Scuttlebutt Europe #2372 - 20 June
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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 Container Wins Audi Medcup Marseille Trophy
With a 1,5 point lead on the strong US team of QUANTUM today's racing promised to be an exciting battle between the Germans and the Americans but mistral winds made racing impossible. So the small margin of CONTAINER after yesterday's victory in the coastal race remained and let them win the Marseille event. "A superb performance of our team after a rather slow start here in Marseille! This victory was kind of necessary and at this moment very motivating." After two events of the 2011 AUI MedCup CONTAINER now is in second place with 11 points behind Quantum (49 points) followed by Azzurra (Italy, 69,5 points), Synergy (Russia, 76,5 points), Ran (Sweden, 82 points), Bribon (Spain, 85,5 points), Audi All 4 One (France/Germany, 101,5 points) and Gladiator (UK, 132,5 Points). The next AUDI MedCup regatta will take place in Cagliari (Sardinia/Italy) from July 19 to 24. Red Wins Porto Cervo Leg of Audi Melges 32 Sailing Series
Consistent performances over each of the three legs have left Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti, with Olympic Gold Medal winner Nathan Wilmot calling tactics, at the top of the overall classification for the series with the final leg due to be held in Malcesine in July. Brontolo has climbed from seventh to second place and Audi Fratelli Giacomel, owned by Alessio Marinelli, is in third. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's regatta calendar continues with the Settimana delle Bocche - Farr 40 European Circuit from 29th June to 2nd July. www.yccs.com Strong Winds Delay Giraglia Rolex Cup Start The contagious appeal of the competition has also inspired non-Italian and French crews such as Pieter Houting's Peak (NED), a Swan 65 Ketch. "This is the seventh time we are participating," explains Houting, whose team are all close friends. "After each race, we fill in a book where we write every experience, therefore it becomes easier and easier to prepare for the following event." The crew of Peak enjoy the gradual build up to the offshore race. "The coastal races are wonderful for us in preparing for the long race. There is then a lot of stress on the evening before the long race. For us, as a non-racing boat, the main ambition is to come home safe and sound." During years when Houting and his crew are unable to compete in the complete regatta circuit, they are often restricted to entering only one race. Such is the stature of the Giraglia, this is the one they always choose to compete in. Houting's own relationship with the Giraglia began many years ago: "I started when I was very young sailing on a 42-ft French boat. I sailed on the old circuit from Toulon to San Remo many times. I remember one year there was a tremendous storm and that experience is still in my system." Dubarry Sligo - Dash of a Different Kind Bol D'or Mirabaud
Ernesto Bertarelli, the double winner of the America's Cup, wins the Bol d'Or on Alinghi for the sixth time since his last victory in 2003. He led the race almost entirely despite fierce opposition. In the monohull category, Syz & Co wins the race after more than 11 hours of sailing. "This year's edition benefited from favorable wind conditions, which led to a dynamic and highly tactical race. In all categories, winners won by a very small margin over their opponents even after several hours of intensive racing", said Michel Glaus, Chairman of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud Organizing Committee. "We sailed extremely well and the entire crew has done a fantastic job" said Ernesto Bertarelli. "We took an excellent start, but were always under the threat of our opponents. However we managed well tactical transitions and did not commit any error. I am very happy about this victory here at home." Safran Has Smashed the Round Britain and Ireland Record On Saturday 18th June the big monohull sailed by Marc Guillemot, Yann Elies, Loic Lingois, Cesar Dohy and Didier Le Vourch crossed the finishing line off the Lizard at 0734 hrs GMT. Safran completed the voyage in 6 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds improving on the record time held since June 2009 by Dee Caffari's all-women crew on Aviva by 1h 42 minutes and 3 seconds. Safran completed the course at an average speed of 11.52 knots on the 1773 mile Great circle route (the theoretical course). However, on the water, she actually covered more than 2000 miles at an average speed of 13 knots. Setting out just under a week ago from this same location off the Lizard at 2145 hrs GMT on Saturday 11th June in a duel with Vincent Riou and Hugues Destremau's PRB, Marc Guillemot's crew just managed to achieve what they set out to do, while PRB was forced to retire after their forestay broke. The record was particularly difficult with some strong winds (up to 48 knots) and heavy seas, but also some tricky weather patterns to deal with, but this made it all the more interesting for Marc Guillemot, Yann Elies and the three other men on board. The strategy involving staying ahead of a warm front was soon no longer valid and they had to adapt to the situation, talking things through with Sylvain Mondon of Meteo France. "Off the Shetlands, we no longer had any advantage and at best we could aim for beating the record by three hours," explained Sylvain. The conditions they encountered were particularly tough: sailing upwind in winds averaging 35 knots gusting to 45 in heavy seas with 4 to 5 metre high waves. All of these figures await ratification by the WSSRC, the World Sailing Speed Record Council, the body which governs world sailing records. Giraglia Rolex Cup The 59th Giraglia Rolex Cup, organised by the Yacht Club Italiano in conjunction with the Societe Nautique de Saint-Tropez, promises to maintain the finest traditions of this historic race as an eclectic fleet battle for one of the Mediterranean's top sailing prizes. Three days of inshore racing will take place from 19 to 21 June before the offshore marathon commences on 22 June. On the entry list there's a healthy mix of consistent Giraglia campaigners such as Andres Soriano's Alegre (GBR), Sir Peter Ogden's Jethou (GBR), and Leonardo Ferragamo's Cuordileone (ITA); plus there is a bigger, faster Near Miss (SUI) for Franck Noel, an awe-inspiring new arrival in Brian Benjamin's Maxi Racer/Cruiser Aegir II (GBR), a star-studded defending line honours champion in the aforementioned Esimit Europa 2, and, heavy-weight challengers in the 27.46m/90ft Med Spirit (FRA) and the 25.7m/85ft Roma (ITA), along with a host of smaller yachts harbouring ambitions of claiming the overall handicap prize. Programme Sunday 19 June: Inshore races Awakening The Dragon Skipper of Qingdao, Ian Conchie, and his crew are preparing for the start of Clipper 11-12 which, at 40,000 miles, is the world's longest ocean race. It will begin from Southampton on 31 July 2011 and Qingdao will host a stopover in February 2012 when all ten of the 68-foot stripped down racing yachts and their crews will visit the Chinese sailing capital for a week-long celebration. Leading the naming ceremony was Mr Yuan Zhiping, Vice President of Qingdao Yachting Association and consultant to Qingdao Sports Federation. To begin proceedings and give the invited guests a small taste of the welcome the crews will receive upon their arrival in Qingdao, a lion dance was performed by the Chinese Association of Southampton. Qingdao is twinned with the city of Southampton which will host the race start for the first time in the event's 15-year history. The Long and the Short Of It On the one hand there is the Perini Navi designed Maltese Falcon, at 289 feet, one of the largest privately-owned sailboats in the world. On the other there are two Class 40s, which at 40 feet are specially designed for short-handed offshore and coastal racing. The yacht's three self-standing and rotating carbon fiber masts, which carry 15 sails with a combined sail area the size of three and a half tennis courts (25,833 square feet), are of such an imposing height-190 feet, in fact—that recent visitors to Newport have experienced "the Falcon" at almost eye level as they've crossed the 206' high Claiborne Pell Bridge, which serves as the gateway to Narragansett Bay and its adjacent Newport Harbor. And while Maltese Falcon will be dry and comfortable, and sailing with a large crew, the two Class 40s will be roughing it with minimum comfort, eating freeze-dried food and sailing with anywhere from two to six onboard. Team Concise was set up four years ago by owner Tony Lawson (Haslemere, UK) specifically to encourage and develop young British offshore sailors and will be entered in the TR 2011's challenge for the Youth Trophy. His team of six (the maximum for the Class 40) will be skippered by Ned Collier-Wakefield (Oxford, UK). Sailing double-handed in the Class 40 division will be Michael Hennessey (Mystic, Conn.) on Dragon. "Just me and one other guy (co-skipper Rob Windsor) - less people to get along with," joked Hennessey, adding seriously, "We'll be on deck at the same time for sail changes, but otherwise it's typically two hours on, two hours off." Hennessey was encouraged that in April of this year a Class 40, skippered by Eric Defert, sailed from Ambrose Light (off Sandy Hook, NJ) to Lizard Point (a distance of 2880 miles) in 11 days and 11 hours. "That sort of sets the benchmark at the bottom end of the range; however, Eric was able to pick his weather system," said Hennessey. "I would be thrilled with anything less than 12 days. I'm realistically expecting 13 to 14 days, and upper end who knows? It's up to the weather gods." Seahorse July 2011 Original! Fork in the road Seahorse build table - Kid sister Sailor of the Month If you haven't subscribed to Seahorse already we're keen to help you attend to that! - Please use the following promotional link and enjoy the hefty Scuttlebutt Europe discount... and it gets even better for 2 and 3 year subscriptions... Team Sanya Enters Volvo Ocean Race This model works, whether you are the Clipper Race or the America's Cup World Series - tying the teams to the venues allows for a better return on investment for the host city. The Volvo Ocean Race will be used by China to promote the city of Sanya as the 'Hawaii of the Orient', and to ensure the message is carried through the entire race, not just the Chinese stopover, a new team has been announced. Mike Sanderson, who has won the Volvo Ocean Race twice, will skipper the new Chinese entry to be called 'Team Sanya'. The announcement of Team Sanya brings the total number of entered boats to seven. There is a sense that China, like Abu Dhabi, are willing to make large investments to use sailing as a mechanism to leap-frog other destinations in competition for tourism and investment. China will also compete for the next America's Cup, with their team amongst those announced this week in San Francisco. Cities within China are also competing against each other for events, with Qingdao hosting the Olympics and the Extreme Sailing Series. Soling Masters & Italian Championship It was not the perfect weather at lake Iseo during the event, but seven races were sailed and the 20 teams from 5 different nations and 3 continents also contesting the Italian Championship and Vittorio Porta enjoyed once more the hospitality from AVAS. CAN 225 at the masters event which counts results separate from the Italian Open adjusted they score by achieving a second and two bullets to bring home after his European tournee that comes to an end. The last bullet broke the tie against GER 232 Jörg Hermann, Karsten Eller and Tim Giesecke and also team Audi Ramadabalaton HUN 77 Gyorgy Wossala, Karoly Vezer and Peter Nemeth, all with 14 points. The fight to complete the two left steps in the podium was won by GER 1 Roman Koch, Maxl Koch and Gregor Bornemann followed by the ARG 42 Alberto Zanetti, Gustavo Warburg and Ricky Homps who left outside the best italian team ITA 188 with Giuseppe Rossi, Roberto Minola and Alessandro Sgorbato. It was not the same destiny for CAN 225 at the Italian Open Championship in which Jorh Hermann, Karsten Eller and Tim Giesecke with GER 232 won the event over CAN 225 who by winning the last race left the third place at the podium to HUN 77. GER 304 with Thomas Maschkiwitz, Stefen Wenzel and Christof Wossala who didn't make the masters Category finished 4th just ahead GER 1. The Italian Champion cup ended to a local sailor ITA 188 Giuseppe Rossi, Roberto Minola and Alessandro Sgorbato, they were seconded by ITA 215 with Michele Campagnoni, Davide Arata and Domenighini also local sailors and third ITA 251 Michele Tognozzi, Querci and Giulano Carotti coming from Castiglione della Pescaia. -- Matias Collins EUROSAF Freestyle Sailing Championship "Sailing is the only sport in the world that is beautiful to practice, but less attractive to watch - says Marco Predieri, EUROSAF President - With the Freestyle Sailing that we are introducing we hope it will become as spectacular for those who watch the racing from the shores of the lake as well as those taking part. We expect competitors from all over Europe, at both senior and junior levels, with potential for at least 8 countries taking part. We in EUROSAF hope this will mark a starting point for the sailing by increasing the level of enjoyment and understanding on the part of spectators at the same time making sailing a more media attractive sport. Freestyle sailing commences with group based 'elimination' fleet racing, using a course format known as 'coast to coast'. It then progresses through further stages to semi-finals and a final, which are raced on a one against one basis, over a parallel slalom course, the results of which determines the overall winner. Participants are expected from Britain, Sweden, Turkey, Argentina, Finland and Slovenia, and, of course, Italy. Further information on the event available at: www.eurosaf.org Letters To The Editor - * From Chris Mitchell: re: On the cost of Cup Campaigns I think most discussions about AC campaign budgets are irrelevant and budgets are not related to costs and probably never have been. First the teams raise as much money as they can. They spend all the money that they raise any way they can, to get what they have got going as fast as it can. The successful money raisers generally do the best in the Cup, especially those who are self-funded. The type and cost of boat and the size of the sailing crew is very much a secondary issue but sometimes a useful lever used to help get more money. Most of the money goes into salary and wages and once the operational costs are satisfied the rest of the money can go into more science projects to see how you can go faster. If the boats suddenly become cheaper it makes it politically tougher to ask for big bucks, but money simply transfers from building budget to design budget or sail budget or campaign budget; still looking for the fastest overall package from the fixed amount of money you have been able to raise. For most teams, time and money are finite resources that are a fixed and you use them up together as effectively as you can. That is logical isn't it? 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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