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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 Esimit Europa 2 Half Way However, the chasing pack of smaller boats have turned north to escape the windless area. Nick Jones' First 44.7, Lisa went north nearly 12 hours ago and it looks to be have been a master stroke. The British yacht owned by Nick and Suzi Jones is in better breeze than their rivals and if the breeze comes in, the brave move north at Stromboli will have paid off handsomely for the husband and wife team from Chichester, England. Meanwhile, Slovenian Maxi, Esimit Europa 2 is in a totally different position. Just 20 miles from Favignana on the north west extreme of the course, Esimit Europa 2 has been charging away from their rivals, often hitting speeds of 14 knots. Esimit Europa 2 is now 40 miles ahead of Niklas Zennstrom's Ran and Alessandro's Stig. Esimit Europa 2 is almost exactly half way around the course and if the breeze holds out, could be back in Malta by midnight on Tuesday 23 October to take Line Honours for the third consecutive year, which has only ever been achieved once before by Enrico Recchu's Carter 65 Bembow in 1977. Post Mortem: The AC 72 Recovery Challenge John Craig was "Johnny On The Spot" during the recovery of US17, enabling the use of the ACRM assets to assist. Without it, things could be much worse for Team Oracle Racing In the aftermath, the obvious question was how better to protect from these things getting out of hand. "It was pretty obvious the smaller support ribs just did not have the torque needed to pull the 72' against the current or upright her" John indicated "We are working with the teams to facilitate that". Whether that means the teams pooling together funds and spending additional monies to purchase or lease a vessel big enough or strong enough to be at the ready during practices to render assistance is in the thought train. When in town, the options might be for the Regardless to be at the ready. Talk of a quick release for the wing, to minimize the damage in event of another situation like Tuesday. The panels in the wing will float as witnessed by Tuesday's mishap, but all the wings controls lead through the wing base, which creates a whole new problem. Additionally how much additional damage which might occur transporting the wing by dragging through the water back to safety is a deep concern. While Team Oracle has collected a large selection of their wing, its still not clear that they have sufficient pieces to qualify for the rebuild wing clause, allowing them to reconstruct damage wing without penalty, if you have come across any sections, they would appreciate you contacting them. -- excerpts from Erik Simonson's article in Pressure Drop: Eileen Ramsay - The Queen Of Yachting Photography But Eileen established herself as one of the greatest yachting photographers of her time, taking famous portraits of sailing icons like Francis Chichester and Eric Tabarly, Olympians, including Rodney Pattisson and Keith Musto, and historic pictures from the first Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic (OSTAR) Races. Her unique archive records the explosive growth in dinghy and offshore sailing during post-war years, and includes pictures of the first Enterprises, Mirrors, Ospreys, Optimists and the first America's Cup 12 metres Sceptre and Evaine. Eileen, now into her 90s can remember just about every photograph she has taken and relate an anecdote or story about each one. Many of these memories are also recorded in the book. Eileen Ramsay - the Queen of Yachting Photography, is a spectacular celebration of a pioneering photographer and a fascinating time in yachting history. 160 pages, 123 classic pictures. £25 + postage & packing southatlanticpublishing.com/er_intro.htm Nord Stream Race Leg Two Start
The start got underway as scheduled at 1300 with all five Swan 60's in close contention off the line. The short upwind leg to the first mark saw Team Germany and Team Russia jostling for position, with Team Germany just taking the lead around the first buoy. Team Europe and Team Holland were also having a battle of their own, while Team France took advantage and shot ahead of Team Europe once heading downwind. Leg Two of the Nord Stream Race marks approximately 260 nautical miles of racing following the route of the new Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea crossing waters from Finland to Sweden. As with Leg One, points from this leg will be carried forward to secure an overall prize fund win of 100,000 Euros. The fleet of Swan 60s are due to arrive in Visby early on Wednesday morning where they will have time to rest and recuperate before starting the final leg to Greifswald, Germany on Thursday 25th October. Nord Stream Race tracking is available via: Open Sports Management Created To Make IMOCA More Commercial The International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) has signed a multi-year agreement with a new commercial rights and event management consultancy, set up by Sir Keith Mills. Open Sports Management (OSM) has been created specifically to manage the commercial interests of the IMOCA class. Following a period of insight gathering and strategic planning, Open Sports Management will publish their commercial plans in early 2013. The IMOCA Executive Committee will retain control of the technical and sports aspects of the class, with all commercial, marketing and communications functions passing to OSM. OSM has committed to retaining the heritage of the class, whilst looking for new opportunities to grow. Read David Fuller's full report in YachtRacing.biz: November 2012 Issue if Finnfare Published With more than 10 pages devoted to the Olympic Finn regatta, it contains the most extensive analysis of the Finn class published to date. We also speak to all three medalists, as they reflect post Games. Some excerpts from the interviews: Ainslie said, "The rest day probably saved me. It gave me a chance to consider what I was doing wrong." On his back, "To be honest there were so many thing going wrong with my body that it was just one of many issues." Hogh-Christensen said, "..silver was fantastic.. but.. .it will haunt me forever that I did not win." "The reaction back home has been amazing. 1.2 million people watched the medal race in a 6 milion people nation." Lobert said, "It is really nice to see the eyes of the kids when they see the medal.I try to put Olympic sailing under the lights and try and make people realise it is a great sport." This issue can be downloaded through the class website http://finnclass.org or viewed online at issuu.com/finn-class/ Back issues are available through the Finnshop at www.finnclass.org/shop Hong Kong to Hainan Race: Freefire Sets New Race Record "We had great wind and a great wind angle all the way, giving us another new record and beating our old one. It's great to be back in Hainan and without a single breakage on the boat, which topped out at 23kts boatspeed. Champagne sailing!" RHKYC's Rear Commodore Sailing and Chan's second in command, Russ Parker added "It was a great race in lovely conditions – the boat was flying along! It's great to be here" Freefire stands a very good chance of 'doing the double", that is, winning the IRC Overall title on handicap as well as line honours. Her nearest rivals for that particular silverware are Jonathan Mahony's Zanzibar and Anthony Root's Red Kite II both of whom are very much still in the game with projected corrected times just outside of the TP52's. The next boats expected on the water are Jelik V and Antipodes who have traded places on the water all the way down from Hong Kong and will finish around 1930hrs this evening. Australian Yacht Designer Murdered in the Philippines Joseph Adams, an acclaimed yacht designer from Sydney, was murdered by a machete-wielding attacker at his home in Tuding, the Philippines. Adams, 81, had attempted to fight off his attackers, according to police. His body was found by a neighbour on Monday. Adams' empty wallet was found near his body, so police believe robbery was the motive, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald. Adams designed a string of successful sailboats throughout his career, including the 1973 record-breaking Sydney-Hobart line honours winner, Helsal. Graham Radford, a fellow yacht designer from Sydney, was on the boat when it won the race. He learned of Adams' death on Tuesday. "As a designer he was an excellent natural... one of the best and I was extremely fortunate I could learn from him," Radford told the paper. Adams, who started his career designing Adams 10 and 12 sailboats, also designed maxi-yachts like Buttercup, which sailed the world three times and into Antarctica. Adams continued to design yachts after moving to the Philippines from Port Macquarie in the mid-1980s. He retired to Tuding after selling his design business. IBI News: https://plus.ibinews.com EUROSAF Champions Sailing League For Olympic Classes The EUROSAF Champions Sailing League will be staged over five professionally organised events, starting in May 2013 at the Fraglia Vela Riva, Lake Garda, Italy. The Dutch Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik is next, followed by Sail for Gold at the 2012 Olympic venue of Weymouth & Portland in the UK. Kieler Woche in Germany will be the fourth event in the series, which will conclude later in the year with the Semaine Olympique Française, at La Rochelle, France. The first four events take place in the ISAF defined 'European Window' and all five events qualify for ISAF ranking points. The EUROSAF Champions Sailing League will accept entries from sailors from all over the world and will be a great opportunity to sail against competitors in an inspiring way. Teams coming from Europe and around the world, will be able to compete in four high quality Olympic classes regattas within two months starting at the beginning of May and concluding at the end of June, with a grand finale in France later in the year. Two months of extraordinary Olympic classes competition, all in one continent. RS:X Youth World Windsurfing Championships Pawel Tarnowski, POL] came here to win his last world championships as a youth but has given himself a mountain to climb already. A 10th in the first race, he could just about live with if it was going to be his worst score in the series. Trouble was his second race of the day was a disaster... 31st. Undoubtedly his discard. There is only one way to go from here and that is consistently top 3 from now on. Meanwhile, Kieran Martin, GBR] and Maxime Labat, FRA] got down to business. Kieran won the first and popped in a third in the second to come in happy with his day in the office. Maxime, Mr Consistency, posted a pair of twos. So these two lead the RS:X Youth Men's Fleet for now with Goni Tzur, ISR] two points behind in 3rd. Factoid: There are 4 under 17 year olds in the top 5 women. RS:X Youth Men's Results 1. Kieran Martin, GBR, 4 points RS:X Youth Women's Results 1. Saskia Sills, GBR, 2 youthworldwindsurfingchampionships2012.rsxclass.com Champion Women Sailors Take On SB20 Sportsboats In Hobart Colleen Darcey, Sally Rattle and Caroline Walker will started racing in the 12-boat strong Hobart fleet in last evening's weekly twilight pennant series conducted by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and Derwent Sailing Squadron. The trio decided to buy an SB20, which they have named Sudden Impulse, after sailing in a 'guest' boat during the winter. "A lot of our friends sail SB20s and Nick Rogers convinced us we would get a lot of fun out of the boat, which is sailed by a crew of three," Colleen said before competing in the Derwent Sailing Squadron's Sprint Series for the class last Sunday. Colleen and Sally sailed in the Sprint Series, but Caroline was recovering from a torn hamstring muscle, her place being taken by male sailor Doug Watkins. All three sailed last evening, notching up a sixth and fourth in the closely contested racing. Colleen, Sally and Caroline are widely experienced keelboat sailors, having been key members of the Tasmanian crew that earlier this year won the Australian women's keelboat champion on Melbourne's Port Phillip, sailing the Archambault 31, Penfold Audi Sport. Sally also owns the successful ocean racing yacht Archie and the three women, with additional crew, planning to campaign the Archambault 35 at the Geelong Race Week in late January. Caroline will also be sailing on David Taylor's Pisces in the Launceston to Hobart Race in late December. The SB20 is an ideal boat for women sailors, according to champion Dragon class sailor Nick Rogers, who introduced the class into Hobart and has seen the fleet grow to a dozen boats. "Until now we have had only male owners, but quite a few women have crewed on the boats," said Rogers, who in December will contest the SB20 world championship at Hamilton Island. "They are strictly one-design, easy to sail and the gear is not heavy to handle – a perfect small keelboat for women to race," Rogers added. "I am confident Colleen, Sally and Caroline will do well and stimulate the interest of other women sailors in the SB20s." The SB20 fleet races on Thursday evenings on the Derwent as a part of the combined RYCT/DSS twilights, but are sailing a series of windward/leeward races on their own course. This season the SB20s will race as a class in the Audi Showdown regatta in November and the Crown Series next February, which will also be the Tasmanian championship. Nick Rogers is also planning a mini regatta in Sullivans Cove on December 30, adding to the spectacle of yachts finishing the ocean races from Sydney, Launceston and Melbourne, with rounding marks close to the Taste of Tasmania. -- Peter Campbell Letters To The Editor - * From James S. Leopold: I was quite surprised to read that the first day of the Extreme Sailing Series was canceled due to winds that were "blowing a steady 25 knots, with gusts of 30 knots throughout the day." Conditions like that sound challenging, and exhilarating. One might even consider these conditions a tune up for really extreme weather. It seems to me that if there is an Extreme Sailing Series, the event organizers ought to be prepared to sail in (almost) what ever conditions Mother Nature deems fit to dish out. Featured Brokerage This Hallberg Rassy 53 comes from first owner is in top conditions ready to be viewed in Northern Germany. He wants to sell since he already as a new motoryacht. Brokerage through Fine Yachts: www.yachtworld.com/fine-yachts/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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