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 Robertson and Morvan Seize Control Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team joins the Tour in 2012 with an ISAF World Match Race Ranking of 3rd and a previous 2nd place finish at the St. Moritz Match Race in 2011. Jan-Eike Andresen (GER) MRV Match Race Team is here flying the flag for the host nation but has left himself with an upward climb to reach the quarter-finals after losing three from three. A tough opening session against three Tour Card Holders, including 4-time World Champion and 3-time Match Race Germany winner Peter Gilmour, did not hand him the kindest of days. Andresen can consider himself unlucky in his first race, losing by a margin of only four metres to Robertson. A second match against Frenchman Pierre-Antoine Morvan also ended unsuccessfully for Andresen after leading for the majority of the race, relinquishing the lead late on in the light air. The second Qualifying Session starts on Friday 25 May at 0900 local time (CDT). For live updates and Twitter feeds visit www.wmrt.com/live.html Video coverage of the action will be shown on Saturday 26th - Monday 28th from 1400 - 1600 local time (CDT) and race by race updates can be followed at new.livestream.com/WorldMRT/germany Results after the First Qualifying Session: Fleet Heads Towards Ice Gates "We all missed the train and we're waiting for the next one, which is expected to come in from the northwest and that's while we are climbing up," explained Xabi Fernandez, trimmer with leg leaders Telefonica (Iker Martínez/ESP). Having missed the opportunity for a fast ride towards the finish, the fleet has gybed north and are heading towards the ice gates put in place to keep the fleet south of the ice brought south on the cold Labrador current. For CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS), who found themselves further south than they wanted, it has been a particularly painful two days following the decision by the afterguard to abandon the south and take the high road north. The leaderboard reshuffled at 1600 GMT today, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) moving up to second place, with CAMPER eight miles behind and Groupama slipping to fourth. At 1900 GMT Groupama had slipped further down the field to fifth place. Having hit a light spot, the team was sailing at almost half the speed of the rest of the fleet. They are positioned midway between Telefonica who is heading east and the rest of the fleet who are continuing to claw northeast. The fleet is now spread 65 nm from Telefonica in first to Sanya in sixth place, with a north/south divide of 68 nm. a drag race to the finish, the current weather situation, although tricky, has presented plenty of options for the chasing pack who are picking their way through the minefield. Fortunately, although many miles have been lost in the claw north, there is still over 2,000 nm left to run in this 3,590 nm leg to Lisbon, which is plenty enough runway to provide for some changes in the leaderboard. Henri Lloyd Shockwave Range The Shockwave products provide total versatility and protection by allowing the wearer to adapt the kit to suit the function without the need to purchase a range of different systems, each garment within the range has internal pockets incorporated to allow panels of shock resistant DEFLEXION™ 3-D silicone mesh Deck Armour to be slotted in at critical areas such as knees, seat and stomach to provide impact protection during high activity particularly when working on the bow or sitting out on the rail. This shock absorbing, high performance material is also extremely flexible, non-absorbent, and custom moulds around the body to aid movement. But it's not just the Deck Armour that makes this range so special. The ultra fine, lightweight TP fabric used in the Shockwave garments has been highly developed to create the ultimate breathable, durable and flexible hydrophobic / non-absorbent laminate. The Super Durable Water Repellency (SDWR) outer layer, and a 3D microbead, raised finish lining lifts the fabric away from the body to increase the airflow and breathability, making it one of the most ground-breaking fabrics on the market. The Shockwave range includes an extensive selection of jackets, smocks, salopettes and shorts including women's sizes in Shockwave Offshore. European TP52 Racing Rebooted Instead of a commercial sponsor the 52 Super Series is being backed through the funding of three of the competitors - Quantum Racing's Doug DeVos, RAN's Niklas Zennstrom and Audi Azzurra Sailing Team's Alberto Roemmers. The first event of the series, the 39th Trofeo Conde de Godo began Thursday. Rather than the seven events that were rumored, just four events will make up the series. Following the Trofeo Conde de Godo will be the Audi Sardinia Cup in June at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Then Palma, Mallorca will host the Royal Cup in July. In September the 52 Super Series will be finish up in Valencia with the Valencia Cup. Five 52's will compete at the first event, including Audi All4One which has announced a new sponsor. -- David Fuller in YachtRacing.biz * With two wins and a second from today's three starts, sailing their freshly christened new boat, the Audi Azzurra Sailing Team, opened their 2012 campaign to win the new 52 Super Series on a near perfect footing off Barcelona at the 39th Trofeo de Vela Conde de Godo regatta. Niklas Zennstrom's Ran won the third race and lie second overall. All of the signs today are that Alberto Roemmers crew, which sails under the flag of Sardinia's Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, have a potent enough weapon in the form of their new Botin Partners design, but it was their good starting, accurate tactics and crisp boathandling which contributed more to their winning guns today. While they were very much on their game from the start of Race 1, their rivals could just not find the early season consistency to match them. With five changes in their sailing team line up since winning the World Chmpionships and the Audi MedCup Circuit last year, Quantum Racing perhaps inevitably looked like they have yet to fully gel when held up in strict comparison with the advantage held by Audi Azzurra Sailing Team which has a core speed group which have been together for three years. But skipper-helm Ed Baird pointed to key decisions and small mistakes that they made today rather than crew work. Audi Sailing Team powered by ALL4ONE are expected to join the regatta as of tomorrow (Friday) after making good an unforeseen repair today. 52 Super Series After 3 Races: New Teams Join Atlantic Cup Inshore Series Competitors were awarded points equivalent to double their finishing position in the two offshore legs, with a maximum of 20 points awarded for finishing. For the inshore races points are designated based on each boat's finishing position (first through 14th). The total of both offshore legs, combined with a boat's best four of five scheduled races in Newport's inshore series, will determine a boat's total score. The boat with the overall lowest point total will be crowned the 2012 Atlantic Cup Champion. For the inshore series teams will now use a crew of six for the five races held in Newport. Races will be held from 11am-3pm in Narragansett Bay with the start/finish line being just off Fort Adams. Additional Inshore Series Atlantic Cup Competitors include: #17 Transport Coherence: Pedro Amengual & Waldo Garrido, Gonzalo Romagosa Singapore Wins Ocean Sprint Point Singapore, which is currently in seventh place has completed the 120 mile Ocean Sprint in 12H 45M 28S winning the team one crucial point, subject to the Race Committee verifying the result. The quietly confident skipper of the Singaporean entry Ben Bowley, says, "Finally things are starting to look up for the crew of our 'Big Red Bus'. We have spent the day charging along at excellent speed in a decent band of pressure making ground on pretty much the entire fleet. It's been superb to see our westerly tactics start to come to fruition and we hope to keep eroding into the front runners' leads over the coming 24 hours." While Gold Coast Australia has taken the lead back in Race 11 overnight, Visit Finland is in second position and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital in third. With only a few miles separating the frontrunners, the vital podium points are still being fought for. Latest boat positions (1200 UTC) 1. Gold Coast Australia, 456nm to finish Ramrod Takes Early Lead in Farr 40 East Coast Championship Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Local knowledge sprinkled with some world-class talent allowed Annapolis-based Rod Jabin and his Ramrod team to take an early lead in today's first of four days of racing in the 2012 Farr 40 East Coast Championship. After three races, Ramrod leads the 11-boat fleet by three points. In fact, the last Farr 40 event Jabin sailed was here in Annapolis at the Rolex 2010 North American Championship, which he won decisively in a mostly-local 9-boat fleet. But with teams from Germany, Italy, Monaco, Turkey and the US here this week, the fleet is of higher caliber and on a mission: the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship held in Chicago in September. No wonder the next six places in the standings are bottle-necked in tie-breaks for 14 and 15 points. Ramrod tactician Gavin Brady came up from New Zealand to race with Jabin, and said it was a "pleasure" to race with the Ramrod team again. After an aborted first race started in a dying northerly breeze, race managers from the Storm Trysail Club re-set the course for the new building southerly, which was enhanced even more by a strong ebb current flowing south down the Bay. The locals knew gaining control of the left side of the course in the deeper water would pay off, but it was Nico Poons's Charisma who gained on a right shift in the second beat to take the win. And as the breeze built from 10 to 12 then to 15 knots, this advantage was not quite as pronounced, so superior speed and boathandling came into play, allowing John Demourkas's Groovederci to take his first win of the series in Race 2, while Wolfgang Schaefer's Struntje Light held his early lead to take the win in Race 3. With this bullet on his scorecard, Schaefer wins the tie-break with Ergin Imre and Onur Erardag's Provezza 8 for the current runner-up position. Racing resumes tomorrow in Day 2, with three races planned to start at 1130 EDT. Pwllheli Preview The host club, Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club, is located on the Hafan Pwllheli marina complex in the North Wales holiday resort of Pwllheli. The waters around Pwllheli are some of the best in the UK, with the racing being held on Cardigan Bay, notable for its weak tidal streams, stable winds and great sailing conditions. In addition, the superb scenery of Snowdon and the Welsh mountains provide a magnificent backdrop to the racing areas. To date some 147 pre-entries from 21 countries and five continents have been received, which if they all turn up would make this the largest Finn regatta ever held in the UK. The record is 138. Forty-four of the pre-entries are Masters (40-49), 54 are Grand Masters (50-59), 41 are Grand Grand Masters (60-69) and this year there are just six Legends (70+). Many of the 'old' favourites are back and the ultimate favourite has to be the three times champion Michael Maier (CZE), who is still putting in a good showing on the senior international circuit as well. Another three time champion, Andre Budzien (GER) will also be more determined this year having picked up a string of letter scores in Punta Ala, Italy last year. Follow the event on the club website at: www.pwllhelisailingclub.co.uk/finn2012/en/home/ Coutts Quarter Ton Cup The original Quarter Ton Cup competition was raced annually from 1967 to 1996 and was the World Championship for small offshore racing boats. Many of today's top sailors and yacht designers cut their teeth in the class and a lot of the designs were truly unique and revolutionary in their day. Joining the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup revival fleet for the first time this year will be Peter Morton's new boat Bullit, a Fauroux design from 1977 which won the 1979 and 1980 Quarter Ton Cups and has just been completely refitted. Morty's crew will include the infamous Kelvin Rawlings, without whom the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup would not be complete, and Jules Salter who loves the event so much that he will fly in specially from the Lorient stop over of the Volvo Ocean Race, in which he is currently racing aboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Past ISAF Vice Chairman George Andreadis is also be returning to the Quarter Ton Fleet for the first time in 21 years with Atalanti IV, the boat he had built by Jeremy Rogers to Rob Humphries' design for the 1991 Quarter Ton Cup where she finished 6th. Atalanti IV has been in George's famous yacht storage facility ever since the end of the 1991 Cup, but she returns to the water this summer looking absolutely stunning following a full refit. Having just come second in the Quarter Ton Class at the 2012 Vice Admiral's Cup George will no doubt be hoping for a podium finish in the Coutts Quarter Ton Cup too. Class regular Rob Gray also has a new boat this season in the shape of Black Fun, a 1976 Laurie Davidson design which won the '76 New Zealand Quarter Ton Championship with four straight wins. We also look forward to welcoming Freres Sur Mer, a 1981 Fauroux design from the Netherlands. The Irish will be out in force with three new teams and at least one old friend expected to race. The new teams are Paul Coulton's Cri Cri, a recently refitted 1979 Alain Jezequel design; Jason & Dominic Losty's Fauroux designed Illes Pitiuses; and Diamund Foley who now owns Espada's sistership Anchor Challenge. George Kenefick and his young team aboard Tiger, the 1989 Fauroux previously known as ASAP, will also be crossing the Irish Sea once again to defend their Corinthian title for all amateur crews. Revived Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Winners 2005 - Purple Haze (1977 David Thomas design) - Tony Dodd www.rcyc.co.uk Featured Brokerage "Manta" benefits from a road trailer specially designed and built for Melges 32, the trailer tilts the boat so the load is 2,55 meters wide. She also has mast which can be taken to two pieces for transports. She has North Sails racing set, most of the sails have been used 5-6 times so all in extremly good condition, everything shows as new with this boat. She's ready for Melges 32 OD racing or having some fun with mixed fleet. Brokerage through Vinces Oy: www.yachtworld.com/vinces/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
Use this box to send a copy of this issue of the Scuttlebutt Europe Newsletter to a friend: Or [FORWARD] for a page where you can send copies to up to a dozen friends. [USERTRACK]About Boats.com To subscribe, unsubscribe, and select HTML or Text format visit scuttlebutteurope.com Editorial and letter submissions to Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html |