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 Foncia Wins On The Wire In a heart stopping race to the line in very gentle breezes the winners were no more than 200 metres ahead of second placed Yann Guichard and crew on Spindrift racing with Sebastien Josse and the crew of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild no more than 300 metres behind. The 1238 miles leg which started Sunday afternoon in Kiel was decided almost on the finish line. FONCIA finally seized the lead with less than 15 miles to the finish, overhauling Guichard's Spindrift racing which had lead consistently since last Monday morning when they passed Desjoyeaux's crew on the NW Danish coast. In the final hours the two leaders were only 3-500 metres apart, with FONCIA only just holding on to win. Finish times Dun Laoghaire (GMT) 1. Michel Desjoyeaux (FONCIA) 23h 19m 09s Wed 5th September One More Race To Go... With bigger winds on the penultimate day Lucas had her worst day of the regatta so far with an eighth and a fifth place finish in the days races. Despite a race win apiece from Heiko Kroger (GER) and Thierry Schmitter (NED), in second and third, they were unable to drastically reduce Lucas' 11 point overnight lead after poor results in the other races. Kroger came down in 10th in Race 9 and whilst Schmitter's sixth brought the gap between him and Kroger to two points, Lucas' lead was only shortened to nine. The Brit can afford to finish in ninth place on the final day to claim the first British Paralympic sailing gold medal. Top Five The Netherlands Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen wrapped up gold with a day to spare in the Sonar after another consistent day that saw three races sailed on Portland Harbour. With a bullet, a second and fifth place finish from three races the Dutch trio hold an unassailable 20 point lead and with just one race remaining, they cannot be caught. Eight points separate places second to eighth which will make a thrilling finale on the final day of racing and with the gold medal already sewn up the Dutch trio do not have to sail. The final day of racing will see the crews fight for the silver and bronze medals and with mixed results across the fleet all week nothing is certain. Top Five Australia's Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch won SKUD18 gold on the penultimate day of racing at the Paralympic Sailing Competition with a race to spare. With a six point leading heading into the final race the Australians are discarding their worst finish of third from Race 4. And with only race wins and second place finishes on their score card they can not be overthrown on 14 points. Jen French and Jp Creignou (USA) are second on 20 points whilst Great Britain's Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) are third on 22 points. Neither crew can be caught so medals are guaranteed but the colour will be decided on the final day of racing with one race scheduled. Top Five Paralympic sailing site: www.sailing.org/paralympics/london2012/ Maxi Battle Continues Hap Fauth's newly-launched Bella Mente, designed by Judel/Vrolijk and built by New England Boatworks, had a great day and took two convincing bullets ahead of Shockwave and Stig respectively in Race Two, the first race of the day, and ahead of Caol Ila R and Shockwave in Race Three. Today's excellent performance in the two windward-leeward races held for the class leaves Bella Mente, which has New-Zealand sailor John Cutler calling tactics, in first place in the overall provisional classification ahead of Niklas Zennstrom's Ran in second place and Caol Ila R in third. The 39 nautical mile course brought the remaining four divisions from the start off Porto Cervo west towards the coast to round the Secca Tre Monti before completing a circuit of the La Maddalena archipelago. Northerly winds of approximately 12 knots were sustained for the first part of the race but died out towards the final leg, leaving some of the large maxis struggling to get to the finish line. The largest yachts of the fleet, those of the Super Maxi division, were once again led by the 66-metre Hetairos in real time but it was Nilaya that triumphed on corrected time ahead of the Wally 148 Saudade. Nilaya also sits ahead of Saudade at the top of the overall classification with Peter Harrison's 35 metre Sojana in third. Racing is scheduled to continue tomorrow, Thursday 6th September, at 11.30 a.m. Mistral winds of approximately 10 knots are forecast. 2012 New York Yacht Club U.S. Qualifying Series This week's selection series will choose the three U.S. yacht clubs to join the 2013 NYYC Invitational Cup presented by Rolex. With three more days of racing, organizers expect by Friday to move the top six from the red and blue fleets into a Championship series in J/70s with the remaining 12 racing in a Consolation series. The winner of the Championship series will not only hold a berth along with second and third place finishers for the 2013 Invitational Cup but will also win the Resolute Trophy. Results after six races and one throw out: Red Fleet Blue Fleet The 2012 U.S. Qualifying Series sponsors are Atlantis WeatherGear and J Boats Race tracking via TracTrac runs throughout the day, as does a race blog. The entire website is accessible by either normal laptops or smartphones with device detection, so you can follow everything on your phone. No need for extra letters like mobile. or m. Just type in the address usqs.org regardless of device. #googleearth Sheehy Sailing in the handicap division against a variety of dinghies such as Finns, Lasers and radials included rival Paul Keane. Both Sheehy and Keane carried the smart phones Afloat and were able to review their race afterwards. This youtube clip: The hope for the future, says Sheehy, is more sailors might carry smartphones out on to the water. Thanks to Google Earth's animated playback feature there'll be more chances to learn from your mistakes! From Afloat Magazine: More from Hugh Sheehy's blog: BMW to Sponsor J/24 World Championships at Howth, Ireland, in 2013 One of the major regattas on the Irish sailing calendar for next year, the BMW J/24 Worlds has already attracted interest from J/24 sailors in the USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Hungary, Sweden, France, Japan, Monaco, Italy, Germany and Greece. Racing will take place over five days (August 26th-30th) and will be preceded by registration, measurement and practice from the 22nd. The Principal Race Officer will be ISAF International Race Officer David Lovegrove (IRL) while ISAF International Judge Bob Milner (UK) will chair the International Jury. Howth Yacht Club has previously hosted seven World and European Championships in the past, testimony to its ability to host major regattas. The BMW J/24 Worlds is the biggest event in a programme of 15 local, national and international events being staged by the club in 2013. The Undoubted Olympic Choice? I'm not looking to get into a discussion about that, but I am willing to put the case for retaining the Finn Class and the Star Class. The Olympic Games, in their original Greek form, was a classic challenge of physical strength and endurance and apart from some odd-ball additions, that is still the general idea today. In Olympic sailing terms, the Finn Class must still be THE one-man dinghy. You must have a combination of weight lifter condition, with the agility of a ballet dancer, to compete. To win in the Finn Class is a true Olympic achievement. The Star should again be the undisputed choice of two-man keelboat, for the same reasons that make the choice of the Finn a no-brainer! What other two-man keelboat can you quote, that has all the physical adversity that the Star offers those who dare to step aboard. But added to that, it challenges the technical expertise of competing teams as they battle the Stars mighty rig flopping around above them! But Olympic Games aside, the Star Class has a rich and far reaching history that exceeds any other one-design sailboat. From Jim Bolland's "A Brush with Sail"... full article has a great excerpt about the Star Class...written in 1926 by G. W. Elder and Ernest Ratsey. www.abrushwithsail.blogspot.co.nz 6th World University Match Racing Championship In the mens competition, the English team also continued its domination. In the group A where the England 2 skipped by Shaw (former WU champion) sailed to 6 victories in as many matches. In group B on the other hand, the other English boat was beaten by the Australian Gilmour who bring the head of the race with 5 successes in 6 meetings. On Thursday morning, the end of the matches will reveal the next quarterfinalists. Nicola Sturgeon Backs Cancer Trust's Scottish Launch The brand new hub, which will be established in Largs in North Ayrshire, is a welcome Scottish first for the Trust, which was launched back in 2003 by Dame Ellen MacArthur. Although currently based on the Isle of Wight, the Trust works with young people diagnosed with cancer or leukaemia from all over the UK, including 43 young Scottish people to date. This new second base on the West Coast of Scotland will make the Trust's services even more accessible to young people living with cancer in Scotland. Currently, those looking to work with the Trust must first fly down to Southampton before travelling onto the Island, which creates unnecessary travel burden for the users. Now, with the base in Largs, it will make an incredible difference to their experience Sailing with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is an experience for a life-time for the young people taking part. The freedom and opportunity to be with others who have experienced something similar, while trying something they've never had the chance to before, gives them the confidence to put their lives back together. "We've been working with young people from across the UK since we launched on the Isle of Wight," said Frank Fletcher, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. "But funding provided by the players of People's Postcode Lottery is allowing us to make our dream come true and launch a hub here in Scotland. Without the money from the players, this just wouldn't be possible and the Trust cannot thank them enough for their continued support." The Trust is currently working on preparations for the new base and hopes to launch in June 2013. Short Tacks En Solitaire will tell the story of a sailor, played by François Cluzet, whose life-long dream to race in the Vendee Globe is realised when he replaces another skipper at the last minute, leaving his wife and his daughter on the mainland. Shooting is due to take place from October to December this year, and the production team will be filming in Sables d'Olonne around the start of the Vendee in November Yachting World: www.yachtingworld.com --------------------------------------------- On Saturday 1st September, Samantha Davies' boat (Saveol) was taken back at sea in Port-la-Foret. After undergoing a complete check and an overall optimisation, the boat of the sole woman who is about to participate in this seventh Vendee Globe is now configured for a round-the-world. It is therefore the beginning of the last preparatory phase for the British female skipper. With medical formations, IMOCA courses, security briefings, weather courses or else training navigations, Samantha Davies will be very busy until the boat loading on October 8th and the delivery to Les Sables d'Olonne on October 18th. Then, there will be a few days left before the big start on November 10th. --------------------------------------------- America's Cup World Series plus all the top sailing news and action from around the world in the August 31st episode of "World on Water" which, as always, you can watch at: http://www.boatson.tv # 1 - 2012 America's Cup World Series from San Diego Featured Brokerage The boat was built 1997 and has been involved in much racing. Originally she sailed under British flag in the last Whitbread 1997 and 1998. Silk Cut won one leg and ended up as fifth, after breaking the world record for mono hulls. She sailed 417,2 nautical miles in twenty four hours. After the race she was bought up by Team SEB and used as a training platform for their campaign in the Volvo Ocean Race 2001 and 2002. Pleomax is an exciting Bruce Farr design and had an extensive refit in 2008. Also good PR opportunity. Brokerage through De Valk Yacht Brokers: www.yachtworld.com/devalkyb/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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