Scuttlebutt Europe #2391 - 19 July
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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 Force 10 Atlantic Finale As Sasha approached the finish, a storm took hold in the Western Approaches generating very high waves with overhanging crests; large patches of foam turning the sea white with rage; and large amounts of airborne spray that dramatically reduced visibility. "The spray coming over the bow was more like that from a Volvo Ocean Race yacht than an S&S 42 and the severe weather conditions came upon us, somewhat unexpectedly," reported Albrecht. "We had over 55 knots of wind and 40' breaking waves. At times we were hit at 90 degrees by these waves and it was a case of survival. With all three reefs in the main and just a storm jib up, we were still unable to slow the boat down and we were often achieving speeds of over 14 knots. We had also broken the goose-neck fitting between the boom and the mast and we were taking in water, possibly through the keel bolts. But the boat is fine and so is the crew. We are now heading to Cowes and hopefully to Lallows Yard were the boat was built over 40 years ago." Despite Sasha's wild finish the team were unable to eclipse the corrected time of Jacqueline IV, which means that the McCurdy and Rhodes 42' skippered by Robert Forman (Bay Shore, N.Y.) retains third place in IRC Class Four. Goacher and Evans In Their Element at Flying 15 Uk Nationals The Flying 15 class finally started their National Championships on Monday at Hayling Island SC and it was still in conditions that took them to the edge and for some over the edge. This was familiar territory for multi title winners, Steve Goacher and Phil Evans from the Royal Windermere YC. They dialled up their heavy weather settings and hit the pin end to lead at the windward mark in both of their flight races. Of the overseas boats, World Champion, Grant Alderton and Dean Mcaullay from Australia were strong contenders, two fourth place finishes putting them sixth overall. Another Aussie pair, Ron Packer and Peter Mudford finished third in the second race to be 11th overall. Armaud Biet and Fabien Constant of France had an eighth in the second race to be 20th overall and the Kiwi boat of Murrey Gilbert and jon Burgessis in 21st after a fifth place finish in race two. A significant factor in the day's results was the retirement rate in the rough sea conditions and the number of black flag transgressions. Thirteen boats went out in the second races of the flights BFD. Among the front runners caught-out were Jeremy Davy and Simon Childs, 3rd in the first race, Simon Potts and Tim Harper (4th), Mike Hart and Richard Rigg (5th) and David Mckee and Chris Hewkin (5th). With a Westerly wind strength of 20 to 25 knots throughout the racing the Flying 15 was in its element, slicing to windward and planning down the waves in the off wind legs. Broaching was all part of the game in these conditions, as the crews drove the 60 year old design to levels that even Uffa Fox would have been proud of. Three races have been scheduled for Tuesday, again with an earlier start time of 12:00 hrs. Weather conditions are expected to ease to force 4 to 5. -- Gerald New Flying 15 - British Nationals, Top five results after 2 races (88 entries) 1. Steve Goacher / Phil Evans, GBR, 2 points Full results at www.hisc.co.uk Team New Zealand Fights Amcup Internet Restrictions ACEA is seeking to prohibit teams from altering page templates, which control the look, feel and personality of the space allocated to them, without ACEA approval and without incurring costs. Team managing director Grant Dalton says that one effect of this is to stifle the ability of commercially funded teams to raise sponsorship, and that affects all commercial teams. "I would have thought an ACEA objective should be to help teams secure sponsorship, not hinder them." He said: "For example we are an established team which has been in continuous operation since the 1987 America's Cup challenge at Perth. We have a campaign for the Volvo Ocean Race and we are competing in the Extreme Sailing Series. We need to be able to project ourselves to the public as we see fit, not controlled from within someone else's web site." Dalton said the event authority, by controlling all America's Cup internet traffic, was promoting the event at the expense of the teams, without which there would be no event. "People follow teams, not events.... people are not fans of the Rugby World Cup soon to be held in New Zealand, they support the teams within the Rugby World Cup." * David Fuller from YachtSponsorship weighs in: The protocol governing the 34th America's Cup contains a few rules that seem to go against the stated goals of developing America's Cup teams into commercially viable and sustainable businesses. While the America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA) uses Formula 1 as it's model when it comes to PR, the mechanism it has settled upon to control the dissemination of information via the internet seems to have more in common with the big American sports like MLB, NBA and NFL. Now, arguably the only commercially based team, Emirates Team New Zealand, is seeking mediation in relation to rules that govern the team's web communica The concept of centralising the web presence of America's Cup teams has some merit. The official site of the New York Yankees, yankees.com redirects to http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=NYY. Interestingly, if you look closely at the MLB site, you will notice that it is 'powered by ORACLE', which might give a hint as to where the idea came from, but there are some big differences between MLB teams and America's Cup teams. Emirates Team New Zealand, and to a lesser degree ORACLE Racing and Artemis Racing are more like Penske Racing than the Yankees. Penske competes in two types of NASCAR series and the Indy Car championship, with occasional forays into the American Le Mans Series too. Expecting a team like Penske Racing to redirect its website to nascar.com for example doesn't make a lot of sense for its sponsors or its fans. Similarly, you can't really imagine UEFA mandating that Manchester United or Real Madrid redirect their URLS to UEFA.com Full article at www.yachtsponsorship.com Sail Faster And Smarter! Whether you race a one-design or big boat, at the top or bottom of your fleet, you'll find lots of valuable ideas in Speed & Smarts. In fact, when you consider the cost of other go-fast items you can buy, this newsletter gives you extremely good "bang for your buck." View a sample issue at www.speedandsmarts.com/BackIssues/SampleIssue Global Ocean Race 2013-14 Now Open to Solo and Double-Handed Class40's When the Global Solo Race 2013-14 format was announced in February this year, the decision for a single-handed race was driven by offshore yachtsmen and Class40 sailors. "There is a clear desire from sailors worldwide for an affordable and highly competitive solo round the world race," explains Race Director, Josh Hall. "As the exclusive, official organisers of Class40 round the world races, we were extremely pleased to issue the provisional NOR for just such an event," he continues. "However, the Global Solo Race's format was always open to discussion and input from the Class40 Association and the yachtsmen and women who are keen to compete in the event, hence this new format and the name of the race will now be the Global Ocean Race 2013-14." Hall and the GOR Race Organisation also found that a number of teams entered in the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 have been unable to source the appropriate levels of sponsorship funding to support a competitive and secure, double-handed campaign in the given time-frame. "It is certain that the continuing, worldwide economic crisis is having an impact on sports sponsorship, even at the relatively inexpensive scale of a GOR campaign - no-one is immune to this situation," Hall explains. "This has led to an unavoidable reduction of our projected fleet size for 2011-12, but virtually all of the teams that are unable to compete this time around have, in fact, confirmed their entry in the GOR 2013-14," he continues. "We are in the very fortunate position of already having solo sailors and double-handed teams reserving places on the start line for 10th November 2013." "We now believe that a Global Ocean Race with solo and double-handed divisions starting every two years is the correct profile to permit sustainable growth for the event and mirror the desires of the sailors," confirms the GOR Race Director. "The fleet for the race this year remains extremely healthy with highly-committed and very competitive Class40 teams and - even in these economically testing times - the Global Ocean Race is one of the very few serious offshore events to be in expansion." A Channel Island Idyll The final day of racing at the J-Cup 2011, hosted by the Guernsey Yacht Club, took place on Thursday in The Little Russell just off St Peter Port. The breeze was a light 6 to 10 knot north westerly. Whilst the PRO had planned to run three races for each of the four competing classes but the dying breeze and the fact that the fleet had their monster J-Cup Prizegiving Party scheduled for later in the day meant that two races were sailed and the fleet were sent home in good time for tea and medals at 1300 hours. The presentation of the main prizes commenced at 2130 hours and all of those who had achieved third or better in their class were presented with silver, glass and goodies. The beautiful, silver Lombard J/97 UK National Championship Trophy was presented to Grant Gordon and his crew on Fever. The Dubarry Boot for Endurance went to Andrew Given and his crew from J/109 High Tension, long term stalwarts and supporters of the J/1089 fleet and Martin Pound of the J/92 Moby-J was presented with the Dubarry Boot for Outstanding Achievement. The Best Newcomer Trophy went to Stuart Sawyer and his Cornishmen on the J/97 Black Dog. The best two boat team was that of J/109 Victric and J/111 True Love and they took home the Musketeer Trophy, a double champagne ice bucket. Jackie Dobson and the crew from J/133 Jeronimo won the stunning Ray and Scott Prix d'Elegance Trophy. Universal Marina gave away a year's free berthing at their exquisite facility at the top of the river Hamble to Jamie Arnell for his J/109 Jeez Louise, who was the eventual winner of their photo competition. And so, that just left the presentation of the J-Cup itself, the overall and most coveted prize of the whole regatta. In ten years of running the J-Cup regatta, the J-Cup has never been awarded to the same boat or the same team, twice. It's just a very simple piece of silverware but it embodies the soul of the J-Cup regatta and of the unique spirit of friendship, competition and camaraderie which exists between J Boat owners. The winners of the J-Cup in 2011 were Andy, Annie and the crew from Blackjack: for their win in IRC 2, for their support of the J/92 Class over the years and for their unfaltering friendship to all newcomers to the J Boat family. The J-Cup 2012 will be hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble from Wednesday 18th July to Saturday 21st of July. --Becci Eplett Glandore Classic Regatta
The highlights of the regatta were undoubtedly the beautiful Fife one designs, which were represented in two classes. In the Cork Harbour One Designs, first built in 1896, Querida and Elsie were the stars of the show, putting on a wonderful display of virtual match racing as Elsie harried Querida on the tricky harbour courses. The second Fife class sailing at the regatta was the Conway Fife one designs from the Royal Anglesea Yacht Club these Fife's were designed and built from 1924. This is the third time we have been delighted to welcome the Fifes from Anglesea to the Classic Regatta at Glandore. There was fleet racing for Cork Harbour Fife One designs, Classic Cruisers, Classic Gaffers, Workboats, Conway Fife's, Dragons, Squibs, Castletownsend Ette's, Hehir Island Sloops, Coleens, Lobsterboats and mixed dayboats. Wednesday conditions were really light, the offshore race for the Cruiser classics, Gaff riggers and Workboats was shortened at High Island, however the harbour fleets enjoyed light and sunny sailing in the harbour. Thursday we had a little more wind conditions were warm light though not so sunny. All classes had two races and the Race officer John Wyles set a course to bring the Dragons Fife's and Squibs out to the Club mark at the east end of Rabbit Island. Saturday morning was tricky with the biggest fleet we had seen during the week, over 60 boats racing in the harbour in the biggest wind of the week the view was spectacular! Sunday Morning saw another schedule of sailing for the Club fleets. Sunday afternoon events included Coastal rescue service demonstration in the harbour, a rowing race between local Clubs, the launch of a new book on the Galway Cost. The evening finished with a BBQ and music on the square outside Hayes' and the Glandore Inn and the Closing fireworks took place at 11.00pm. All agreed it was one the best Glandore Classic Regattas yet. Full results on glandoreyc.com/classic/news.htm Seahorse August 2011 Two heads better Trick boards (postscript) Commodore's letter 29er Europeans
The region has been hit by several large storms and in fact disrupted sailing today to the point were no races were held. The race committee and sailors were all out trying their best but the unstable conditions caused no wind then a large thunderstorm that passed through the area. The Swiss being known for efficiency and safety did just that and all the boats were safely ashore and everyone accounted for - a true test of great planning by the organizers. Regatta Chairman Markus Blasei commented, "We have planned this event for more than one year and our planning on all fronts, especially safety, worked perfectly. We must also thank the various volunteers, sailors and coaches who all made this happen in a safe and timely manner." Qualifying races continue tomorrow through Wednesday followed by three more days of the final series and the winner crowned on 23 July. For more information and full results: www.29ereuropeans.org Mercury Rising. Closest Yet In Cagliari? Adrian Stead (GBR) tactician on the Audi MedCup Circuit 52 Series leader Quantum Racing (USA) is not alone in his belief that, across the mix of sea breezes and the high likelihood of the strong NW'ly Mistral, that is expected between now and the event's climax next Sunday, this should be the tightest regatta of the season yet this season. At this third regatta of the five event 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit season, gains and losses on Cagliari's Gulf of Angels are likely to smaller than the extreme ups-and- downs of Marseille last month. The official practice race is scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday. To date here in informal practice Jose Cusi's Bribon (ESP) has been one of the consistently quickest boats on the water, despite it being, as a 2009 build, one of the 'older' designs, not one of the pack of six new TP52's launched for this season. The 52 Series programme runs with windward-leeward points races Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday with the coastal race Saturday. In the 40 Series, the host island and indeed the hopes Sardinia's capital city will be carried on board XXII-Sardegna this week. The local team of Melges 32 owner Roberto Pardini steps up to the challenge of racing in the white hot Soto 40 fleet. The crew, all from Cagliari, will race on the Audi MedCup Circuit on the boat which goes to local teams at each Audi MedCup regatta. Roberto Pardini is the owner-skipper who will steer XXII-Sardegna with Gemini as tactician. His brother Alessandro Gemini trims along with Jacopo Trudu, Luca Segneri is pitman, Francesco Chessa Orru is on the bow and Ignazio Diaz and Mario Alberto Floris on mainsail. -- Sabina Mollart-Rogerson Featured Brokerage A superb example of this popular racer from X-Yachts, maintained by a full time crew in immaculate condition she is ready to race or crsuie anytime anywhere. Full North Sails inventory with 3DL & 3Di racing sails and dacron cruising sails. No expense spared by the owner, full Championship spec and more. Brokerage through 22 North Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/22northhk/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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