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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 2013 BVI Spring Regatta - Winners Decided With wet sails, slippery decks and the big easterly breeze blowing squalls in off the Atlantic, the last day of racing at the BVI Spring Regatta got under way. However, conditions improved during the day with the squalls diminishing to allow the competitors to dry out in the fresh 15-20 knots of warm breeze and glimpse of sunshine through the broken cloud. In Spinnaker Racing 1, Sergio Sagramoso's Puerto Rican J/122, Lazy Dog finished the regatta with a bullet and a third place to win the class. Kevin Rowlette's BVI Olsen 30 Rushin Rowlette has had a tremendous battle with St. Croix Yacht Club's J/100 Bad Girl, skippered by Robert Armstrong. The duel was settled today with Rushin Rowlette taking third in Spinnaker 1&2 by a single point. BVI Melges 32, INTAC skippered by Mark Plaxton had an excellent end to the regatta in Spinnaker Racing 3, winning the class by a sound margin. Calling tactics on INTAC was Canadian Olympic and Volvo Ocean Racer, Richard Clarke. In Performance Cruiser 1, Hamnett Hill's Canadian Marten 49, Defiance scored two more wins today to win the class by a big margin. In performance Cruiser 2, Harold Keating's J/95, Shamrock VII had a perfect score for the second day running to win the class by a big margin. Chuck Pessler's Team Island Water World Racing from St. Thomas and Sint Maarten continued to dominate in the IC 24 Class ending the regatta with a perfect string of bullets. Complete results for all classes: Why The World Champ Went Winter Racing
Perhaps the Series should have carried on a while longer, although six big winter handicap events from November through to February seemed plenty at the time. Winners of the 2012/13 championship were Tom Gillard and Simon Potts in their Fireball. "Most of the events were windy, which suits the Fireball," said Gillard, the reigning World Champion who with 'Pottsy' received their prizes from Glen Wallis of insurance company GJW Direct at the RYA Dinghy Show in London. "I'd not done a lot of sailing with Pottsy and this Series is the best racing you could do in the winter. It's been great practice for us and set us up well for the season." Pottsy, who used to crew for another former Fireball World Champion, the late Richard Estaugh, has yet to win the Worlds in his own right. But he's looking forward to helping Gillard defend his title as they look towards the 2013 Worlds in Slovenia. Gillard enjoyed racing against a variety of classes. "It brings the whole of UK dinghy sailing together, and a lot of really high quality sailors," he said. "One of the best moments was at the Grafham Grand Prix in the strong wind when we found we were as fast as the 505s upwind." Of course the Great Lakes handicap experts might have something to say about that. Led by Great Lakes chairman, Andrew Craig from Queen Mary Sailing Club, representatives from the six participating clubs met at Alexandra Palace to work through the numbers, analysing the trends from the data and making decisions on which classes needed adjusting upwards or downwards. Flying the flag for the singlehanders were Pete Nelson aboard his 3rd-placed RS600 and Craig Williamson sailing his standard Laser to 4th overall. Top-placed woman was Brenda Hoult in her Laser 4.7. According to Simon Lovesey of SailRacer who ran the Series website and online entry and payment processing: "We had record entries, up 26% from the previous season and total entries of 783 boats. There were almost 100 different classes competing in the Series, with the biggest turnouts from the Laser Radial, Fireball and Merlin Rocket. With more than 16,800 unique visitors to the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series website, it shows just how much interest there is in winter handicap racing." Prizewinners, Class, Prizes 1. Tom Gillard and Simon Potts, Fireball (Gul/ Holt/ Sailjuice) Top Youth: Ben Hazeldine and Rhos Hawes, 420 (Holt/ Sailjuice) Find out more about the Series here: www.SailJuiceSeries.com Hamble Yacht Services Offering secure 12 month storage ashore, we never underestimate the importance of dry sailing for both racing and powerboats, and our facilities ensure that salt erosion is greatly reduced, which results in much lower maintenance costs. Obviously, both these factors also considerably improve resale values. At HYS, we can offer a yard space contract for your yacht or powerboat to have it lifted or launched to suit you and your team's specified requirements. Come and talk to us. Our prime location boasts a local pool of experts who have fast become an integral part of the international and local racing circuit and our services extend to cater for all your racing and boating needs. Call us on 02380 454 111 or visit www.hambleyachtservices.co.uk American Sailing's Great Survivor Also present was his son Richard B Nye, business colleague and longtime shipmate in a hugely successful shared offshore racing career on both sides of the Atlantic, and across it. The third man present [was] yacht designer Jim McCurdy (1922-1994). Having served his time with the great Philip Rhodes, rising to head the Rhodes office's sailboat division, he had now set up his own partnership with his former boss's son Body Rhodes, and a new 48ft offshore racer for Dick and Richard Nye was one of McCurdy & Rhodes' first commissions. McCurdy worked harmoniously with the Nyes. In 1955 in the Rhodes office, he had overseen the creation of their previous boat, the 54ft yawl Carina II, which had won both the 1955 and the 1957 Fastnets overall, and her class in the Bermuda Race too, plus a couple of Transatlantics. Carina II had been and still was a great boat, but the CCA rule had moved on. Being a beamy centreboard yawl had been a rating disadvantage under the RORC Rule, which made Carina II's Fastnet double all the more remarkable. But by 1968 it no longer conferred any advantage under the American rule either, something which was expected to be emphasised with the new International Offshore Rule. It was hoped this ground-breaking global measurement rule would be unveiled by 1970. However, the Nyes - once they'd decided to move - were men in a hurry, and in August 1968 with Jim McCurdy they finalized a design which they reckoned would be a useful template for those framing the IOR. It was that and more. The boat which emerged from their deliberations became the fourth member of the quartet, a personality in her own right. And with the death of Richard B Nye on March 14th at the age of 81, only Carina is left - American sailing's great survivor. She is still winning major offshore races in her fifth decade, still giving enormous pleasure to all who sail on her, and comfortably belying her age of 44 with timeless good looks. Carina found an excellent new home with Rives Potts, whose CV included crewing for Dennis Conner in 12 Metres, and very varied boatyard work. Since then in Potts ownership, the only significant change has been a new mast in carbon. It has been noted that it lessens pitching. But other than that, this is still the same Carina, immaculately and lovingly maintained. She won't be in the Fastnet this year, but it's likely she'll be back in 2015. Rives Potts is a flag officer of the New York YC, which will sending a fleet across for the Bicentennial of the Royal Yacht Squadron. And in that fleet, the boat for true sailors will be this modest 46-year-old black sloop, American sailing's great survivor, a global superstar. Excerpts from WM Nixon's article in Afloat: afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/item/21289-american-sailings-great-survivor The Place To Be For Rio Hopefuls
For Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson (RSA), Palma de Mallorca is the obvious place to be after training for the last six months inSouth Africa. Like them, another 70 teams from other continents have made the trip to Europe to follow the Sailing World Cup circuit. Jim and Hudson along with 470 team partners Ricky and Brennan Robinson are the only two teams from Africa. However over 50 sailors have come from South America and mostly from Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. North America and the Asia Pacific region are also well represented with a strong contingent from Australia andNew Zealand. A World #1 and #2 battle is in waiting at the top of the fleet as Matias Schmid and Florian Reichstaedter (AUT) lead the world's top team, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) by three points after four races. In the Women's 470 fleet Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre (GBR) proved their opening day perfect score was no fluke with further consistent race results that include two seconds. The Nacra 17 and 49erFX sailors took to the water after a breezy opening day that forced their races to be postponed. Mandy Mulder and Thijs Visser (NED) are the early pacesetters on three points that includes a race win and a third, but a discarded DNC in Race 3 will mean they'll have to be at their best to avoid finishes further down the fleet. Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT) and Renee Groeneveld and Karel Begemann (NED) complete the top three at this early stage. Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN) used their five years of skiff sailing experience to full effect as the 49erFX fleet were kept busy throughout the day with four races. The Danish girls revelled in the wind and took three race wins to lead World #2 crew Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) by nine points. Racing resumes on Wednesday at 11:00 local time. Full results of all classes at www.trofeoprincesasofia-mapfre.org * American Brad Funk in the 49er class: I have to start by saying, "WOW!" This boat is a full-on action-packed speed machine. We sailed 4 races today in sunny Palma, in 14-18 knots and finished on a super high note in the last 2 races, finishing in the top ten in both. I made one mistake in the gybe of the first race and paid for it dearly. We flipped and by the time we got the boat up I made the executive decision to stop and conserve energy considering we still had 3 more races. The next race we were sitting in 12th, heading down to the finish when on the gybe I dropped the mainsheet. Not the end of the world until I reached for mainsheet myself and learned - can't do that EVER, never again. In the drink we went. Getting the boat upright again taxed the crew (Eric and me) so much; haven't trained for this specifically. We are learning simple lessons that make or break our 49er race. We all returned to shore while other fleets raced on the course. We fixed a few things and headed out for round two. Next race we started on port again and sent it out to more pressure... We stayed high to surf a 7 foot wave and then dove down so Eric could hoist the kite. We rolled the British guys who had sailed in the London games and they looked at us like 'what the f***' but then extended ahead in 2nd to gybe in front... More in Brad's blog at www.FunkSailing.com You'll Forget What You're Wearing ase softshell jackets feature: - FORMOTION™ 3D engineered pattern for enhanced fit and performance www.adidassailing.com/en/products.html Shipwrecks Produce Marine Zones In Scotland Historic Scotland's marine archaeologists visited the site last summer to and concluded that the wreck is an historic asset of national importance meriting statutory protection. This set in train a further six proposals for Historic MPAs around Scotland's coast. These sites are currently safeguarded by the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and will have their protection transferred to the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 - the first time the MPA powers of this Act have been used. It is proposed that two further tranches of Historic MPAs will be announced over the coming two years. List of sites in Yachting Monthly: Sunken Warships In Stockholm Harbor Discovered The 17th-century vessels were found by marine archaeologist Jim Hansson while he was walking around Kastellholmen island with his girlfriend. According to his account in The Local, Hansson knew he had spotted a ship because of the pattern of wooden stumps protruding from the water's surface. "If it had only been one or two beams sticking up, I may not have noticed it," he told The Local. "But I saw immediately that it was a shipwreck. You could clearly see the bow and the stern." Rumors of a hidden ship have circulated for years, but the revelation of two such vessels came as a surprise to local residents, CNN iReport notes. Hansson, who works for Stockholm's Maritime Museum, identified the boats on his personal blog, writing that he believes one to be the Grå Ulven, or "Gray Wolf," which sunk in 1670, while the other may be the Den Stora Draken, or "The Big Dragon." Sweden captured Grå Ulven from Denmark in a 1659 battle near Ebeltoft Cove, one of many maritime confrontations in a period of ongoing war between the two countries. Measuring 30 meters long, Grå Ulven has been compared to another, more famous 17-century warship of similar size. Vasa was raised from Stockholm's harbor in 1961 and has become one of Sweden's top tourist attractions as the centerpiece of its own museum. Ficker Cup: An Upbeat Overture To The Congressional Two of the eight---Taylor Canfield, 24, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Jordan Reece, 22, of Australia---are already invited to the Congressional. Canfield, director of the Chicago Match Race Center, boosted his world ranking from 27th to 8th last year by winning the Alpari World Tour's Argo Gold Cup in Bermuda and Monsoon Cup in Malaysia after placing a strong third in the Congressional. Reece, ranked 16th, earned his invitation largely by placing second in the Chicago Match Cup last summer behind Great Britain's Ian Williams, the Congressional's double defending champion. The Ficker, running Friday through Sunday, is rated a Grade 2 event by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) based on the records of the participants. The Congressional, scheduled April 9-13, has long been a Grade 1 event. The Ficker skippers (in order of current world ranking): Taylor Canfield, St. Thomas YC, US Virgin Islands, No. 8 The Ficker Cup is named for Bill Ficker, who was skipper of the 12-Meter Intrepid that successfully defended the America's Cup against Australia's Gretel II in 1970. The noted Newport Beach architect also won the Congressional Cup in 1974 and the Star class world championship in 1958. He will present the trophy to the winners. -- Rich Roberts Featured Brokerage ROWDY's authenticity is impressive and her condition hard to fault. While under her current owner this yacht has indeed dominated her class at classic regattas. It is well worth noting however that her sister RUGOSA in 2001cruised 26,000 miles to attend the Americas Cup Jubilee. The Wizard of Bristol thus delivered exactly what the Club had wanted, moreover demonstrating the total versatility of her design - one of very few as capable from any era. Brokerage through Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/sandemanyachtcompany/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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