at the Yacht Racing Forum, which promises to be the must-attend networking and business event of the year.
The 14th edition of the international conference will take place on November 20-22 alongside METSTRADE and will gather the finest minds and talents in the yachting industry for three days of intense discussions, networking and business.
The Yacht Racing Forum invites all stakeholders, including event organisers, sponsors, yacht clubs, sailors, technical providers, designers, venues, engineers and media representatives to join this unparalleled gathering.
Early bird registration for the Yacht Racing Forum 2024 is available until April 30. Register now and save 100 Euros.
Royal Ocean Racing Club's Griffin Training Scheme Focused On The Channel Hot Spot
With the RORC's new Griffin Project for training young sailors recently launched in a blaze of publicity, there have been the usual demands that something similar should be delivered for Ireland. But Sailing on Saturday would suggest that, over the years, the Irish offshore sailing and cruiser-racing communities have done well in creating junior and trainee pathways which function within the relatively scattered nature of our offshore racing centres.
For people from Ireland's most remote sailing areas, it may seem that there is already an excessive focus of offshore racing attention on the Cork-Kinsale and Greater Dublin powerhouses. But these two big centres are physically very separate – they're 120 awkward-to-sail sea miles apart. They seldom function in a co-ordinated way. And our second tier regions, such as (1) West Cork on the Baltimore/Schull link, (2) the Shannon Estuary including Tralee Bay, (3) all of Galway Bay with Clew Bay, and (4) Sligo with Mullaghmore and increasingly Killybegs, they all have their own local pride and claim to a place in the offshore and cruiser-racing sun.
The RORC may be promoting itself globally with the second RORC Baltic Race in Finnish waters this summer, which brings the bonus of strengthening the Club's own IRC measurement system in an area where the rival ORC has been on manoeuvres in recent years. Another battle line was the Sydney-Hobart Race, where the organisers have re-affirmed they're holding firm to IRC. But the reality is that much of the Club's active people power and boat numbers are to be found in a narrow segment of the English Channel, maybe best called the Hot Spot.
Read WM Nixon's full editorial in Afloat magazine
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World ARC 2023-24 rally finishes in Saint Lucia
Seventeen boats completed their round-the-world adventure in Saint Lucia with a ceremonial parade of sail from Marigot Bay to Rodney Bay. After more than 26,000 nautical miles, they crossed their outbound tracks to become circumnavigators.
The sailors celebrating their achievements are aged between seven and 77 years, and this edition of World ARC has hosted 10 children aged under 16, with the family boats contributing to the warm, friendly and supportive atmosphere. For the Wennberg family on Sara of Sweden (SWE), this is their second circumnavigation with World ARC.
Within the fleet, some boats sailed double-handed with two people, others invited family and friends to join them on the adventure. In total, 263 people sailed one or more leg of the rally. Double-handers included Eric and Yung Devaney on Outremer 51 Leviathan (USA), although they had eight paws of help from their two tiny canine crew.
2023-24 has also been one of the most diverse World ARC rallies, with 21 nationalities sailing in the fleet. The Luisa Arroyo family on Lagoon 53S Maroro (MHL) proudly flew a huge Mexican flag in the parade of sail, celebrating joining a very small number of Mexican circumnavigators.
43 yachts are already signed-up for all or part of the next edition of World ARC, which will set sail from the Caribbean in January 2026.
worldcruising.com/world_arc/event.aspx
Dream conditions for the start of the Cap-Martinique
Blue skies, summer temperatures, Creole music and the odd glass of rum. There is already a definite Caribbean vibe in the Cap-Martinique race village in La Trinite-sur-Mer in Brittany. It has to be said that Fort-de-France has never been so close to the Morbihan.
The 60 boats entered in this transatlantic race are due to set sail in balmy conditions then, with light airs and flat seas. The winner of last year's double-handed category, Ludovic Gerard, is racing single-handed this time aboard Pure Ocean and is relishing the little nudge in the right direction from the weather after weeks of wind and rain. "It's nicer for the family and friends coming along to support us," beams the sailor from the south of France.
Race meteorologist Christian Dumard also sees an express descent where the competitors may well get the chance to fly their entire range of spinnakers. The passage around Cape Finisterre is likely to be more boisterous with heavy seas and stronger breeze, though there is nothing likely to worry the seasoned sailors in this Cap-Martinique. Once the front has rolled through, tactics and strategy will likely take centre stage again.
"There are several options for getting down to Portugal," explains Ludovic Gerard, who is already setting his sights on the trade wind, which is on track to settle into position. As we said before, Martinique has never seemed so close.
Drheam-Cup / Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large
Entries to the fifth edition of the Drheam-Cup/Grand Prix De France De Course Au Large have been open since 2 January and are coming in steadily, with over 50 entries already with three months to go. These include a high proportion of overseas and IRC entries, particularly in the two-handed class, since the race is the second leg of the European IRC two handed Championship.
Run every even-numbered year, the race has become a key event on the offshore circuit, having succeeded in "entering the legend" in its third edition, as explained by the president of the French sailing Federation, Jean-Luc Denechau as early as the end of 2021. 40 boats lined up in the first race in 2016, 76 in 2018, 90 in 2020 and 118 in 2022; so how many will be on the line in Cherbourg en Cotentin's outer harbour on 15 July 2024?
"To date, 54 entries have been confirmed, which is very promising, answers Jacques Civilise, founder and organiser of the race. We expect a large fleet, which will be different to precious editions, due to a very busy race calendar this year. We will probably not see some boats that have attended previous editions, the IMOCAs for example, which will be just back from the New York Vendee-Les Sables d'Olonne race and will be going back to their home ports for work before the Vendee Globe, or some of the Class40, who will be finishing the Transat Quebec-Saint-Malo or the Figaro Beneteau 3, who will be on the Tour Voile."
Several Class40 will however attend, notably the winner of the 2022 edition, Xavier Macaire: "I have made a habit of including the race in my programme, because I love the atmosphere and organisers. This year, it is particularly important to me to defend my title", explains the skipper of Groupe SNEF, who will battle it out in the dynamic 40foot monohull class with Nicolas Jossier (La Manche evidence Nautique), the Normandy entrepreneur Alexandre Le Gallais (Trim Control) and two newcomers in Class40, former Mini sailors Louis Mayaud (Belco) and Nicolas Guibal (NG Grand Large).
Arcona 460 - Pacific
Arcona Yachts AB has received the sad news that on the 8th April 2024 an Arcona 460 sank in the Pacific. All crew are safe, no one was injured, and the crew were swiftly rescued by nearby vessels.
Fredrik Malmqvist, Arcona Yachts CEO said, "At Arcona Yachts, safety is our priority, and we are therefore taking this very seriously. We understand from the Arcona 460 owners that the rudder stock was broken, however we don't yet know how or why. We are working closely with our suppliers and key people to immediately investigate this serious incident further. Our thoughts are with the owners, family and crew and we send our sincere thanks to the crew of the nearby vessels that assisted with the rescue. As soon as we know more, we will release further information."
Featured Charter
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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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See listing details in Seahorse Charters
Contact
Charter Department
Bernard-Gallay
Phone : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail : or
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Swan 78-007 'Nina II'. 7,800,000 EUR ex-VAT.
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TP52. 290,000 EUR. Located in Barcelona.
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Updated: Longitud 0 (2015)
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MOD 70 - Maserati Multi 70. 1,450,000 EUR.
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email
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This TP / IRC 52 has so much pedigree, built as Azzura then to become Shogun, Ichi Ban, Envy Scooters and now Crush. She has as excellent performance record under IRC and ORC and comes complete with an extensive up to date inventory that will sure to impress.
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The Last Word
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