Scuttlebutt Europe #2626 - 4 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 Hansen Chases Down Qualifying Leaders
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team made his mark on the Qualifying Session in front of home support, adding three additional victories to take his total to five wins from five. On his way, Hansen came out on top in a closely fought flight nine match against Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Miss Sophie, defeating the Australian who now faces an uphill climb to avoid an early exit from the competition. Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing Team managed to continue his fine form and also finished a second day unbeaten to remain as joint leader with Hansen and Ian Williams (GBR) STENA Match Cup Sweden Qualifying Session 3 begins at 1200 CET on Wednesday 3rd July after the Pro-Am Races with the Semi Final and Final scheduled for Saturday 7th July. Follow the action online throughout both events. To watch, visit www.wmrt.com/live.html Live streaming will be available from 1200 - 1400 on Thursday and 1400 - 1600 on Friday and Saturday. Results after Qualifying Session 2: Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team 5-0 wmrt.com How Fearless Franck Led French To Victory
A team with vast offshore experience, though little of it gained in the Volvo Ocean Race itself, simply would not be cowed. Leaving the Alicante dock back in November to their Highway to Hell theme song, they made a bold decision to split from the fleet. It ended up costing them dearly in terms of miles, but they carried the same determination to sail the race in their own way all the way through to the finish of Leg 9 in Galway in the early hours of Tuesday. Telefonica performed heroics to recover from rudder damage on Leg 8 and put themselves in a position to win but another heartbreaking problem close to the eye of a huge storm effectively ended their hopes of race victory. "We have just seen any chance of us winning this round the world regatta slip away,'' said Telefonica skipper Iker Martínez, effectively conceding the race. Groupama were left to take a comfortable win into their home port of Lorient and they consolidated with yet another victory in the in-shore. It left them needing a top-four finish to guarantee victory and given their imperious form that was never in the slightest doubt. CAMPER saved their best till last in their debut Volvo Ocean Race campaign, storming to the leg win they so desired in Galway in the early hours of Tuesday. Chris Nicholson's team finished at 00:42:13 UTC scoring the maximum 30 points to take them to a total of 226 -- almost certainly enough to give them second place overall ahead of PUMA Ocean Racing Powered by BERG. With just one more scoring opportunity to come, the final in-port race on Saturday, CAMPER just need to cross the finish line to get the point they need to be certain of the runners-up spot behind Groupama sailing team. A flotilla of hundreds of spectators made for a warm welcome when the red boat led the procession across the finish line under the cover of darkness, while more than 10,000 fans awaited their arrival on the dock. Sperry Top-Sider Continues Official Footwear Sponsorship of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week 2012 The opportunity to showcase the new GripX3 Technology™ at the world's greatest annual sailing regatta is crucial to Sperry Top-Sider. The high profile, active and dedicated sailors who will compete and attend the regatta reflects Sperry Top-Sider's ethos - for passion in, on and around the water. GripX3 Technology, which provides sailors ultimate traction through a lab-tested combination of Adaptive Wave Siping and Hydro-Grip Rubber, has revolutionized the sailing market for performance shoes. The unique technology is offered to a wide range of water sports, including sailing, paddling and windsurfing. Sperry Top-Sider has been the leading brand of footwear for those with a Passion for the Sea since 1935, and continues to improve their performance shoe technology, with innovative product collections year after year. For more information, please visit www.sperrytopsider.com or www.passionforthesea.com La Solitaire du Figaro - Eric Bompard Cachemire First ten finishers, Leg 2: Cumulative top ten after two legs: Race For Water Wins the Krys Ocean Race Prologue
In very light winds, Ravussin and his team looked to have slowed badly on the Coney Island shore, snared in a big calm zone. But when they extracted themselves they were able to sail a more direct course, accelerating past the race leader to steal a morale boosting first gun, just ahead of Seb Josse's team which lead out of Newport last night. Race For Water completed the course in 12 hours, 53 minutes and 20 seconds, just 2 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild. Spindrift racing skippered by Yann Guichard closed in on 3rd with FONCIA right behind. Musandam-Oman Sail brings to a conclusion the prologue from Newport to New York after sixteen hours of racing. The fleet completes the race with a parade sail up the Hudson River to their base at North Cove Marina in on the South of Manhattan, where the trimarans will be based until the start of the KRYS OCEAN RACE on Saturday 7th July. -- Sabina Mollart-Rogerson KRYS OCEAN RACE provisional results Sparks to Fly as Farr 40s Return to Newport Going into the North Americans with the overall lead of the circuit standings is Newport resident Jim Richardson who won Quantum Key West Race Week in January, and followed with second-place finishes in Miami and Annapolis. While Richardson, the owner/driver of Barking Mad, is a three-time Rolex Farr 40 World Champion (1998, 2004, 2009), the North American championship crown is one he has yet to claim. After a year hiatus, Alex Roepers (New York, N.Y.) is back racing on Plenty and joins the international fleet that includes two teams from Turkey who are racing the Farr 40 U.S. circuit for the first time, as well as class luminaries who hope to beat Richardson on his home turf including Groovederci skipper John Demourkas (Santa Barbara, Calif.), winner of the Farr 40 East Coast Championship in May, and Alberto Rossi (Ancona, Italy), who sailed his Farr 40 Enfant Terrible to win the 2011 International Sailing Federation Offshore World Championship. Two-time Australian Farr 40 Class Champion Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, also the class' current world champion, will be racing in Newport for the first time on Transfusion. Race headquarters will be at Newport Shipyard Seahorse Sailor Of The Month Giles Scott (GBR) This month's nominees:
Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry & Musto. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable! Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month We now provide 3 ways to receive your regular Seahorse magazine... printed magazine, digital magazine and iPad App. See http://www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/ Gold Medal to Croatia
Today was a tense penultimate day and the last opportunity to make the cut to be amongst the top 10 teams going through to Wednesday's Medal Race, which will decide the podium finishers at the 2012 470 European Championship. With some teams still hoping a strong performance today would give them the break required to make the top 10 threshold, for the teams at the top of the leaderboard, and already assured of being in the Medal Race, it was about putting in a couple more solid race results to consolidate their points score. After a postponement ashore, the teams were sent out to the race course in a day that was to test the focus of the most experienced athletes. Going into the Medal Race, the Russians have dropped into third with a 3 point deficit to the second placed Ben Saxton/Richard Mason (GBR), and the Greek Olympic team of Panagiotis Kampouridis/Efstathios Papadopoulos are in fourth. It is these three teams who will now do battle for the silver and bronze medals. 470 Men - Top 10 Overall after 12 Races/Medal Race Competitors 1. Sime Fantela / Igor Marenic (CRO) - 44 points 470 Women Another tricky day out on the race track, with pressure varying all over the course. Making the right decision was critical in teams' fortunes as they jostled for race finishes. Race 11 in the 470 Women saw the overnight lead was swapped, with Great Britain's Sophie Weguelin/Sophie Ainsworth giving way to Germany's Annika Bochmann/Elisabeth Panuschka, after an unlucky 13th gave them their worse score of the series. So game on for the medal race, with the top four teams all in the hunt for the 2012 470 European Championship medals. 470 Women - Top 10 Overall after 12 Races / Medal Race Competitors 1. Sophie Weguelin / Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) - 32 points All racing will take place in the channel between Largs Sailing Club and the Isle of Cumbrae, providing a great opportunity for spectactors Spinnaker Tales Shiraz made the long haul into the Whitsunday Islands last year and from reports her crew including a group of long time sailing mates enjoyed what is affectionately known as the Tropical Shirt Regatta. Skipper David Leslie had no trouble in selecting an experienced crew with friends Ian Griffiths and Peter Carter spending little time to pack their sea bag to accept what they regard as a nice opportunity to test their proven sailing skills in this aquatic destination known as the land of the 12 month summer. Sure Shiraz may be regarded as an older generation racing yacht but her crew have the sailing experience to give notice to their Cruising class rivals representing clubs from Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland that they are not heading to Airlie Beach to top up their sun tan. They will race under the Mooloolaba Yacht Club burgee and based on crew experience gained from racing in many of Australia's major ocean classics including the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Brisbane to Gladstone the Shiraz crew of offshore veterans promise to keep Shiraz on the pace. It has been quiet often said that the crew are not unlike a good quality bottle of Shiraz - maturing as the years slip pleasantly buy. The Shiraz crew have selected to race in very competitive company with the fleet line honours expected to provide some close boat on boat tactical jousting between Don Algie's Storm 2, Hammer of Queensland (David Molloy) and Eureka ll (Mal Robertson). Sail power and waterline length favour this trio of big boats to fight out the first to finish title while the lower handicapped yachts including Shiraz have both the favourable rating and the collective crew skills to set the pace for the overall Cruising class championship. Noosa River sports boat skippers Bob Mc Camley and David Hewitt will navigate the busy bitumen rhumbline to represent the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club at Airlie Beach. Both skippers have made the commitment to test their tactical skills against an Australian championship standard fleet including the Mark Buchback skippered Raptor which won the 2012 Queensland championship with a perfect score off Mooloolaba last month. Raptor as expected has been nominated as the pre regatta favourite but Bob Mc Camley's Slingshot and David Hewitt's Wha-Ka have progressively improved to have the potential to feature in the battle for the minor place handicap results behind Raptor and the multiple New South Wales Australian sailing champion Peter Sorensen in Conquistador. -- Ian Grant Finn Silver Cup
After a clear start, Kistanov played the shifts well and pressure in a medium breeze, to take the lead from the first mark to the finish. Never really threatened the World Champion covered his track and didn't allow compatriot Andrei Ianitckii (RUS) or Canadian Martin Robitaille, respectively placing second and third, to pass him. The second race started after a change of course to allow for the constant wind shifts. A group of six sailors lead by Milosz Wojewski (POL) played the left of the course to pass the top mark in front of the fleet. With a yellow flag collected in the previous race, Wojewski played it safe on the downwind; allowing Cem Gozen (TUR) to take the lead. The Turk kept the first position until the finish with second place swapping from Dimitar Vangelov (BUL) to Peter McCoy (GBR) and finally Michal Jodlowski (POL) at the finish. Regatta leader Lennart Luttkus (GER) conserves first place overall with a seven and tenth today, but now only has a seven point lead. With five more races scheduled, the title is still wide opened. Two races are scheduled for Wednesday 4th of July. Follow the regatta reports, photos and videos on the Finn class Facebook and Youtube: www.facebook.com/pages/Finn-Class/110408332633 http;//www.youtube.com/thefinnchannel Event site: www.cerclevoilebordeaux.com/silver-cup/accueil.htm Squib UK National Championship At 19 feet long is is easy to trail behind the family car. It is manned by a crew of two, which is ofter a man and his wife or partner. The Royal Dart Yacht Club will be running this years National Championship from 8th. to the 13th. July, which already has 74 entres from the North, East, South and West, as well as strong contingent from Wales and 2 boats from Ireland. Many of the competitors are former dinghy champions including FD, GP 14, Fireball, Firefly, 505 etc. and there are a number of former Olympians in the entry list. Is this the class into which dinghy sailors retire? Yes it probably is! The Racing will be as competitive as the shoreside will be entertaining. For those without expectations of lifting the overall championship trophy there is the Mid-fleet Club with its own racing rules- including "The Presidents yacht is always on starboard." If you are not entered yet it is not to late! Letters To The Editor - * From Brenda Delany: Congratulations to the Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race who have decided to adopt a one-design 65'-0" footer for their next race. In 1886 Thomas B. Middleton of the Shankill Corinthian Sailing Club (near Dublin) wrote: " The great cost of racing craft- their uselessness for other purposes, their great depreciation in value, from the moment they were beaten and their chance of being a failure from the start.... caused the writer of these lines in the autumn of 1886 to start the idea of a useful model....." He begin with the smallest class of boat. In a pamphlet he wrote... "It has been suggested to get a number of punts built 13'-0" long and 4'-10" beam with the double bow or 'Scotch stern' and centre board, each boat built on the same lines and with the same amount of canvas (not more than 75 sq. ft. in fore and aft sails and and a spinnaker only to be used as such as not as a jib not exceeding 60 sq.ft.). " The outcome of this initiative was the worlds first one design dinghy- the Water Wag. The first boat 'Eva' was launched on 1st. January 1887. The adoption of a large one design boat by Volvo is a great 125th. birthday party for the Water Wags of Dun Laoghaire. * From Peter Wormwood: Collectively, Alistair Skinner and Stephen Homewood have excellently summed up the realities of yachting - bravo! Featured Brokerage AMOENITAS is a perfect example of Hoek designs in terms of performance and classic beauty. She was designed at her owner's wish as a long distance performance yacht, without any compromise towards luxury and comfort. She was built under ABS Rules, so quality is an obvious aspect of her finish and systems. The boat has been meticulously maintained by her current owner and is an eye-catcher in every port she visits! Brokerage through De Valk Yacht Brokers. Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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Steve Ravussin and crew of the MOD70 Race for Water won the 'race to New York', KRYS OCEAN RACE prologue from Newport to New York when they passed Groupe Edmond de Rothschild in the final half mile to the finish line.
Last month's winner:
Carolijn Brouwer (NED)
Dee Smith (USA)
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