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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.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 Picture Perfect Start to Key West 2010
Sunny skies, 75-degree temperatures and solid wind produced an ideal opening day for the week-long event, organized by Premiere Racing. Bretsch and fellow PROs Ken Legler (Division 1) and Dave Brennan (Division 2) were all able to complete two races in oscillating winds that held steady between 7 and 10 knots. Competitors reported wind shifts ranging from five to 50 degrees, which kept tacticians on their toes. No skipper sported a broader smile on the dock afterward than Wolfgang Schaefer, who won a race in Farr 40 class for only the second time in four trips to Key West. Schaefer steered Struntje Light to victory in Race 2 after finishing sixth in Race 1 and holds the overall lead via tiebreaker over both Barking Mad (Jim Richardson, Newport, R.I.) and Joe Fly (Giovanni Maspero, Rome, Italy). Early competition is also close in the 21-boat Melges 24 class as two of the top contenders - UKA UKA Racing and Blu Moon - both won a race. Helmsman Lorenzo Bressani also posted a second as the Italian team took a two-point lead on the Swiss entry. UKA UKA Racing, owned by Lorenzo Santini of Porto Civitanova and featuring American Jonathan McKee as tactician, was declared the Nautica Watches Boat of the Day. Bella Mente, a Reichel-Pugh 66-footer skippered by Hap Fauth of Newport, R.I., is the opening day pacesetter in IRC 1 class, which features the largest boats in the regatta. Kelvin Harrup is calling tactics aboard Bella Mente, which won both races on Monday and holds a four-point lead over the TP52 Interlodge (Austin Fragomen) and the Wally 82 Highland Fling (Irvine Laidlaw). Highland Fling is by far the biggest boat entered in Key West 2010 and was expected to sail around the IRC 1 course by itself. However, Fauth said Bella Mente was able to keep the 82-footer in range in Monday's flat water and less than 10 knots of wind Full results on www.premiere-racing.com The Brits Take The Lead French team Xavier Rohart and Pierre Ponsot, winners of the Transpreto Regatta, were very relieved with their result. "Everything went well for us, we were going very fast and seemed to have a green light the whole way," joked Rohart, 2003 and 2005 World Champion. The team finished 66th in the first race and 14th in the second race. "The first race was a real disaster for us and we took note of our problems," explained the helmsman, ranked 26th in the general standing. "Now we have to hope that Iain and Swiss sailors Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria will make mistakes but that is very unlikely." German team Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs, who dominated the first two days of the world Championship, finished in 39th place in Monday's race and are now in 11th position overall. -- Joao Pedro Nunes Top Ten Results - after three races Yachting Monthly February Issue Meanwhile, Mark Fishwick reports from Las Palmas, in the Canaries, on the world's largest trans-ocean event, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, bound for St Lucia in the West Indies, 2,700 miles away. Mark steps aboard nine yachts, from 29ft to 46ft, and meets crew aged from 81 to four years old. Libby Purves' column, entitled 'Charting betrayal', reports on the rising cost of pilot books and pleads 'Free our chart data!' as hikers get free maps online from Ordnance Survey, while sailors continue to pay through the nose. Subscribe to Yachting Monthly and save up to a whopping 40%! Take advantage of this great offer and get your favourite boating magazine conveniently delivered direct to your door every month. Visit www.yachtingmonthly.co.uk/iymfb Cape Breton Island Takes Line Honours In Clipper 09-10
The Australian team finished at 0929 local time (0229 UTC) after closing a 20-mile gap on Cape Breton Island in the final 12 hours of the race. Race 5, from Geraldton, Western Australia to Singapore began on 3 January and the course has delivered some of the most challenging conditions to date for the crews. During the race Cork, one of the ten 68-foot ocean racing yachts, hit a submerged reef and the crew, who had abandoned to life rafts, were taken on board two of the other boats, California and Team Finland. Qingdao and Edinburgh Inspiring Capital were also involved in the operation, as well as Uniquely Singapore and Hull & Humber, who stood by to offer assistance if required. As a number of teams suspended racing during the incident, the final results will be subject to ratification once all the skippers' declarations have been received by the Race Committee before being confirmed. In the meantime, the crew of Cape Breton Island is celebrating their first line honours in the competition in which they have performed at a consistently high level. Standings after Race 4 and Race 5 Scoring Gate OK Dinghy World Champions Chat
For current world champion Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE) victory last year in Kalmar, Sweden, was a dream come true. With 20 years experience under his belt and a host of top ten places, many thought Thomas had missed his chance. However, he kept plugging away and was finally back at the front in 2008 where he finished fifth overall. Explaining his return to form he said, "Sailing is a sport of details, and when it comes down to it everything has to work smoothly. Family support and friends are also vital parts to get the puzzle done. Someone once said that there is need for about 10,000 training hours to become really good in a sport. OK Dinghy sailing is no exception. I began to sail very early and it's no myth that what pushed me towards my dinghy sailing was a rather troublesome pollen allergy. I did not have the allergy on the water and the bay at home became my playground in the summer." For 2008 World Champion Karl Purdie (NZL), the 2009 Championship produced mixed feelings. At the 2010 Worlds, Purdie will be competing in his home town, but is in two minds about the pressures this will serve up. "I do feel a little more pressure to perform with the event being hosted in my home town. Every local sailor I'm sure feels the same. Usually though I perform best when I put myself under a little pressure. The great thing about the worlds being held here is that I'm familiar with the local infrastructure and get to sleep at my own house each night." The 2008 champion is arguably one of the most prepared sailors in the fleet, leaving nothing to chance and hunting down every bit of speed he can find. One of the shock results at the 2009 Worlds was the relative poor performance of triple world champion Nick Craig (GBR). His sixth place overall was his worst performance since 2002, but he reveals he had a few issues with boatspeed. "I was slow upwind in a force 4 and a chop, which was frustrating as they are usually my best conditions in a one-design. I think it was an issue with my rig - either that or I've got old. I've only been able to sail the OK twice since Kalmar so I've tried to resolve the issue with my cheque book. I've bought two new masts as well as doing some sail development. I've also thought about it a lot, but I'm realistic about my goals in Wellington; I'll be lucky if I get a new rig right the first time. My overall plan is to sail the OK a lot in 2011 in preparation for the next year's worlds in Largs, Scotland." -- Robert Deaves Full interviews on the class website: www.okdia.org Latitude Kinsale at Dusseldorf
Along with our exhibit piece for the show we are also working on some very interesting projects such as a B&W 3D chart of the Singapore Strait and a chart table using a B&W chart of the west coast of Scotland. One of our recent developments is to combine charts into one so we literally cut and paste charts. For example you will have a stretch of coastline showing your surrounding area as well as an inserted chart showing the detail of your harbour. A recent commission was for a major fish exporter here in Ireland, they wanted to display all of the ports on the Irish Sea that supply their international export company. This is now on display in their reception area. See these amazing works of art at www.latitudekinsale.com (new website!) Industry News The show, which opened on January 8, was slow to get off the mark with London snowbound and hazardous traveling conditions forcing many to stay at home. Pre-ordered ticket numbers had however been doing well - the show had sold around 34,000 - but by day seven, 19,000 of those tickets had still to be used. All NBS could do was keep its finger crossed for a final bumper weekend. Unexpected heavy snowfall and further travel disruption on day six however led many to fear the worse. By day seven show attendance was down 18 per cent on the same time last year. Inevitably mid-week exhibitor reports from the show floor were mixed given the quiet aisles over the first few days - though the general consensus appeared to be that committed boaters and most importantly those most likely to spend, had braved the weather and transport chaos to get to the event. With the weather improving, the final weekend gave the show the shot in the arm it needed, helping to nudge attendance into a more than respectable 100,000-plus. -- International Boat Industry news, www.ibinews.com * Swedish transport group Volvo - which incorporates marine division Volvo Penta - has revealed that its chairman Finn Johnsson has resigned and is being replaced by Volvo board member Louis Schweitzer until the company's next annual general meeting. Louis Schweitzer has been a member of AB Volvo's board of directors since 2001. He currently serves as chairman of Astra Zeneca and is a board member of BNP Paribas, Veolia and L'Oreal. -- IBI, www.ibinews.com * On Sunday, January 17th, David Reed, Editor of Sailing World magazine, awarded the Boat of the Year Awards to J/Boats for the J/95 and J/97. The J/95 was awarded the Overall Boat of the Year and the J/97 was awarded the Best Club Racer. The J/95 was cited by many sailors as being the first J/Boat to significantly expand one's cruising horizons-- "the ultimate in sailing freedom" because of its shoal-draft sailing capabilities. * Hall Spars & Rigging is preparing to ship the 54.5m (179 ft) mast for the JClass Lionheart to the Claasen Jachtbouw yard in Holland, where the boat is being prepared for its spring 2010 launch. Lionheart's thoroughly modern mast has four sets of inline spreaders plus jumpers. Shroud tension is adjusted via Hall's Brick House internal adjustment system. All headsails are fractional, and the genoa uses a roller furling system. There is an inner forestay, which is easily removable with Hall's halyard lock system. There are two main halyards and a gant line to the masthead, two fractional headsail halyards, and one halyard above the inner forestay. The majority of mast parts are also constructed from carbon fiber, including the spreader bars and sheave boxes. Even the support for the masthead wind indicator is molded from autoclave-cured carbon fiber. The Hall Park Avenue Boom is 19.8m (65 ft) long, with a custom front-end fitting that pivots to relieve stress on the boom and gooseneck. There's no vang; instead, preventer lines are installed inside the boom at three locations. For offwind sailing the crew reaches inside the boom to retrieve a preventer and attaches it to the deck. The Lionheart spinnaker pole is the largest spinnaker pole ever produced by Hall spars. The 17m (56 ft) double-taper pole uses a track system on the mast for dip-pole jibing. Hall also supplied a carbon-fiber reaching strut. Lionheart is one of four Starling Burgess/Olin Stephens designs tank-tested in 1936 for Harold Vanderbilt's America's Cup syndicate. Ranger was ultimately chosen and successfully defended the Cup in 1937. Lionheart remained on the drawing boards known only as design "77F" until brought to life by Hoek Design Naval Architects. Measuring 43.4m LOA (142 ft), with a 26.5m waterline, Lionheart has an amazing 16.8m (55 ft) of overhang. Overall, Lionheart measures nearly 2m longer than Endeavour. * Jeckells The Sailmakers is proud to announce its sponsorship of Hilary Lister in the 2011 Fastnet Race. Along with Bainbridge International, Jeckells The Sailmakers will provide Hilary with the sails she requires for her adapted Class 40 boat to successfully complete the competitive off-shore expedition. No stranger to producing sails for high profile campaigns Bainbridge International has seen their sails used in campaigns such as America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and the Ellen MacArther Trust. James Hudson, Export Sailmaker Manager at the company, comments: "Bainbridge International, in conjunction with Jeckells The Sailmakers are very proud to be involved with Hilary's project for the Fastnet race in her Open 40. We will be working closely with Jeckells and Hilary from now and right through to the build up to the start of the race in 2011 and hope this will be the beginning of a long and successful relationship." www.londonboatshow.com * Fresh from their successful partnership with Brawn GP, winners of the 2009 Formula One Constructors' and Drivers' Championships, Henri Lloyd have now applied their knowledge and experience to develop team clothing for the team in its new guise as MERCEDES GP PETRONAS. A new Merchandise Collection will also be launched to mark the start of the season, comprising of around 40 items, including team and driver caps for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg plus technical jackets, clothing and accessories. -- www.henrilloyd.com * Slovenia-based boatbuilder Elan Marine purports to have ended the year with strong sales following the introduction of an annual business plan that was set up in November 2008. In mid-2009, the company launched the Elan 310 - a 9.3m (31ft) sailing yacht that has so far achieved "outstandingly good sales results", the company claims. Elan has now increased production capacity at its Begunje-based yard, re-employing some 20 workers. Elan Marine has been producing sailing yachts and powerboats for more than 50 years in the former Yugoslav republic. Later this month, the company will display its entire range of performance yachts at Boot Düsseldorf 2010, where the Elan 310 will be making its debut. -- IBI News, www.ibinews.com * Kaenon Polarized, the Southern California-based maker of lifestyle and performance sunglasses, has announced a distribution partnership with leading optical manufacturer Rodenstock. Effective immediately, Rodenstock will be the distribution partner of Kaenon Polarized products in the European Union, with an initial focus on Germany and Italy in 2010. Knitoptic Sarl, will continue to operate as Kaenon's exclusive distribution partner in Switzerland. The companies will officially announce and launch their new distribution partnership this week in Munich at Germany's largest optical trade show, Munich Opti-Fair, where Kaenon will debut in the Rodenstock pavilion. All of Kaenon's styles will continue to be available for prescription in Europe, featuring the unique benefits of the brand's SR-91 polarized lenses. Prescription sunglasses will be available in Kaenon's individually customized digitally-surfaced Freestyle (Freeform) technology in both Single Vision and our Freestyle Progressive lenses. -- kaenon.com Letters To The Editor - * From Rees Martin: Reading between the editorial lines, there appears to be some considerable doubt over the vitriolic statement purporting to have come from Brad Butterworth. Anybody who watched the panel interview at the World Yacht Racing Forum could not have missed the relaxed manner of the two key players, Russell Courts and Brad Butterworth. They sat together, often sharing a microphone. They agreed on nearly every point raised. It was a refreshing change to the sniping their executives seem to relish. Both Coutts and Butterworth have a great reputation for typically Kiwi pragmatism; watching early videos of the kiwi AC challenge/defence, both on and off the water shows them to be masters and gentlemen of their craft... and that squabbles, whatever the magnitude, are just demeaning. It is a pity their CEOs don't have the same grace. Featured Brokerage Favonius is now offered for sale as a turn-key program for anyone wishing to compete in the 2010 Swan Maxi circuit with a proven winner. She carries a full inventory of sails and equipment and is ready for a new crew to step on board and go sailing. Originally specified and built for a discerning owner with the assistance project manager Rob Weiland, Favonius has been maintained by a full time crew since launch. With an endless list of upgrades and improvements, Favonius has been optimized to the highest level and has many more years of competitive racing and extended cruising ahead of her. Brokerage through Nautor's Swan Italy & Monaco. Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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