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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 Stamm's Sucessful Refuelling Operation... And Retirement From The Race * At 5.11PM UTC (6.11PM French time) Cheminees Poujoulat skipper Bernard Stamm notified the race Direction he is officially retiring from the 2012-2013 Vendee Globe. * Swiss sailor Dominique Wavre set a new record this morning onboard Mirabaud when he rounded Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of the American continent for the ninth time in competition. He left Les Sables d'Olonne in France on 10 November 2012 to race his fourth Vendee Globe solo round the world race and has been at sea for 60 days. Wavre is currently lying in seventh place, 300 nautical miles behind fifth placed Jean Le Cam with 7,000 miles to go to the finish. Dominique Wavre first rounded Cape Horn in 1981 during the Whitbread round the world race and he went on to race the next three events. He rounded the Horn again in 2000 and 2004 during the Vendee Globe, and then in 2007 and 2010 during the Barcelona World Race. -- Bernard Schopfer * Britain's Mike Golding OBE, on board Gamesa, celebrates becoming the first person in the world to race three times round Cape Horn in both directions - east to west and west to east. This rounding marks the British skipper's remarkable achievement of racing around the tip of South America for the sixth time. Golding's passage between the Pacific and the Atlantic today is his third time solo in a Vendee Globe, rounding west to east in 2001, 2005 and now 2013. And this time - which will probably be his last solo racing passage - the relief has been considerable. After taking something of a beating in the east Pacific Ocean over recent days, with stormy gusts to 45 knots and very big and confused seas, Golding has had to use all his experience to manage his IMOCA Open 60 Gamesa in the boat-breaking conditions. The proliferation of ice, which has drifted north on to the race track, made this his most stressful rounding yet. "I think there has probably been ice before, but we just did not know about it and went around blissfully unaware in years gone by. But now with the ice-tracking technology available to the race, we are all the more aware and it is much more stressful," Golding explained. Golding first rounded 20 years ago during the 1992-1993 British Steel Challenge. He rounded again when he set a new record in his solo east to west circumnavigation in 1993-1994 backed by Group 4. He returned again in 1996-1997 en route to winning the BT Global Challenge. Top Ten Rankings as of Thursday 10 January 2013, 05h00 (FR) 1. MACIF, Francois Gabart, 5009.1 nm to finish 52 Super Series At Quantum Key West Race Week The fleet in Key West will be composed of three American 52's and three European 52's. Owner Doug DeVos will be back on the helm of Quantum Racing with Ed Baird as skipper. Quantum Racing dominated the 52 Class at the Quantum Key West 2012 regatta last year winning six out of the ten races sailed and never finishing worse than second. There is a little change to the set up or the crew of the championship-winning Azzurra which races in the colours of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, 30 years after the first Azzurra team went to Newport to represent the YCCS at the America's Cup. Skipper-helm Guillermo Parada (ARG) will steer the boat in Key West with Vasco Vascotto on tactics. But the winning partnership between Vascotto and Francesco Bruni is unlikely to continue for the whole 2013 season as Bruni has ongoing America's Cup commitments. Volvo Ocean Race winning navigator Jules Salter (GBR) joins Class President Niklas Zennstrom's RAN crew for Key West. Tony Langley, the British owner-driver of Gladiator, is looking to improve the overall consistency through the season. After two podium finishes in 2012, it is an elusive regatta win which is one of the targets for the Gladiator team. They have a new hollow fin on their keel, allowing a little more draft and righting moment. Chris Larsen (USA) continues his sterling work as tactician. Ross Halcrow (NZL) joins the programme as trimmer and Anthony Nossiter (AUS) will serve as a grinder. Newcomers to the 52 Super Series, but not to Quantum Key West Race Week are the Botin Partners IRC-optimised Interlodge of Austin and Gwen Fragomen and the 2011 Botin Partners TP52 Rio of Manouch Moshayedi. Racing at Quantum Key West regatta for the 52 Super Series runs Monday to Friday with an itinerary of windward-leeward races scheduled. There is a trophy awarded to the overall winner of the US 52 Super Series which combines scores from Quantum Key West regatta and the 52 World Championships (Miami 5-9 March). Maserati Approaching The Equator The spirits on board are high, Maserati has already sailed 2750 miles (of the 13,225 separating New York from San Francisco) at an average speed of 14.5 knots. On board with Soldini Italians Guido Broggi, Corrado Rossignoli and Michele Sighel, French Sebastien Audigane, German Boris Herrmann, American Ryan Breymaier, Chinese Jianghe Teng said Tiger and Spaniard Carlos Hernandez. The crew is now really tight-knit: four people on deck at a time, shifts of four hours each, but staggered so that every two hours two new crew members are on watch. "The passage through the equator is complicated," Soldini explains. "Windless zones alternate with unpredictable storms. We hope to get by quickly so that we can continue south as soon as possible. The next gate will be Cape Horn. We will try to get there as fast as we can but it depends on what happens with the wind along the Brazilian coast. If we are lucky, the anticyclone of St. Helena will give us good close-hauled winds. After Rio de Janeiro small depressions and cold fronts will come up from the land, we will see once there how to face that. I think we will have to pass through the Isla de los Estados channel to reduce the upwind miles of the Cape Horn passage, then we will do our best to stay close to the Argentina coast." Maserati set sail on December 31st, 2012 from New York at 17:22 (Italian time) aiming to break the New York-San Francisco record, along the historic Golden Route (57 days 3 hours and 2 minutes is the time set by Yves Parlier aboard Aquitaine Innovations). Tracking and updates at www.maserati.soldini.it Seahorse February 2013 Update World news Seahorse build table - Maximum value A subscription to Seahorse makes a great gift and it's easy to give. You get a huge discount off of the regular subscription price for delivery anywhere in the world and we provide you with a gift card. Seahorse Discount Voucher Saving £16 / €25 / 24USD on the regular subscription price of Seahorse magazine. Claim your saving here: ORACLE Team USA Wing Arrives In San Francisco "The guys have done a fantastic job to get the wing built, and it will go together very quickly. You'll see it out on the water in early February," said ORACLE Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill. "We're really excited to get out there again, and from a sailing point of view, sort of reward those who put all of the work in to get the boat ready again." The wing was built at Core Builders Composites in Warkworth, New Zealand, and loaded onto a Hamburg Süd ship in Auckland that departed on December 23. The ship arrived to Ports America in Oakland Tuesday morning, January 8, where the wing was loaded onto a truck. With height and weight restrictions on the Bay Bridge, the truck traveled around the South Bay and back north to San Francisco. The timeline on the completion of the new wing was pushed up as a result of a capsize in October. The wing will be assembled and fitted into the repaired boat. Remaining repair work includes installing systems and painting, which will involve a 24-hour work schedule. Prince Philip Cup Dragon Australasian Championship
Despite the heat, races four and five were successfully sailed with matching hot competition. After five races, Akula (Matt Whitnall) has had four wins to lead the championship on 0 points after one discard, but he has had to sail exceptionally well to hold that position in a highly competitive fleet of Dragons from New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. Sidewinder (Carl Ryves) is second overall while third overall is octogenarian international yachtsman Gordon Ingate, helming Whimsical. This year's Prince Philip Cup includes a number of wellknown yachting personalities in addition to the veteran Gordon Ingate, whose long career has included representing Australia at the Admira's Cup, America's Cup and Olympic Games. Marcus Blackmore is a successive TP 52 owner who has recently joined the Dragon Fleet. Sailing with Marcus is current world champion crew and CEO of Dragon boat builder Petticrow, Tim Tavinor, a former English Olympian in the Finn class. Sailing with Gordon Ingate is Australian Olympian David Giles while sailing with Geoff Totterill from WA is Australia II legend John Longley. Of course, Sidewinder's regular crew, Dick Sargeant, is an Olympic gold medal winner in 5.5's and two-time America's Cup crew. Carl Ryves and Dick Sargeant also represented Australia at the Mexico City Olympics, sailing a Flying Dutchman also named Sidewinder. -- Peter Campbell GBR Regional Cruiser/Racer Seminars The feedback received was extremely useful in helping the Rating Office understand owners and sailors concerns and priorities and some of the issues contributing to declining numbers of both certificate holders and also turnouts in racing events. The introduction of Limited Validity TCCs is part of our response to these findings. We also received a variety of comments about IRC itself, and about related issues including the type of courses being set by race officers and club/PY racing conducted in parallel. This was all discussed at the GBR IRC Owners' Association meeting in September and as a result the RORC Rating Office is organising a series of regional seminars to allow us to meet owners and discuss these issues face to face. Subject matter will include (but not be limited to!): Improving club racing turnouts. Seminars are booked between January and March in Poole, Blackwater (East Coast), Inverkip (Scotland), Hamble (Central South coast), Cardiff (South Wales) and the Channel Islands (date to be set). For dates, venues and times: Sea Shepherd Founder Accused of Scuppering Ady Gil The 62-year-old is being sued by the vessel's owner and namesake, Ady Gil who loaned the boat to the crew and cast of Whale Wars. A lawsuit was filed by Mr Gil on Monday at an LA court seeking $5million in damages from Mr Watson, who is a co-founder of Greenpeace and head of the Sea Shepherd Society. Mr Gil, a Los Angeles-based millionaire businessman, contends that the boat only had damage to the nose after it was rammed by Japanese fisherman in 2010 and could have been repaired. Gil donated $1 million to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which named the black trimaran - a three hulled craft - after him. Watson resigned from his role as head of the Sea Shepherd society this week. From Sail-World.com: Short Tacks For four days we will be practicing and learning on the water and in the class room, lead by professional sailor Christian Scherrer and Stephan Eder. In addition to the on-the-water training, the video analysis, and the theoretical part of the clinic, the social and culinary aspects will also be kept in mind. For more information go to bluboats.com ------------------------------------------ When is power rated as 'stored power'? With reference to IRC Rule 15 Manual Power, we sometimes get queries from owners who are not sure whether their system constitutes 'stored power' or not, for instance when the backstay tension can be pumped up by hand. As a simple rule of thumb: If you use a manual pump to produce the power, it is NOT stored power. If you press a button to produce the power, it IS stored power and must be declared. Remember that IRC distinguishes between stored power for the backstay only or for other running rigging such as sail sheeting. Stored power used only for mainsail halyards, or the reefing or furling of sails is excluded and need not be declared. Other halyards that use stored power must be declared as 'running rigging' ------------------------------------------ Plans are moving ahead for the Jolly Harbour Valentine's Regatta 2013 and the organisers can now confirm that the addition of a Rum Festival as part of the event will ensure as much fun will be had off the water as on it. Back out on the water the racing options are as varied as their party counterparts. Competitive keelboats can race in CSA classes; less serious racers, cruisers and boats that prefer individual starts can opt for pursuit races; classics will compete in a classic class; and a separate class of Laser Picos will compete alongside other dinghies off Jolly Harbour's south beach. The Notice of Race is now available on the website and online entries are open. A 20% discount on entry fees is being offered to all Antigua Yacht Club and Jolly Harbour Yacht Club members who enter and pay by January 14, 2013 ------------------------------------------ Middle Harbour Yacht Club will host the 8th edition of its popular Sydney Harbour Regatta in March and the Notice of Race is now available online at: http://www.shr.mhyc.com.au where prospective competitors can also now enter electronically. To be held on Saturday and Sunday 9-10 March, the regatta, which brings major racing to a close for the year in NSW, attracts entries from across NSW and from interstate, bringing together club racers, state, national and world champions, along with Olympians. This year, the regatta has attracted national and state championships. The Sydney 38 and Flying Tiger classes will all hold their national championships, while the Australian Sports Boat and Cavalier 28 classes will sail for their NSW Championship titles. Apart from those above, other One-Design classes taking part this year are: Melges 24, Melges 32, J24, Adams 10, Dragon, Etchells, Yngling, Super 30 and Young 88 boats. Featured Brokerage Lars Bergstrom and Sven Olof Ridder built for the Around Alone 1998/1999. Refitted in 2003 Brokerage through Windward Islands: www.yachtworld.com/windwardislands/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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