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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 Paralympic Sailing Competition Ends
Great Britain's Helena Lucas (GBR) could see the gold medal insight in the 2.4mR heading into the final day as she held a nine point lead, and when racing was called off at 13:50 her gold medal was confirmed. Heiko Kroger (GER) and Thierry Schmitter (NED) finished in second and third place. The SKUD18 and Sonar golds were settled on the race track yesterday with Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) taking the SKUD18 gold and Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen (NED) taking the Sonar. Both crews had unassailable leads. Jens Kroker, Siegmund Mainka and Robert Prem (GER) sailed consistently all week to take the silver medal and for Kroker it highlights the hard work his team have put in, "We have been working at this since 1997," he said. "It is a lot of effort financially, physically and psychologically. I live in Brazil and the crew are in Germany. In the last three months I flew to Germany every weekend to train with them." Sonar bronze goes to Aleksander Wang-Hansen, Marie Solberg and Per Eugen Kristiansen who leapfrogged Great Britain's John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas after they received a discretionary four point penalty which let the Norwegians through. A gripping three way SKUD18 battle had been on-going all week and with no final day racing Jen French and JP Creignou (USA) pick up silver medal whilst Alex Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) settle for bronze. 2.4mR Top Three SKUD18 Top Three Sonar Top Three Complete results: www.sailing.org/paralympics/london2012/ Paralympics Come of Commercial Age Although the money for TV rights, ticket sales and athletes' earnings is not on a par with the Olympics, the rapidly growing profile of the Paralympics has made them a commercial opportunity in their own right. And while it took the Olympics the best part of 90 years to evolve into the business they have become, the transformation of the Paralympics is much more swift. "The media coverage has increased exponentially over the last 12 years," said Greg Hartung, Vice President of the International Paralympic Committee, which organizes the Games. "These Games seem to be breaking all records." www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/09/06/
Not Sailing. But Astounding and Inspiring Winning a medal at the Paralympics is impressive enough, but when you don't have arms and that medal's in archery? Now that's mind-blowing. Normandy Channel Race The competitors in the Normandy Channel Race benefited from a medium wind of 10 knots early on in the day, but are now stalling as they try to make for the Channel Islands. The winners are now expected to reach Ouistreham on Sunday morning. Bringing up the rear of the fleet, Obportus skippered by the Roussez / Quenot duo, finally rounded Tuskar Rock this morning at 1034 UTC. The leaders have been making an average of 6.32 knots since Sunday's start. Top ten at 07/09/2012 05:00 1. Campagne De France, Halvard Mabire / Miranda Merron, FRA, 203.2 points Competition Heats Up Among Maxi Yachts With two more race days remaining and some tight situations at the top of the classifications in the five competing divisions, the heat is on. At the conclusion of racing today Bella Mente (Mini Maxi), Magic Carpet 2 (Wally), Aegir (Racing), Velsheda (Racing/Cruising) and Nilaya (Super Maxi) hold the top spots in their respective groups. Day four of the event saw the Mini Maxi and Wally fleets complete two windward-leeward races. Hap Fauth's Bella Mente continues to increase her lead in the Mini Maxi class - competing in Porto Cervo for the title of Mini Maxi Rolex World Champion - thanks to a series which boasts three bullets and two second places over five races held. Niklas Zennstrom's Rán sits in second place overall ahead of Jethou, which has America's Cup veteran Brad Butterworth on tactics. Lindsay Owen Jones' Magic Carpet2 claimed two victories today to increase her lead in the eight-boat Wally class. A discard due to come into play after tomorrow's racing, however, could shake up the leaderboard which currently sees Owen Jones trailed by Open Season, with tactician Ross McDonald, and the 24.4 -metre J One. The Racing, Racing/Cruising and Super Maxi divisions meanwhile completed a 36 mile course which basically took them along yesterday's route in reverse: from the start off Porto Cervo to round Monaci island before heading south to the Secca Tre Monti and leaving the natural buoys of the islands of Santo Stefano, La Maddalena and Barrettinelli to starboard. From there the fleet embarked on a long downwind run to the finish off the Gulf of Pevero. Racing is scheduled to continue tomorrow, Friday 7th September, at 11.30 a.m. Mistral winds of approximately 10 knots are forecast. Top Three Provisional Results Mini Maxi Wally Racing / Cruising Racing SuperMaxi New York Yacht Club U.S. Qualifying Series Today's results split the fleet into a Championship and Consolation series. When protests were resolved after sunset, the scores showed two points separating fourth through sixth in the red fleet. A third place in the last race of the day allowed Larchmont squeak into the Championship series after a day that typified the tooth-and-nail competition seen throughout both fleets. With two more days of racing, the Championship series will be sailed in the new fleet of J/70s while the Consolation series will be run in concert using the Sonars. 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. Top Six in each fleet (after 11 races and one throwout) moving to the Championship Series: Red Fleet Blue Fleet The 2012 U.S. Qualifying Series is sponsored by Atlantis WeatherGear and J Boats Discover: New England Sailing Gear for Old England We design our gear to help New England sailors operate in a harsh marine environment, which is why we think it will work for sailors in our region's namesake as well. And it's why we're introducing the Atlantis range to the United Kingdom sailing market. We hope you'll be able to find it in your leading chandlery soon, but in the meantime, you can check out the 2012 line at www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com Discover gear for your favorite conditions. Discover your Atlantis. Luderitz Speed Challenge The 2010 Speed Challenge surpassed all the expectations and is known around the world for breaking the world record 3 times during this event. Here Kitesurfing beat the famous hydrofoil boat record: L' hydroptère (51.36 kts average on 500m), and became the fastest craft on the water (55.65 kts average on 500m set by the American Rob Douglas). We hope that this sport, which now makes its entrance to the 2016 Olympic Games, will stay alongside windsurfing, which now returns to the record battle thanks to the "Luderitz Speed Challenge" 2012 and the development of the new canal. Designed to provide ideal conditions for the optimal performance of these 2 craft, the canal will level the playing field between Windsurfing and Kitesurfing. An artificial canal dug in the middle of the Namibian desert to reach new speed records in Speed Sailing. See this video: vimeo.com/33615679 Speed runs for Windsurfers: 4 November - 2 December Globaltech Formula 18 World Championship It's the class's first world championship ever contested in the USA and, more specifically, on the Southern California waters where multihull racing first thrived in the 70s. Measurement and inspection start Friday for 118 entries from 13 countries and five continents. Racing goes off on Tuesday, with as many as 15 races scheduled through Saturday on the open ocean outside the breakwater. Racing will start at noon, conditions permitting. There will be practice races Monday starting at 3 p.m. The first three days of racing will sort out the fleet into Gold and Silver groups---the former competing for the grand prize on the weekend. Long Beach is where one of the competitors grew up and won an Olympic silver medal in 1984. Jay Glaser, a multihull sailor to the bone, was crew for Randy Smyth, as he is now for Pease Glaser, his wife, also an Olympic silver medalist in women's 470 and partner in their successful Glaser Sails company in nearby Huntington Beach. "Southern California was always the hotbed of multihull activity," Jay Glaser said. "We go to different places in the world and think, 'Why do we leave Long Beach?' It has some of the best sailing in the world, for sure." Dropping the Tornado catamaran from this year's Olympics was a blow to cat fanatics around the world, but the picture brightened last spring when the Nacra 17 catamaran was added for Rio de Janeiro in 2016, with a new Olympic wrinkle: mandatory mixed crews of one male and one female. The other headliners include defending champion Darren Bundock of Australia. Bundock also has Olympic silver from 2000 and 2008 but was shut out of this year's Games when organizers went strictly monohull. The racing will be tracked on the Kattack website by courtesy of the title sponsor. Event website (including NOR) www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=378 Belzebub II Breaks Record in the Northwest Passage This week Canadian Nicolas Peissel and Swede Edvin Buregren with an American crew member made it through the M'Clure Strait, never previously negotiated by a sailing boat. "Everyone on board is ecstatic, but also very tired," Peissel told CBC News in Canada. bwsailing.com The First In 100 Years
19-years-old Alex is not only a highly talented sailor with impressive local and international records, but she also creates history in the century-old class as she becomes the first daughter of a former Giltinan champion father to skipper an 18ft Skiff. Her father, Adam South is a two-times Giltinan (world) 18ft Skiff champion and currently a coach in the 18s as well as coaching with the Double Bay Sailing Club. Alex has been a Member of the Australian Sailing Squad since 2008, has been a Silver Scholarship holder, NSW Institute of Sport since 2009 and was a Finalist in Yachting Australia Female Sailor of the Year 2010, 2011. She was placed second in the Laser Radial Australian Olympic Trials for London 2012 and has been the National Champion on six occasions between 2006 and 2012. She attended her first World Laser Radial Championship in 2008 at the age of 14 years. In 2011, Alex won the World Under-19 Laser Radial Championship and was second ranked in the Under 21 section. She also won the silver medal at the World University Games. Alex realizes the challenge ahead, but is looking forward to her first season in the 18s. Alex is due to announce her team shortly and their first event will be Race One of the $10,000 3-Buoys Challenge Series on 14 October. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Letters To The Editor - * From Hamish Hooper: After the past week of speculation over the capabilities of our new AC72 catamaran we decided to publicly release some footage of it in action. In case you haven't seen it and are interested in using it here is video we produced yesterday which 'lets the cat out of the bag'. Featured Brokerage Very good Cruiser with the Racer performance. Brokerage through Bach Yachting International: www.yachtworld.com/bachyachting/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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