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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 Alpari Announces Title Sponsorship of World Match Racing Tour Jim O'Toole, CEO of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, today joined David Stuart, COO of Alpari in the City of London to announce the title sponsorship. The deal will benefit both parties and is a timely boost to global professional sailing where other properties have struggled commercially against a backdrop of tough economic conditions. Speaking about the partnership, Jim O'Toole, commented: "To be collaborating with such a forward-thinking and ambitious organisation as Alpari is extremely exciting. We know from our research that the World Match Racing Tour's fan base provides the perfect audience for Alpari to engage with and build its customer base. The partnership further underlines the strength of the Tour's commercial proposition and I look forward to working with the Alpari team over the next five years." Commenting on the race calendar and list of competing teams, O'Toole added: "2012 will be a major landmark in the delivery of our owner's vision for the Tour with the title sponsorship relationship with Alpari, our new venue in Chicago and an exciting line-up of Tour Card Holders including multiple World Champions seeking to break records and rookies hoping to make the big breakthrough. It promises to be a dramatic season all round. We can't wait for our first race, Match Race Germany, to start!" 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour Calendar: 2012 Tour Card Holders: Nice video presentation: Closing In on Punta Del Este As Cessna Citation crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate at 16:25 GMT on Wednesday winning the trophy for the first GOR Class40 around the cape, Nannini and Ramon were gearing back-up on Financial Crisis as the low pressure chased Cessna Citation out of the Southern Ocean and into the South Atlantic. Late on Thursday, Financial Crisis rounded the cape and with light airs forecast, Nannini and Ramon sailed through the Le Maire Strait with a favourable current and emerged into the South Atlantic late on Friday. For the South Africans on Phesheya-Racing, the confusing weather forecasts continued to bare no relation to reality throughout the weekend, but on Sunday night, progress began for Nick Leggatt and Phillippa Hutton-Squire 100 miles south-west of Cape Horn and, by Monday morning, they passed the Diego Ramirez Islands, a remote Chilean territory marking the southern end of the submerged Andes mountain range at the western entrance to Drake Passage. Later the same day, Phesheya-Racing crossed the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate winning the GOR's Cape Horn Navigation Award instituted by GOR Race Committee member, Alan Green, for submitting their predicted Cape Horn ETA to within an astonishing one minute and 54 seconds when 1,000 miles west of the longitude of the Horn. In a brief email to the GOR Race Organisation, Phillippa Hutton-Squire described the scene: "We've done it!" she wrote just minutes after rounding the cape. "Beautiful day! Temperature almost ten degrees, partly cloudy but with squalls laden with hail. Accompanied by Hourglass dolphins and Albatrosses. Cape Horn clearly visible 13 miles away." PUMA Ocean Racing: Blog From The Seas
Life has gotten a little giddy! I made reference yesterday to improved morale and a brighter mood, but I assumed it was merely a byproduct of our returned presence to the front of the fleet. Today it has grown out of hand. More laughs than I can remember in a very long time, and it has come at the cost of sleep, and possibly even performance. We are spending far too much time clowning around near the companionway - mostly at each other's expense. Why, I asked? Why is everyone so funny in such dreadful living conditions? Then, I saw it. At 5:30 this morning, just after sun-up, we passed to windward of one final Japanese island. And its name? HAHA Jima. Of course. Obviously the sirens of humor on Haha drew us in with a heavy dose of glee. But how far? Could our "Sushi Tour" through Japan have been their doing? Sadly, we will never know. The boys on deck refused to stop - something about winning a yacht race - and we are well on our way towards New Zealand. Laughs aside, eight days into this leg we are finally going south. The [very] gradual turn down has begun and PUMA's Mar Mostro is averaging south-of-east every watch, even if only by a few degrees. That trend will continue and in time, intensify. And if the weather models agree, we'll all face a continuous header, pinwheeling the fleet around the inside boats further to the south, like Olympic runners arching through their first turn. Being on the outside means we'll sail a longer track, but we're positioned where the winds are supposed to be strongest, hopefully slingshotting us towards Auckland. -- Amory Ross www.puma.com/sailing Global PR Manager - Oman Sail Oman Sail are looking for an experienced sports communicator to join the growing in house Marcomms team, with a minimum of 8 years' experience. The individual could be from an in-house or agency background but should have sports specific experience. Individuals with a background in sailing or journalism with strong communication, written and strategic planning skills would also be highly prized by the organisation. Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a creative flair, an eye for opportunity and ability to sell ideas and a team player is imperative. Manages: Regional PR Manager, PR Manager, PR Co-ordinator, International Agencies Closing date: 9th March 2012 French Victory In Sailing Arabia - The Tour 2012
After a delayed start while the fleet motored along the coastline waiting for the breeze to fill in, the line was finally laid, leaving just a 10-mile race-course for the teams to make their final assault on the leaderboard. It was a short upwind burst to start off and a quick mark-rounding before the fleet headed downwind for the sprint to the finish line, spinnakers set, in 7-knots of breeze. The professional French team Courrier Dunkerque had an untouchable lead going into the final leg this morning, and rounded up what has been a perfect scoreboard for them with another leg win. The battle for second between Team BAE Systems and Team Commercialbank was tense, with the later just one point ahead of Team BAE Systems going into today. Bertrand Pace's match-racing pedigree on Team Commercialbank was evident, marking Team BAE Systems the whole way and ultimately maintaining the upper hand, finishing in fifth, enough for the Qatari-flagged team to claim the second place overall. Despite an impressive second place finish today, the all Omani-crewed Team Muscat 2012 finished in eighth place overall, while Team Ras Al Khaimah, the only team representing the UAE, brought up the tail end of the fleet in ninth place. The achievements of the regional teams can best be put into perspective by the level of competition they have faced over the last two weeks, which includes a line-up of world champions, America's Cup sailors and veterans of the Tour du France Al Voile, the event on which SATT is based. As one event draws to a close, the next begins, and tomorrow The Wave, Muscat will be transformed to host an altogether different kind of sailing event, The Extreme Sailing Series. The 40 international sailors who will compete in the Extreme Sailing Series were dock-side today to welcome the SATT teams home, and tomorrow the SATT teams will return the favour, cheering the eight Extreme 40's on as they go head-to-head, over the next four days. Overall Results 1. Courrier Dunkerque, 10 points www.sailingarabiathetour.com Free Round The Island Race Seminars 17th March, Royal Southampton YC at 2pm There are still some places available and there are some fabulous goodies to be won in a Race Draw when you attend, for example: A Volvo XC90 for the weekend, donated by Volvo Car UK To secure your place, register here without delay: rtir.me/seminar Seahorse April 2012 A contradiction in terms? The (new) benchmark ORC Column - Easy access 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... Ambitious Challenge
Their challenger Lambourdini/Skreenkraft owned by Howard Lambourne and sponsored by Barry Cuneo under the internationally renowned Envy freestyle scooter banner and raced on a 'shoestring' budget with second hand sails is as expected rated as a remote chance by their competitors from south of the Queensland border. "Sure in summary we represent an ambitious challenge however you don't know if you don't have a go". "We have managed to set the pace in class racing on Moreton Bay and the trip to Sydney while being a serious match racing challenge is all about finding out where we sit nationally". Howard Lambourne said. The crew who are nominated for the Qantas-link Brisbane-Gladstone race starting on Good Friday April 6th and the first Queensland entry in the highly competitive one-design class championship have the potential and experience to create a surprise when the sails are tensioned for the important 2 day regatta. For commercial sea going Captain Barry Cuneo this will be a welcome return to competitive yachting after showing enormous promise as a teenage skipper on the Brisbane River. Being the youngest son of Australian 16ft skiff champion Tom and the nephew of 1972 Munich Olympic Dragon class Gold Medallist John Cuneo presented a tough act for Barry Cuneo to follow. Naturally there were family discussions regarding an Olympic campaign in the 470 class when the time came for the younger Cuneo to decide his future. Thankfully he accepted the respected advice from father Tom to 'go to sea' with the promise to eventually build a career in the commercial shipping industry. He first joined the Australian National Line in 1980 as a cadet officer operating a tanker shipping service to Australian ports. Then after a dedicated personal commitment he became the youngest captain to man the bridge of an Australian registered ship in 1993. With those credentials registered in his personal resume the Brisbane born master mariner then claimed the international distinction of being the youngest master of world voyaging super tanker when he occupied the captain's cabin on the French owned 340m 300,000 tonne New Wisdom. Presently Barry Cuneo who has always regarded Brisbane as his home port is contracted as a senior shipping pilot in Melbourne while retaining a strong bond with Howard Lambourne and his son Brisbane yacht rigging expert David. Both Barry Cuneo and David Lambourne along with their long term sailing mate Scott Miller 'twisted the arm' of Howard Lambourne who after a short discussion was excited to be involved with the joint venture. "We are not kidding ourselves; the racing against the best on their own waters will provide us with the important benchmark on where we rate nationally". Veteran Howard Lambourne said. -- Ian Grant For The Record Record: Intermediate Record: Indian Ocean John Reed Industry News We have a packed schedule including three keynote presentations and plenty of opportunity for networking. If you have not yet registered for the conference, but intend to come, please either register now at http://www.hpyd.org.nz or send an email expressing your intent to so that we have a good idea of final numbers. Introducing the second of our Gold Sponsors: SP-High Modulus have been involved with almost every type of marine craft including military power boats, production cruisers, and some of the world's most spectacular superyachts, both sail and motor. Recent work has included the groundbreaking Panamax Ketch -'Hetairos', the Owen Clarke Open 60 'Acciona' and materials for the innovative Sailrocket project. SP-High Modulus will host the harbour cruise on the Tuesday evening preceding the conference dinner. This will be an excellent opportunity to speak with one of their representatives about how they can help you with your project. -- David Le Pelley, HPYD4 - Chair ------------------------------------------------- ONDECK are delighted to announce the opening of its new training division, Ondeck Maritime Training, offering career courses both on and below decks. This includes Ship Security Officer and engineering courses. Mike Williams, MD of Ondeck: "Over the history of Ondeck there has always been a strong link with the MCA. Just visit the MCA homepage, www.dft.gov.uk/*mca* and read their new mission statement and values and compare them to our own, which have been in force for over 5 years. The accreditation to provide MCA STCW95 training from our base in Antigua, creating the formation of the Ondeck Maritime Training division and our continued interest and adherence to MCA practices have led us to the launch of Ondeck Maritime Training(UK). Our new MCA accredited training centre based in our Gosport training complex brings our association with the MCA to a new level. We are now able to offer a plethora of MCA professional courses aimed at the Shipping Industry with a broad target market from the Superyacht to Commercial Merchant fleets. ------------------------------------------------- YachtWorld.com, the largest worldwide online database of brokerage boats for sale has seen significant growth across Europe over the last year, having seen a year on year increase in the number of visitors by 91%. The substantial influx of visitors comes as a positive message for yacht brokers across the continent, proving that there are opportunities within the market, despite the challenging economic climate. YachtWorld European site's unique visitors increased by 91% in January 2012, compared to the same period last year, subsequently increasing the total number of visits for the month by 96%, resulting in a substantial lift in the number of searches on the sites for boats for sale, by 251%. David Main, Head of Search says: "We have made a number of changes to the European sites over the past 10 months in order to improve the site's SEO positioning, including tackling duplicate content issues, improvements to semantic structure and better localisation to name but a few enhancements. We will be making even bigger changes in 2012 to improve the site further and subsequently drive more traffic for our members and their boats. We will be working on various projects over the coming months that will have a positive effect on general usability of the sites, search engine traffic and ultimately boat visits and leads." ------------------------------------------------- Carbon Ocean Yachts of Bristol, Rhode Island, is relocating its operations to Front Street Shipyard's extensive new facility on the waterfront of Penobscot Bay. The two builders will work together on the construction of lightweight, performance-driven yachts combining award-winning construction techniques with state-of-the art amenities. Carbon Ocean Yachts remains an independent company, but will contribute to the existing expertise at Front Street Shipyard. Carbon Ocean Yachts founders, Brian Benjamin, Britt Colombo and Toby Mueller, retain ownership and will continue to manage the company. ------------------------------------------------- North Carollina Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that Gunboat Company, a maker of high-end sailboats, will locate a new shipyard in Dare County. The company plans to create 71 jobs and invest more than $1.8 million over the next three years in Wanchese. The project was made possible in part by a $213,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. Gunboat Company produces world cruising sailing catamaran yachts that utilize advanced technology from round-the-world racing sailboats combined with luxurious interiors. Gunboat is a sister company of Gunboat International, which is headquartered in Rhode Island. The new facility will allow the company to increase production and meet the growing demand for Gunboats. "After more than a decade of producing overseas in lower labor cost markets, we are bringing manufacturing home to the United States," said Peter Johnstone, CEO of Gunboat. "Productivity and quality control are essential to our success. We spent months evaluating locations in various states along the Eastern seaboard. North Carolina stood clear above the rest." Featured Brokerage Available is a Bruce Nelson designed carbon rocketship. Optimized in 2005 for the IRC rule with a new keel, modified mast for masthead A-Sails and reballasted. The boat is in excellent condition with a superior sail inventory for both inshore & offshore racing, 32 sails in all. State of the art electronics as well as custom deck gear by Harken. Excellent opportunity, call listing broker for complete details. New North sails, May 2009, Main & two Jibs, 3DL's, Plus two A-Kites. May 2010 3 new North Sails, Vessel not launched in 2011, call for more info. Brokerage through World Yachts, Inc.: www.yachtworld.com/worldyachtsinc/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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