Scuttlebutt Europe #2615 - 19 June
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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 Sailor Evacuated From Newport Bermuda Race Yacht At approximately 3 a.m. (EDT) on Monday, June 18, Nathan C. Owen (Norwell, Massachusetts), who was reported to be suffering from complications from dehydration, was transferred from his 46-foot sloop 'Seabiscuit' to a cruise ship, 'Enchantment of the Seas'. The rescue occurred 200 miles northwest of Bermuda in rough seas. 'Enchantment of the Seas' was en route from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts, when officials at Bermuda's Rescue Coordination Center contacted the captain and requested that the ship be diverted to evacuate and treat Mr. Owen. The transfer followed several hours of efforts by the race's organizers and its medical advisor, by the Rescue Coordination Center, and by several competitors in the race to provide Owen with medical treatment and then to evacuate him from 'Seabiscuit'. Other vessels taking part in the effort were the racing yacht 'Flying Lady' and the Bermuda Sloop Foundation sail-training vessel 'Spirit of Bermuda' racing in the Spirit of Tradition Division. * Early Monday morning, Joe Harris and co-skipper Tristan Mouligne celebrated a fantastic race. The duo sailed Joe's double-handed 'Gryphonsolo2', an Akilaria RC2 Class 40, to a massive lead over the other yachts in the Double-handed Division. Gryphonsolo2' finished off St. David's Lighthouse, Bermuda, at 4:40:26 Monday morning with an elapsed time of 60:20:26. By 1900hrs in the afternoon Monday, only two other double-handers had finished. "We never eased up," Joe exclaimed. "I hold the single-handed record in the Bermuda 1-2 Race from Newport to Bermuda at 62 hours and 37 minutes, but sailed that in the 50ft 'Gryphon Solo'. We beat that time today by more than two hours in a 10-foot shorter 40 footer. We never slowed down. We blew out two spinnakers, but kept on going. Totally soaked and stoked" "The boat was just awesome, and as much as we pushed her is as much as she responded with incredibly sustained planing at high speed," he added. " We are not sure where we are in the fleet, but we understand we are quite far ahead of our fellow Class 40's and the remainder of the double-handed fleet. It just remains to be seen where we come out on corrected time. We probably owe everyone a ton of time. Mother Nature gave us a gift in strong northeast winds nearly the entire way... a true anomaly at this time of year... and we were able to take advantage." On board 'Gracie', a solid 69-foot McCurdy and Rhodes sloop sailed by father and son Steve and Simon Frank and a family crew, who barely got wet. 'Gracie' still stands a provisional first in Class 7 with an elapsed time of 63:59:33 and a corrected time of 47:55:41. Llwyd Ecclestone's 'Kodiak', the Reichel/Pugh 66 ex 'Blue Yankee', still holds on to the lead in Class 8, and is the current front-runner for the St. David's Lighthouse for first in the amateur division on corrected time. "We don't know whether that will hold. Where is 'Sinn Fein'?" Ecclestone quipped. 'Sinn Fein' is a Cal 40 in Class 1 that has twice won the St. David's Lighthouse Trophy and is still on the course." -- Talbot Wilson Near Miss Triumphs at Giraglia Rolex Cup A big boat race was predicted ahead of the historic 60th edition of the race from Saint-Tropez to Sanremo. And so it proved. Yesterday morning, the 100-foot Maxi Esimit Europa 2 (SLO) smashed the four-year old race record by over three hours, completing the circa 242-nautical mile course in 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds. Near Miss was the fourth fastest boat on the water, finishing just 31 minutes outside of the previous race record. As most of the Maxi fleet (yachts measuring over 60-feet) made short work of the course, the drop in conditions throughout yesterday ensured that the smaller boats still at sea could not surpass the corrected time set by Noel's predominantly French crew. Prevailing from a fleet of 170 international yachts, victory capped a successful week for Near Miss following her impressive performance during the three days of inshore racing in Saint-Tropez. Noel cut an ecstatic figure: "It was an extraordinary race and we nearly beat Alfa Romeo's record with a 52-foot boat. It was at the very limits of comfort, we got very wet! Near Miss is not a boat made for offshore racing, more for inshore, but we are very happy to have done it." Noel has form at the Giraglia Rolex Cup having also claimed the combined inshore and offshore race prize in 2010. Near Miss can count on the experience of America's Cup yachtsman Karol Jablonski. "It was a very exciting race - the conditions were very extreme," confirmed the Polish sailor, a recent addition to the team. "We anticipated the changing winds and the crew did an excellent job in changing sails so we didn't waste time. The boat always went at the maximum speed possible according to the conditions." As helmsman, Jablonski had a unique view of the race. "It was very wet as I was the guy sitting furthest forward - it was like a cold water Jacuzzi or whirlpool!" Whilst Near Miss celebrates, the elements proved demanding for much of the fleet with around fifty crews forced to retire from the race. One Manufacturer, Four Winners. North Sails continue to show their dominance in the UK race market powering every class winner to victory. These results are a testament to the worlds leading sailmaker's continued investment in product development and after sales service. MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship
Having appraised all of the weather data available the J/80 fleet were held ashore on Friday morning until the Race Management Team were able to survey and assess conditions on the race area in Start Bay for themselves. At 09.30 on Friday 15th June Principal Race Officer Mike Pearson called back to the Race HQ with the news that a constant wind speed of 33 knots coupled with swells in excess of 4 metres across the race area had necessitated the decision to abandon racing for the day and for the overall Championship Series. An excited round of applause rang around the Race HQ as the assembled fleet congratulated the new J/80 World Champions: Jose Maria van der Ploeg and his crew on board NILFISK: Lluis Mas, Juan Merayo, Hugo Ramon and twelve year old Jose 'Junior' van der Ploeg. The nine races sailed at The MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM each delivered a different winner: a fact that is testament to the level of competition on the race-track within the International J/80 Class. Van der Ploeg's team on NILFISK never conceded a single result outside of the top 14 boats during the course of the regatta but nor did he finish a race within the top two. Skilled consistency in crew work, boat handling, tactics and intelligent regatta strategy delivered a World Championship win for NILFISK with a four point lead over the second placed boat, Rayco Tabares' Hotel Princesa Yaiza and six points over third place Carlos Martinez' Mapfre. The 2013 J/80 World Championship will take place in Marseilles, France from the 7th to 13th of July next year. Final top ten: 1. Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg, ESP, 57 points Team Russia Win IP Office SB20 UK National Championship
After an 8 race series Team Russia made up of Rodion Luka, Oleg Zherebtsov, Andre Klochko and Anna Stepanova win the UK National Championship by eleven points. Oleg Zherebtsov explained how delighted he was to win the event, "The UK fleet is the most competitive SB20 fleet that we sail in and winning in this fleet means so much to us. I am so happy and proud to finish ahead of Jerry (Hill), Craig (Burlton) and Joe (Llewellyn), we respect them as our competitors." Rodion Luka, helm of Team Russia, and a perfectionist to the end was disappointed to not win the final race today. "When we finish outside of the top 3 boats, we know we have more to learn." Team Russia will now compete in local events in Saint Petersburg before the European Championships in Medemblik, The Netherlands, in September. It's fair to say that a buzz has returned to the class following the announcement of the move to Sportsboat World and the name change to SB20. The first new SB20 is due from the UK builder in time for Cowes Week, and other boats have been ordered for delivery in time for the European Championships in September. www.SB20class.com Nineteen Confirmed for Vendee Globe Start With three weeks to go before the end of the pre-registration period (July 1st), the Vendee Globe entrants list is taking shape as 19 skippers have already confirmed their participation and a few others have expressed their will to be at the start of the race but are still working on their budgets. In a particularly difficult economic context, this exceptional entrants list is the fruit of an outstanding joint effort by the skippers, the IMOCA and SAEM Vendee President Bruno Retailleau. About twenty yachts will eventually cross the start line of the Vendee Globe 7th edition, presented by Bruno Retailleau on Tuesday in Paris with a dozen skippers attending. Vendee General Council President also unveiled the new features of this 2012 edition. The Vendee Globe is enriching its international offer by making all of the event's footage available to worldwide television channels free of charge and without any exclusive rights. Broadcasting agreements have already been signed in more than 100 countries. For the first time in the race's history, all the content produced by the organization will be available in three languages: French, English and Spanish. The Vendee Globe website, with more than 230,000 visits in 2008, will be available on all devices (smart phones, tabs...). It will notably feature a new version of the Virtual Regatta game that should bring more than 500,000 players together. The website will also host the Vendee Globe video channel that will produce and broadcast the race's daily highlights. And the "Junior Vendee Globe", a site developed by and for children, will complete the offer of the Vendee Globe website. From October 20 to November 11, Les Sables d'Olonne will doubtlessly be the world's sailing capital city. The new race village will be larger and mostly devoted to the race presentation as well as the the protection of the sea depths and shores. It will spread over more than 10,000 square metres (107,000 square feet) and will be open to all visitors. The 19 entrants: Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA/Virbac-Paprec) Kieler Woche
Tobias Schadewaldt/Hannes Baumann (Kiel) are taking up speed in the 49er. After a restrained start at the first racing day, the titleholders finally got into the game of the Kiel Week as they said and are now leading after nine races. In the 470, the contests are turning out to be a real German festival. While Ferdinand Gerz/Patrick Follmann (Munich) had to give up the pole position, Magnus Masilge/Moritz Klingenberg (Potsdam) took the lead in the fleet, followed by Gerz/Follmann. In the Women's 470, the Junior Vice World Champions Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka (Berlin/Uerdingen) showed impressive results. With four victories in six races, they are now leading with one point in front of Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (Chiemsee/Strande). In the paralympic 2.4mR, Heiko Kroger (Hamburg), who was third in the interim standings, is now dominating the fleet, followed by Damien Seguin (France) and Thierry Schmitter (Netherlands). Regatta Dates Kieler Woche 2012 - 16 -24 June Olympic Part / ISAF Sailing World Cup: 16 - 20 June: International Part: 21 - 24 June Offshore: 16 - 23 June Clipper Race Teams Consider Tactics While the winds have eased off slightly along with the spur of sea sickness, thoughts have turned to tactics overnight. The ten yacht entries are considering when to head north towards the optional Scoring Gate, which could give them vital additional points in these final stages of the world's longest ocean race. Visit Finland's skipper, Olly Osborne says, "As the weather changes over the next couple of days it will not only provide respite from the choppy upwind sailing, but should see the fleet turning northward toward the rhumb line route. This will hopefully be a chance for us to take advantage of our northerly position, and to get a head start in the dash for the Scoring Gate. But only time will tell who the weather will favour in this notoriously unpredictable region, and for the meantime it's still best course to windward." The Finnish entry has slipped back into second place, with only one mile separating them and first-place Gold Coast Australia who remains in a more southerly position with the majority of the fleet. Singapore has moved back up the leader board in third place ahead of Welcome to Yorkshire, currently in fourth. The Clipper Race fleet is set to arrive into Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland between 29 June and 1 July. Positions: 1. Gold Coast Australia, 1890 nm to leg finish New Sailing Sponsorship Website sponsorsailing.com offers brands and corporates an independent consultancy service on identifying the most relevant opportunities in what is a fast growing but complex commercial environment estimated to be worth in excess of $75 m per year globally. Prospective sponsors will have access to a clear and understandable summary of the sport and the marketing platforms open to them while it will also provide a shop window for sponsor seekers by inviting them to showcase their programmes. Commenting on the launch of the new venture, O'Toole said: "While the sport of sailing is fairly straightforward, the business of sailing sponsorship is incredibly complicated. Potential sponsors are often deterred by the sheer number of opportunities offered by various events; classes, championships, series, campaigns, one-off adventures and record-breaking attempts. The question is where to start? sponsorsailing.com provides that start point. This is a new service that promotes the general concept of sponsoring sailing and provides clients with an analysis of properties and events based solely on the relevance to a client's business objectives and briefs. Jim O'Toole served as Chief Executive of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour until June 2012. During his tenure the tour concluded deals with leading online Forex company Alpari, Group Lotus and Garrard. His previous experience includes a similar role in professional powerboat racing and 20 plus years in international sports marketing agency management. For further information please contact Jim O'Toole Office: + 44 (0) 2032866209 Tiller Prevails at Sails of White Nights - Congress Palace Cup The event, which was organised by the Yacht Club of Saint Petersburg, crowned a new champion after the reigning three time champion, Andrey Arbuzov, was beaten by Tilller, three races to two, in the quarterfinals. Tiller then went on to beat fellow New Zealander Reuben Corbett to face Russia's Vladimir Lipavsky in the final. Tiller won all five final races against the Russian, putting Lipavsky in second and claiming first place for himself. Lipavsky's fellow countryman, Sergey Musikhin, was bested by Corbett, who took third place, leaving the other Russian in fourth. The Sails of White Nights - Congress Palace Cup is an event that ties into a broader celebration in the city of Saint Petersburg at a time where, for eighty days, the sun barely sets. Vladimir Liubomirov, Commodore of the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg explains why the Sails of White Nights - Congress Palace up is so important to the city: "The period of 'White Nights' is especially significant for St. Petersburg. Blanketed in twilight the city becomes mysterious and is breathing with romance. The 'White Nights' have such a strong attraction that people simply leave their houses to walk along the streets. Such a combination of romance and dynamics in a city is reflected in our tradition to host a sailing event in the very heart of the city." The Sails of White Nights - Congress Palace Cup was organised by the Yacht Club of Saint-Petersburg, the non-commercial sailing support fund "Sails of White Nights", the Committee of the Physical Culture and Sport of the Saint-Petersburg Administration in conjunction with the Russian Yachting Federation, and the Russian Ministry of Sport. Final standings: Featured Brokerage Commissioned by an experimented yachtsman to a design by Patrick Balta , the Tocade 50 is a capable offshore cruising sloop. She was built by Charlie Capelle (Technologie Marine shipyard) in moulded wood with a transverse structure and vacuum-glued Khaya Ivorensis double-layer planking affording excellent stiffness and homely barewood interior joinery very much in the spirit of traditional yachting. An Epoxy outerskin. Brokerage through AYC International Yachtbrokers: www.yachtworld.com/ayc-yachtbroker/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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