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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 Barking Mad Wins Farr 40 Pre-Worlds & Farr 40 North American Circuit
Runner-up in the Pre-Worlds and third in the overall Circuit is Wolfgang Schaefer from Luneburg, Germany and his team on Struntje Light. Schaefer finally broke a string of third place finishes to finish second, but was unable to overcome Alberto Rossi's Enfant Terrible team from Italy to claim the runner-up position in the overall series. With the Farr 40 Pre-Worlds now completed, so is the opening act of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, which starts on Monday, September 17th and features daily racing until Thursday, September 20th. SEIKO 49er European and Youth World Championship
The constricted theatre style course forced quick decisions and kept the racing exciting between the teams as well as demanded expert boat handling. The knock-out heats also provided continued excitement and a chance for last minute advancement for those who won. The SEIKO King of the Downwind prize was given to the team with the least time spent sailing downwind, determined by SAP analytics and GPS data and earned by Croatian sailors Pavle Kostov and Petar Cupac. The team with the fastest recorded time during racing was Tim Elsner and Marco Grasse (GER) with a 24.3 knot record. Final top four: 1. M. Frei / Y. Rocherieux, FRA Full results, video and race playback and photos on www.2012euros.49er.org French Prevail as Wind Abandons F18 Worlds
Wrong. They needed only one as a light southwest breeze gasped its last against warm desert Santa Ana winds---a local autumn phenomenon---blowing offshore from the opposite direction, leaving the fleet of 118 Gold and Silver flight boats from 16 countries drifting helplessly in the event hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. The regatta was caught in the middle. The single race was delayed 1 1/4 hours by racers' early starts and course changes required with shifting light winds of 3 to 7 knots. Later, as the stragglers crept in from the mile-square trapezoid course, principal race officer Mark Townsend debated for an hour whether to continue. At one point he even studied smoke from the oil refinery fire west of Long Beach for clues to what the wind might do. Then at 3:30 he called it a regatta, and Backes and Vandame's coach, Alex Udin, jumped aboard their cat to provide the winners a champagne shower. "When I put up the [abandonment] flags, all the boats cheered," Townsend said later. As far as the championship was concerned, ending two short of the 15 scheduled races made no difference. Backes/Vandame finished 15th in Saturday's only race, but none of their challengers finished better than sixth---not nearly enough to threaten their lead, especially with a second throwout to play. Even with the subdued climax, Olivier said the victory was better than his first win of the F18 Worlds two years ago in France. Final top ten Complete results www.abyc.org A Fitting Swan Song A breeze of 7-8 knots accompanied the prompt 11:30 CEST race start as most of the near sixty-strong fleet embarked on a final dash through Bomb Alley. The Maxis tackled a 24-nm coastal course, upwind around Monaci, before a downwind leg through Secca di Tre Monti, returning to Porto Cervo via the island of Mortoriotto. A short coastal course of 17-nm was set for the Grand Prix and Classic divisions while the yachts competing in the Rolex Swan 45 World Championship completed two windward/leeward races. The overall competition winners were: Bronenosec (RUS) in Maxi; Natalia (ROU) in Grand Prix;Ondine (ITA) in Classic and Earlybird (GER) in the Rolex Swan 45 World Championship. The class winners all received Rolex timepieces following the traditional prizegiving held on Piazza Azzurra at event organizers the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS). Today's race winners were: Emma (GER) in Maxi; Natalia in Grand Prix; Gaetana (ITA) in Classic while Earlybird, with a first and a second was the top performer in the Rolex Swan 45 World Championship. Vladimir Liubomirov and his predominantly Russian and Italian crew on Swan 60 Bronenosec held both their nerve and advantage going into the final day. Bronenosec needed to stay ahead of James Madden's Swan 601 Stark Raving Mad (USA) and despite the best efforts of the American crew, third place to Stark's fourth was sufficient. The 18th edition of the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo will take place in 2014. Final Results (top three) Maxi Class (18 boats) Grand-Prix Class (15 boats) Classic Class (15 boats) Swan 45 (8 boats) Complete results at yccs.it Here's the Craic!
Two local classes, the Shannon One-Design and the Water Wags, joined a mixed fleet of boats in the Open Class to race the 195km course. In a spirit of cross-border cooperation, the first two days of the event took place in Northern Ireland, before the boats crossed the border into the Republic of Ireland and resumed racing down the Shannon River. Early indications were that the local classes were proving very competitive against the Open Class - which includes everything from a 75-year-old Solent centreboarder to a brand new Wayfarer. Local knowledge plays an important part in the tricky inland conditions, where sudden downdraughts and wind shadows are a regular occurrence. Crews are required to navigate the waterways themselves using the usual channel markers, and race buoys are only used at the start and finish of each leg. Crews from seven countries are taking part in the raid: Ireland, UK, Germany, Sweden, Japan, France and the Netherlands. Notable personalities include: Albert Schiess (Swiss Olympic sailor), Jochen Krauth (German/French windsurf world champion), Koji Ikeda (Japanese Tornado champion), Patrick Morvan (transatlantic record-breaker), Sylvie Viant (Whitbread sailor), and Martine Gahinet-Charrier (transatlantic racer). Musandam-Oman Sail Win in Cascais Musandam-Oman Sail won three of the six races sailed over three days, almost all in light breeze, which proved somewhat contrary to Cascais reputation for reliable strong winds. Smarting after losing second place to FONCIA in the final half mile to the finish of the offshore stage from Dun Laoghaire at dawn in very light airs early on Wednesday morning, Gavignet and his crew realised then they had a small deficit in speed to Michel Desjoyeaux's crew. They made changes accordingly and, aligned to steady starting and some strong tactics from Jean Francois Cuzon, have remained very consistent, complementing their three wins with two thirds and a fifth to win ahead of Yann Guichard's Spindrift racing. Musandam-Oman Sail collect 12 precious points in the chase for the MOD70 European Tour while second place for Spindrift racing ensures they increase their overall lead in the general classification. Results after six City Races MOD70 European Tour Standings. After two offshore stages and three City Race series. 1. Spindrift racing, Yann Guichard, 133 points Next up: Start Leg 3 Around Portugal Race 17 September 11h00 : Start Leg 3 Williams: Match Racing Strategy Key to Gold Medal Success The 2010 ISAF Match Racing World Champion Ben Ainslie took a fourth successive Olympic gold medal by winning the men's Finn class at London 2012. Three-time Alpari World Match Racing Tour Champion, Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar knows what it's like going head-to-head against fellow Brit Ainslie and is not surprised that he, along with sailors in several other Olympic fleet disciplines with a background in match racing, seized an advantage on the water. Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar lost out to Ainslie in the 2010 Tour season but has since gone on to challenge for a record fourth Tour title this year. Speaking about the place of match racing in the Olympics and its ongoing inclusion, Williams, said: "Match racing can take place so close to the shore and in view of the spectators, so it really fits with the Olympics as a spectacle. In the future I think it'd make a lot of sense to have a men's as well as a women's match racing event. James Pleasance, Executive Director of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, supports a match racing presence in future Olympics, saying: "The women's Olympic match racing was a great spectacle in Weymouth and we would really hope that ISAF include this discipline again in future years, as well as considering the men's equivalent. Its potential is clear to see at every Alpari World Match Racing Tour event, which features some of the most spectator-friendly viewing of all sailing events." The world's top match racers will arrive in Marseille shortly to begin preparations for Match Race France (24 - 29 September), where eight of the nine Tour Card Holders will compete alongside wildcard entries Tamara Echegoyen (ESP), Damien Iehl (FRA) Wind 2 Win and 2009 Tour Champion Adam Minoprio (NZL) Black Match, as well as qualifier, William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing. Running The Rhumblines Skipper Brown temporarily cast aside his important presidential duty to master an absorbing duel with the equally impressive series leader Craig Piccinelli's Wobbly Boot. Both crews were evenly matched for handicap rated boat speed with the result hanging in the balance when the crew of 007 adjusted the trim of the sails to gain full advantage from the prevailing 12-15knot East-South-East breeze. Their attention to sail trim ultimately proved to be a deciding factor when 007 racing with a slightly higher .905 handicap compared against Wobbly Boot .869 managed to protect her racing reputation by recording a narrow 7 second win at the finish. This was a rewarding result for the 007 crew who sailed a near faultless race to deny the Wobbly Boot crew from claiming another win and extending their lead in the series. Club Commodore Rob Davis completed a winning day for senior Whitsunday Sailing Club officials when he steered Breakaway to an impressive line and corrected handicap win in the Division 3 class. The Breakaway crew capitalised on her line honours match race against the Brian Fleming skippered Concubine to firm a grip on the handicap honours. They almost shared the same sea room before Breakaway gradually drew away to secure a 27 second line honours victory which allowed her crew to claim a more important 1 minute 3 second win on handicap from C-Eagle (Bob Beale) while Mick Phillips returned to racing after a long layoff to steer Shearwater into third place another 4 minutes 47 seconds astern. Multihull class skipper Bob Thomson expressed his acceptance to race his trimaran Sirocco in a suitable breeze which helped to 'iron out the wrinkles in the sails' to record a comfortable 3 minute 37 second win over Scott Millar's former Australian champion catamaran Rum Raider. Sirocco has always managed to record her best results when the wind blows above 12 knots which allows her skipper and crew to convert a spray drenching ride in the fast lane into unmatched handicap rated boat speed. As expected all three class winners will be hoping for a similar strength South East trade wind to blow over Pioneer Bay later this week when they line up to contest the 36th race of the series. -- Ian Grant Inaugural "Rolex Swan Cup - Caribbean" To Be Held In Virgin Gorda The regatta is open to all Swan yachts built by the Finnish shipyard and is based on the concept of the highly successful Rolex Swan Cup, which has been held biennially in Porto Cervo since 1980. Many of the Swan owners currently taking part in the 17th edition of the Rolex Swan Cup in Porto Cervo (10th-16th September) have already expressed their interest in participating in the Caribbean event. Further details including the Notice of Race will be available shortly on www.yccs.com and www.nautorswan.com Kristian Nergaard Takes His Sixth 5.5m IC World Championship Title Winner of the Evolution division was the Criollo (GER 30) under skipper Andreas Christiansen, Carsten Kemmling and Haymo Jepsen. Among the Classic boats, which were built during the Olympic years of the International 5.5m Class, Lutz von Meyerinck who sailed his Blueprint (GER 33) with son Felix von Meyerinck and Oscar de Felice, led from the first to the last race. After just having won the Royal Kaag Classic Cup 2012 the crew started confidently into the races and managed to achieve three top 20 results. The 45 year old yacht, one of the first in the 5.5 metre class to have been designed with a separate rudder, was even able to charge ahead of all Evolution boats in the results of day one. They came 21st in the overall results and won the Quail Cup for the best Classic boat during the world championship. To honour the 60 year anniversary of the first Olympic Games with 5.5m IC participation there was a special prize awarded to those boats which are still in the same condition today as the Rating Rules of the class demanded during their Olympic time. Representing each of the Olympic Games during that period the following boats received specially engraved silver prizes: Linge design Madrisa (GER 38) for the year 1952 Top three final results: 1. Artemis XIV, Krstian Nergaard: 1, (13), 3, 1, 1, 3 1, 7 Full results: news.nrv.de/link.php?link=01_02_04_A0_5 Featured Brokerage Yacht in very good shape. Brokerage through Winning Yacht: www.yachtworld.com/winningyacht/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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