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Brought to you by Boats.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 Espada Wins 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup The (almost) all female crew aboard Louise Morton's 'Espada' took an 11 point lead into the final day and with the tactical assistance of Stuart Childerley the girls never looked likely to relinquish the stranglehold they established on this regatta from the very first day. A third in the first race today, followed up by a first and a second in the last two races, put their comprehensive overall victory beyond any doubt. A win in the first race of the day along with second and third places in the subsequent races, elevated the winners of last year's Coutts Quarter Ton Cup, Darren Marston & Olly Ophaus on 'Cote', into second place overall. A 4,4,1 performance on the final day saw Day 1 regatta leader Rob Gray on 'Aguila', take the final overall podium place. Rickard Melander's Swedish team on 'Alice II' finished the regatta in fourth place with Eamonn Rohan's Irish crew aboard 'Anchor Challenge in fifth. In the strictly amateur only Corinthian Division George Kenefick's Irish entry 'Tiger' confirmed overall victory with a 2,1,2 Corinthian scoreline on the final day, by a margin of 23 points. Impressively "Tiger' also finished in sixth place in the overall standings. After a putting on a good final day performance, Paul Kelsey on 'Runaway Bus' moved up to take second place in the Corinthian Division, 5 points ahead of Willy McNeil & Mike Pascall on 'Illegal Immigrant' in third. www.rcyc.co.uk Scott Wins Finn Europeans
The battled for bronze between Andrew Mills (GBR) and Thomas Le Breton (FRA) left Mills jumping out ahead of Le Breton and then covering him throughout the race to finish eighth and ninth. So Mills took the bronze. It was a long wait for the medal race as early morning there was no wind, but got underway in 6-8 knots at about 1330 and soon increased to 10-11 knots as the sea breeze began to build, with Oscar flag for free pumping going up on the second downwind. The Junior title goes to Josip Olujic (CRO). Going into the regatta as one of the favourites for the Junior title, he trailed Egor Terpigorev (RUS) from the opening day and only passed him on the tricky races on Wednesday. In third place is the fast improving Julian Massler (GER). Scott was ecstatic in his victory, his first major championship win and coming weeks after his disappointment at losing the British trials for the Olympic test event. His first reaction, "Total relief!" Giles Scott (GBR) trod in the footsteps of Paul Elvstrom today at the Finn European Championship at the Open Europeans Helsinki 2011. In winning his first major Finn championship he climbed onto the same podium as the greatest of all Finn heros did 59 years ago at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Defending Champion Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) stood where Charles Currey stood 59 years ago and bronze medalist Andrew Mills (GBR) stood to Scott's left, where the Finn's designer Rickard Sarby stood all those years ago. In many ways it was an historic end to an historic championships as the Finn was the only dinghy class at the Open Europeans Helsinki 2011 that was used in the 1952 Olympics - in fact 1952 was the Finn's first appearance on the Olympic stage. A lot has changed in 59 years, but the class remains proud of its history. -- Robert Deaves Final results (medal race position in brackets) 1. Giles Scott, GBR, 34 (1) Junior European Championship
The All New Anakena Sailing Shorts The Anakena shorts are handcrafted in San Diego, California to help reduce our carbon footprint. Buy some today! Fight To The Finish Concise 2 set a blistering pace in the early part of the race and left Dragon trailing by hundreds of miles. However, mid-Atlantic, as the wind evaporated around Concise 2, the six sailors making up the British youth team were helpless as Dragon came back with a fresh westerly breeze to not only catch but also overtake them. In light airs it seems that the lighter Dragon - which Hennessy is racing doublehanded with Rob Windsor (East Northport, N.Y.) - has the advantage and it could be a very close finish late tonight or in the early hours of Friday morning. For the last four years, Tony Lawson (Haslemere, U.K.), owner of Concise 2, has used his Class 40 as a highly successful platform for young British sailors to gain experience in prestigious offshore events. Lawson believes that the yachts still racing are crewed by the real heroes of this race. "The superyachts in this race are too exciting for words," said Lawson. "However, personally, the heroes of this piece have to be the amateur sailors who have left families behind, dropped classes, even given up jobs to fulfill their dream of 'doing a transatlantic.' On Concise 2 the physical hardship that is a Class 40, and the torment of these last few windless days, has only brought the crew closer together…made the conversation deeper, the wit sharper, and no doubt the fish and chips and that first pint in Cowes taste better. After 2,900 miles of racing there is just a few miles between us and our sister ship Dragon, it is just to close to call. The next yacht to finish the Transatlantic Race 2011 could well be the Volvo 60, Ambersail, whose Lithuanian team made a break well south of the chasing pack, which seems to have paid off handsomely. However, a few miles behind and with a better wind angle coming into the finish, Beau Geste, skippered by Karl Kwok (Hong Kong), and Vanquish, crewed by the Oakcliff All-American Offshore Team, are also locked in a close duel. Ambersail look to have the advantage, but they could still be caught. In IRC Class Four, which were the yachts to take the first start the Transatlantic Race 2011 on June 26, there is another close battle brewing. Rives Potts, Jr. (Essex, Conn.), skipper of Carina, the McCurdy and Rhodes 48, currently has a five-mile lead on the Army Sailing Association's Archambaud 40, British Soldier, crewed by active duty members of the British Army. Guernsey Delivers Blue Skies and Light Airs for JCup Day Two
Three more races of The Lombard Marine Finance J/97 UK National Championship were sailed on windward-leeward courses and the day belonged to Grant Gordon's team on board Fever. Three race wins for them secured the prize for the North Sails Boat of the Day. In Class IRC1 Nigel and Donna Passmore's J/133 Apollo 3and Rob Craigie's J/122 J Bellino were tied on nine points each at the end of the second day of racing with J Bellino's 1, 4, 2 scoreline earning them the North Sails Boat of the Day prize. In third and fourth place, on twelve and thirteen points respectively are the two J/111s; J Spirit and True Love. Mick Holland and Carole Aylmer have got their J/122 Majic going nicely now as well, and were top local boat in IRC 1 at the end of five races. William Newton's J/105 still leads IRC 2, having completed four races, but Annie Kelly and Andy Howe's J/92 Blackjack is snapping at their heels on six points, and just behind them on equal points is Marc Noel's J/92 Dr Jeckyll, each scoring a race win on Wednesday. The North Sails Boat of the Day prize went to Dr Jeckyll who had totted up just one point less that Blackjack over the day. These were two tricky races for the J/105s in this class which really show their colours in slightly stronger airs, but Stan Fenton and his team on J/105 Fay J were the best performing J/105 on Wednesday. Jeez Louise was leading the J/109 fleet right up until the end of the first race on Wednesday but an unfortunate graze with the St Peter Port granite put them out of the J-Cup in the second race on Wednesday. Topping this Class at the end of five races is Johnnie Goodwin and Bruce Huber's Alexabelle on 12 points. This team have chartered the J/109 for the J-Cup and will be doing so again for Cowes Week later this year. Alexabelle was the North Sails Boat of the Day for the J/109s. Tony De Mulder's Victric is just one point behind Alexabelle and so one would assume early nights for each crew. -- Becci Eplett Sailor Services Expands to Entire ORC Database "This does not cover all the certificates issued over this time frame, as there are some gaps for various reasons," says ORC Programmer Panayotis Papapostolou. "But it does represent the great majority, and is a large expansion in response to what some of the several hundred registered users have asked for in these past 6 months since the first launch of this service." All the data comes from over 40 individual ORC rating offices around the world, and represents some 3000 different boat types and designs. Access to the measurement data does exclude hull and appendage design offset data, which ORC enforces to ensure protection of designer's copyrights. All other measured parameters in the International Measurement System (IMS) that appears on certificates are now accessible through this database for free, while full copies of issued certificates in the database are available for 10€ each. This measurement data can be edited and then run through the latest ORC VPP to produce a 2011 Test Certificate, for the same price of €10 each. Test certificates allow owners and sailors in general to test how changes in parameters such as crew weight, sail dimensions, boat trim, or rig parameters can affect their ratings and their VPP-predicted polar boatspeeds, also available from the same page. Another new feature in Sailor Services is advanced users can now interact with the database using the full ORC "dxt" format for boat data edits. These files generated by the ORC's IMS Editor software, made available for download by ORC to any Measurer, Designer, Owner or Sailor interested in offline editing of measurement data. Alternatively, non-expert users can use the web-based editor integral to the Sailors Services since its first introduction 6 months ago. "This is an exciting development to finally be able to make all this data available to the offshore racing community," said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. "It will be of interest to many different parties: owners, measurers, designers and anyone else can now access this valuable data accumulated over the past 20 years. This reinforces the primary mission of ORC Rating Systems: to provide fair rating services that are scientific and technically accurate as well as transparent and accessible to the international sailing public." Seahorse August 2011 Turbocled tubercles Light. Bulb. Moment RORC news Fast Approaching Entries came in thick and fast and were closed within ten days of opening in January. However, the requests kept arriving. After being inundated with additional enquiries from the Volvo Open 70s, the IMOCA 60s, Class 40s and Multihulls to join the 608-nautical mile marathon, the RORC adjusted the entry limit to allow these 'professional' classes to be counted above the initial cut-off mark. The Rolex Fastnet Race commences from Cowes on Sunday 14 August (the first signal sounds at 10:50 BST). Whilst crews with the ambition of being the fastest to the finish will hope to spend only one or two nights at sea, spare a thought for those at the back of the pack, for whom a near week in often punishing waters may be the order of the day. The fastest boat on the water at the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race will be the 100-foot trimaran, Banque Populaire (FRA), which just broke the round the Britain Isles record by almost a day and a half. However, the battle for monohull line honours is the most anticipated clash and is expected to be the privilege of two other 100-ft challengers: Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard (GBR), first elapsed-time finisher in the past two editions, and arch-rivals George David's Rambler 100 (USA). There is the significant presence of six Volvo 70s, including two of the latest breed: Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Groupama IV (FRA). Then there is the Mini Maxi class including defending Rolex Fastnet handicap winner, the 72-ft Ran (GBR), owned by Niklas Zennstrom, in addition to Andres Soriano's Mills 68 Alegre (GBR), a fantastic campaigner in the Mediterranean in recent seasons. Throwing in the American challengers, the STP65 Vanquish,and the Reichel-Pugh 66 Zaraffa, who like ICAP Leopard and Rambler 100 competed in the Transatlantic Race, it promises to be a tight contest at the top of the fleet. Of the record breaking 350 yachts competing at this year's Rolex Fastnet Race, approximately a third are non-British crews. A scan of the 2011 entry list highlights the global pull of the event, with yachts competing from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UAE and the USA. * Bob Weare is looking for your support "Next month, I shall take part in my 5th Fastnet. Rather than just going ahead as normal, I have decided to use this as a good opportunity to raise money for the Lifeboat Fund (to help the RNLI). After all, as offshore sailors it is comforting to know that we can call on their support at any time if we run into trouble. "This yacht race, which starts on the 14 August from Cowes (UK), is one of the world's most challenging offshore races and I cannot think of a more fitting cause to benefit from this fund raising effort. "I will be racing on a yacht called Tarka II which is a First 40 design with ten crew onboard." Please dig deep and donate now, by visiting www.justgiving.com/Bob-Weare All-Star Line-Up to Open 34th America's Cup In Cascais Crews filled with previous America's Cup winners, Olympic medalists, world champions, plus round-the-world racers and record setters will contest the first event of the revitalized Cup competition. While some of the more established teams will rely on more experienced hands, new teams from new countries to the Cup are bringing in talent from other disciplines, shaking up the old guard. Top sailors leading each crew: James Spithill (AUS), helmsman, ORACLE Racing Spithill Kieler Yacht-Club Thinking Along European Lines The idea was sparked off by the plans for restructuring the ISAF Sailing World Cup, which from 2013 will take place on all five continents with the result that in the long run merely one or two European events will be part of it. This calls for a European trial series. "This is necessary to have when only one event on each continent will be part of the World Cup. The worldwide time-frame will allow for only one Sailing World Cup event in Europe, so we want create a whole new series here in Europe for the athletes," say Jobst Richter, head of the Kieler Woche organizers, and Peter Ramcke, ESC project-leader from Kieler Yacht-Club, unanimously. The idea was born before this year's Kieler Woche, and since then, the initiators from Kieler Yacht-Club have been going full steam ahead to push the creation of the European Cup and find supporting partners. Headed by the President of the European Sailing Federation (EUROSAF), Marco Predieri (Italy), this new European step was taken jointly in Kiel. A working group with representatives of EUROSAF, Kieler Woche, from Gdynia (Poland), Palma de Majorca (Spain) and Riva (Italy) has been founded to define the qualifying criteria for the European Sailing Circuit by October. The eight participating nations with Alberto Predieri (Italy/ISAF Board Member), Alastair Fox (U.K. Event Manager), EUROSAF Vice President Dan Ibsen (Denmark, ISAF Vice President and responsible for the ISAF ranking lists) and Rafael Gonzales (Spain/Vice President and ISAF Committee Member) were unanimous: The European Sailing Circuit must be a series of attractive and already existing events, the results of which must clearly reflect in positions on the world ranking lists to offer the athletes a high sportive incentive. The event must serve as a trial series for the ISAF Sailing World Cup and provide young athletes a chance to prove themselves on a high level and qualify for the World Cup. This way, the ISAF Sailing World Cup will enter the European stage not only once a year, but will be of interest throughout the European sailing season and across a number of countries. For further information www.kieler-woche.de Featured Brokerage This Half Tonner was built in 1974 by Conyer, designed by Stephen Jones. Hull, deck and superstructure are moulded in GRP, the hull being yellow and the decks being white. White non-slip painted areas on deck. Self-draining cockpit. Cast iron & lead bolt on fin keel to transom hung rudder. Hull was sandblasted and epoxied in 2001. Brokerage through Clarke & Carter Interyacht Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/clarkeandcarter/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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