Scuttlebutt Europe #2356 - 26 May
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 In the Driving Seat at Match Race Germany After a deserved victory at Match Race France where he only lost 5 from 21 races, it looked like business as usual in Langenargen for Damien Iehl (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team. The Frenchman didn't have it all his own way though having to come from behind in his opening match against Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing. He then benefited from a mistake by Eugeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Team Synergy to claim his next scalp. Against the Russian, Iehl was losing on the beat to M2 which had been changed due to a wind shift. Neugodnikov and Iehl rounded different windward marks - Neugodnikov the original red mark and Iehl the white alternative mark. Thinking Iehl was at fault, Neugodnikov displayed his red flag to protest but it was clear the confusion lay with the Russian who finished second and had no joy with his protest. A 2-0 scoreline and Iehl was now firmly in his stride, next defeating William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Saling Team in quick succession. A comfortable win against Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners in Flight 8 wrapped up a perfect day for Iehl - it's a performance that mirrors his opening day in France and will send yet another warning shot to his opponents. Standings After the First Qualifying Session: A Straight Downhill Run to the Finish Clearly the change of course has done nothing to upset the furious pace of the race. The 12 competitors are maintaining some fairly high speeds. In a few hours' time, they'll pass Land's End to begin a long run down towards Guernsey. After that there will be two Norman headlands to round, before they cross the finish line later afternoon tomorrow, Thursday. Current ETAs suggest that the first Class40s are likely to cross the finish line off Hermanville late Thursday afternoon. The distance of the theoretical course for the Normandy Channel Race 2011 was originally around 1,000 miles. Following the change of course, the competitors didn't round Fastnet Rock, instead setting a course straight towards Guernsey after Tuskar Rock, which equates to a course spanning nearly 200 fewer miles. Until today, the average race speed across the water was around 8.4 knots. Clearly this average speed is set to increase dramatically over the coming hours, since the current Southerly wind is set to clock round to the West, remaining fairly strong to carry the Class40s downwind to Caen. -- Translated by Kate Jennings Ranking for Wednesday 25 May at 1400 hours GMT: 1. Port De Caen Ouistreham, Fabien Delahaye/Bruno Jourdren, Dist To Finish 250.1 nm Seatrack Navigation Success The latest Seatrack navigation software has achieved a number of successes in recent events including The RORC Caribbean 600, Rolex Regatta IRC Class2, St Thomas, and, in the UK, Warsash Spring Series. Congratulations go to the winners; "British Soldier", an A40 Army Association skippered by Nick Bate, "Antelope", a Grand Soleil 43 owned and skippered by Willem Wester, and "Stilletto", a Class IRC 3. The performance race system is available in two versions: RACER and GRAND PRIX RACER combines all navigational features of Seatrack Cruiser with performance data acquisition and manipulation features. GRAND PRIX is the ultimate tool for the racing tactician and features dynamic instrument calibration, handicaps, start line, and trend plotting. www.seatrack.co.uk Multiple Race Winners On Opening Day Of Act 3, Istanbul The first day of the Extreme Sailing Series Act 3 in Istanbul, Turkey saw an action packed seven races for the 11 international teams, with Artemis Racing taking the top spot with 52 points, only a single point ahead of Act 2 winners Luna Rossa and Alinghi on 47. The racing conditions tested the teams today as the 44 sailors manhandled their Extreme 40 racing machines around short, sharp courses. There were plenty of gusts to potentially trip the up boats, shifts in wind direction and the race legs were so short it was a full-on physical work. "It's beautiful to sail here, the conditions are good with a tricky wind which is good for us," said Maxi Sirena, skipper of Luna Rossa. For six out of seven races today a different team crossed the finish line first, only Luna Rossa scored two bullets. Alinghi, Emirates Team New Zealand, The Wave Muscat, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild and Team GAC Pindar all secured a win apiece which kept everyone guessing right up to the last race as to which team would finish the day on top. The race management maximized the length of the upwind/downwind leg using the widest part of the Halic estuary but the downwind leg was still short - with the Extreme 40s covering the 400m stretch in 90 seconds. Two laps round and each race was over in just 10-12 minutes. With only 11 points separating the top eight teams there will be some tough competition tomorrow as the front runners try to establish a firm lead, and the race course will become narrower as it moves in front of the VIP set-up for the media day ahead of the Extreme Sailing Series Race Village opening to the public on Friday, 28th. Current overall standings after Day 1 Farr 40s Race for North American Title Long Beach, California: Farr 40s need no introduction to Long Beach, but their racing here over Memorial Day weekend will be more serious than ever. The 2011 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship Saturday through Monday will be the first on the West Coast since the series was launched in 1998, a year after the boat was introduced to the world. Bringing the only Rolex-sponsored event to Southern California in many years is a significant statement about the strength and competitiveness of the West Coast Farr 40 fleet. The class has global popularity with 152 boats in 17 countries and, locally, "the fastest growing Farr 40 fleet in the world," said David Voss, president of the West Coast flotilla. "Rolex stands for excellence and the select events they sponsor annually all over the world represent the pinnacle of sailboat racing." A maximum of eight races will be run, starting at 1 p.m. each day. The forecast for Saturday is a sunny 72 F., with a classic 12 knots of offshore breeze from west-southwest down the San Pedro Channel funnel between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland. farr40.org/2011-north-americans.html Camper With Emirates Team New Zealand Set To Take On Fiji Race The yacht has been in the shed at the Emirates Team New Zealand base for a minor refit following sea-trials and completing a 2000-nautical mile voyage to qualify for entry to the Volvo Ocean Race. It will be re-launched today, the mast will be stepped, and CAMPER will be sailing again on Friday. "We are satisfied with the boat's reliability with the hammering we got in the weeks after the launch. Now we are into tweaking systems and improving crew work so that when we get to the start line in Alicante in November we are ready to go.The Fiji race is an early opportunity to bed in the watch system and work together as a crew. If there are any shortcomings we'll find them and have time to correct them, " commented Nicholson. For CAMPER ideal weather for the race is a start from Auckland in a moderate south-westerly and hook into the south-easterly trades as they get closer to Fiji. They will be looking for a following wind on the return voyage to Auckland. "We have some down-wind sails that we want to test and a good, long run would be welcome change to the upwind sailing we experienced during the qualifying sail." A fleet of 19 will line up for the 2011 edition of the race, with a mix of yachts ranging from the historic Maxi Whitbread Lion New Zealand, to Team Vodafone Sailing competing on their 60ft trimaran. The race starts at midday on Saturday, June 4 follow live tracking of the fleet here: www.rnzys.org.nz RHKYC Taiwan Strait Race After paying tribute to the quality of his wife's catering, Taylor gave his verdict on the race; "a beautiful code zero reach pretty much all the way. We did have one moment where the boat was caught with a little too much sail up as 40 knots came out of the darkness ... we were on our side for a while, and the code zero and staysail will need to go to the sailmakers." Co-owner and RHKYC Vice Commodore Isler summed up the experience in two words, namely "cracking sail!" It appears that the "boys on the 'Bush" have a great opportunity to claim the double for this race. Nick Southward's J109, 'Whiskey Jack', is set to come second on the water, but has been set a very ambitious finish time of 18:45hrs tonight to take IRC Overall. Tipsy Frenz has retired, in order to get people back to the office on Tuesday and Polar Star III and Groovy are still over 100nm from the finish. The progress of the remaining boats can be watched via Yellowbrick tracking at live.adventuretracking.com/hkt2011 St Brendan Voyagers Refused Access to Skellig The Kerryman reports that though some visitors are understood to have landed on the island in recent weeks, the OPW refused the Brendan's Voyage crew on health and safety grounds. A spokesperson for the OPW said it requires at least 10 days notice to make preparations for any visitors and repair damage to pathways and buildings occurring over the winter months. Dr Breandan O Ciobhan of the voyage party described the news as "very disappointing". Ar Seachran, a 45ft yacht owned by Paddy Barry - himself a veteran of unique ocean voyages - will continue on its journey up the west coast of Ireland and Scotland, by the Orkneys, Shetlands and Faroe Islands to Iceland. Dubarry Storm - Designed To Perform Dubarry Storm - the calm within the Storm. Elegance On Parade at the 2011 12 Metres Worlds While in 2008 the event was limited to traditional, i.e.12 Metre yachts built before the World War II, in 2011 the entire class meets at this high profile event, which has already created quite a stir not only on the Flensburg fjord. With 12 Metres entered including Anitra, Evaine, Sphinx, Thea, Trivia, Vanity V, Vema III, Heti, and Madga VIII, the parade of racing yachts will be more glamorous than any beauty pageant. To see photos and history of these incredible vessels, visit: There will also be a Robbe & Berking 8 Metre World Championship" with a spectacular fleet of up to twenty-four 8s. The details of the Robbe & Berking 12 Metre and 8 Metre Worlds are as follows: - Measurement June 27-28 - Racing 29 June - 3 July 2011: Up to 3 races each day in accordance with the championship rules of each class. The Robbe & Berking 12 Metre World Championships consists of a maximum number of nine races. - Courses will be sailed on the Inner Flensburg Fjord. The Race Committee has got the option to sail some of the races at Flensburg Outer Fjord if wind and weather conditions require this change of racing area. - Please find the racing area and results online on www.rolex-baltic-week.com For more information, contact or the 12 Metre site for the event, www.12metreworlds.com ECO 60 Class to Host Discussion Forum The Eco 60 Class, for Open 60s built before 2003, was devised as an affordable, more sustainable alternative to the high-end campaigns of late which have seen solo ocean racing become accessible only to those with multi-million pound budgets. The four finishing skippers of the latest edition of the solo round the world race were so convinced of the boat's potential they have since formed the Eco 60 Class Association and elected American ocean racer Brad Van Liew as Interim President of the Class. Following the completion of the Velux 5 Oceans 2010-11, the Class is hosting an inaugural discussion forum on Friday June 3rd in La Rochelle (France) ahead of the prize giving celebrations. The Class has invited interested parties and stakeholders to attend from all over the world, including skippers, boat owners, event organisers, sponsors and designers. The objective of the forum is to formalise an independent Class and define the future development of the Eco 60 racing circuit. British ocean racer and secretary of communications for the Eco 60 Class, Chris Stanmore- Major added, "As the final leg of the Velux 5 Oceans comes to an end, the development of the Eco 60 Class into a separate standalone entity becomes the focus of those who have successfully proven that age does not dull the capability of these incredible boats to provide close, competitive racing with the added certainty of proven, robust design. "The Velux 5 Oceans race has lost only one competitor in 30,000 miles crossing the wildest stretch of water on the planet the notorious Southern Ocean. This represents only a 20 percent dropout rate. For those lucky enough to compete in this inaugural Eco 60 event, one of the most important aspects of their campaigns was the affordability of boats, creating a stepping stone into serious ocean racing that has never existed before. To attend the Forum, please contact; To learn more about the Eco 60 Class, please visit www.eco60.org Letters To The Editor - * From Daniel Charles: How fitting that a boat yard is restoring the Fly Eye Dome! Buckminster Fuller was an avid sailor (I seem to remember that his last boat was named Intuition). Bucky designed the elaborate forestay chainplate cum fairleads for the famed "super-J" Ranger -he was a good friend of Ranger co-designer and chief engineer Starling Burgess (who'd been chief engineer of Bucky's Dymaxion Car),. Bucky was also a friend of 1980 OSTAR winner Phil Weld. For Bucky, the sailing boat was an illustration (and maybe an inspiration) of his Tensegrity structure thinking. He was the most fascinating sailor I was ever privileged to meet. Featured Brokerage Here is a very sought after Melges 20. Ready to go racing, needs nothing. Has been in the water 10 times. Full covers, North sails, trailer. Hull #131 Join the fastest growing one design fleet out there! Tons of fun, no hiking! fast planning down wind. Brokerage through Sail Northwest: www.yachtworld.com/sailnorthwest/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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