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Wessex Exempt Winners of 64th Wilson Trophy
The 2013 British Open Team Racing Championship for the Wilson Trophy was won by Wessex Exempt today (5 May) in a thrilling best of five final sailed on West Kirby's marine lake. The six sailors overcame stiff competition from 34 teams from as far afield as America, Ireland and across the UK, eventually meeting Grafham Gorillas in the tense final round of the three-day event.

Home-team favourites and current World Team Racing Champions, West Kirby Hawks, qualified at the top of the Swiss League, subsequently beating Royal Thames Yacht Club 2-0 in the quarters. But a shock 2-1 defeat in the semi-finals saw the home team favourites knocked out of the event by Grafham Gorillas. After a solid performance in this morning's races, Grafham Gorillas found their form when it mattered, storming their way into the final having already beaten RF Hoosiers - over-night leaders who had been hotly tipped for the Trophy final -in the quarter final.

American team, Rhode Island Pistols, also sailed a determined series, making it to the semi-final only to find their boat handling skills coming under pressure in a 2-0 defeat by eventual winners, Wessex Exempt, who had previously dispensed with Spinnaker Auspicious in their 2-1 quarter-final match.

So it was Grafham Gorillas who faced Wessex Exempt in the best-of-five final.

it came down to the final fifth race decider to determine who would be the new Wilson Trophy Champions. With a Grafham boat over the line, Wessex quickly took control, rounding the first mark in a solid 1,2 position which they never relinquished.

Winners of the Under 21 Trophy was Bristol University, who finished a credible 11thplace overall. The Wilson Plate awarded to the first team not to make the quarter-final cut, West Kirby Sailing Club.

See full results and a complete line up of teams at www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy

The Wave Muscat Wins In Qingdao
Photo by Mark Lloyd, www.lloydimages.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Qingdao saved its best for last on the final day of Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series. The nine races came in thick and fast in the best conditions the fleet have sailed in all week in the heart of Fushan Bay which has once again demonstrated how it became such a successful Olympic sailing venue. Heading into the final classic Extreme Sailing Series style deciding double-points race, the battle for victory was between Alinghi and The Wave, Muscat tracking each other around the course and mirroring each other's moves. The Swiss America's Cup winners used their experience to try and outwit Leigh McMillan's team and although they won the final double pointer, it wasn't enough to win the Act.

Morgan Larson, who has taken the tiller from the team's skipper Ernesto Bertarelli at this Act, was visibly frustrated to lose out in the final second. The Swiss team still leads the Series after posting third and first places in Acts 1 and 2 respectively.

Next the Extreme 40 global roadshows heads to Istanbul, 20-23 June for Act 4 as the Series approaches its halfway stage.

Qingdao standings after Day 4, 26 races

1. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Musab Al Hadi, Will Howden, 202 points
2. Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Stuart Pollard, Pierre Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 200
3. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Kostner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Rossberg, Nicolai Sehested, 191
4. GAC Pindar (NZL) Will Tiller, Shaun Mason, Stewart Dodson, Harry Thurston, Matt Steven, 181
5. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Simon Cook, Graeme Spence, 168
6. Team Korea (KOR) Peter Burling, Matt Vincent, Mark Bulkeley, Tom Johnson, Sungwok Kim, 163
7. Realteam (SUI) Jerome Clerc, Bryan Mettraux, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Cedric Schmidt, Thiery Wassem, 154
8. China Team (CHN) Mitch Booth, Wen Zijin, Yingkit Cheng, Liu Xue, Zhang Yiran, 145

www.extremesailingseries.com

Aqua Snatch Victory at the RC44 Trapani Cup
Photo by Nico Martinez, www.martinezstudio.es. Click on image for photo gallery.

The RC44 Trapani Cup really did go down to the wire, the eventual winner not decided until the final metres of the final race of the event. Team Aqua had laid the gauntlet down to Team CEEREF winning the first two races of the day. Going into the final decider Aqua led by just one-point, CEEREF needed to put a boat between them and Aqua to win the regatta. CEEREF thought they had done enough down the final run with Katusha between the pair, but in the final 100 metres the long term partnership of Chris Bake and Cameron Appleton snatched victory.

Perfect sailing conditions greeted the 13 strong RC44 fleet as racing got underway an hour early. 15 knots and a big swell creating some great surfing conditions.

In the last 100 metres to the finish line, Aqua came storming in from the right to cross in front of Katusha for third place. With Peninsula Petroleum getting the gun, CEEREF in second, Team Aqua had snatched victory from the jaws of defeated, Team Aqua were crowned champions, on count back of most race wins, and handed the Vito Corte designed RC44 Trapani Cup trophy.

With two events completed in the 2013 RC44 Championship Tour, Team Aqua takes over the overall lead from Katusha, with Artemis Racing third and Team CEEREF fourth. The Tour now moves to Sweden for the RC44 Sweden Cup in Marstrand from 25 - 29 June 2013.

Fleet Race Ranking (After twelve races)

1. Team Aqua, Chris Bake (GBR) / Cameron Appleton (NZL), 45 points
2. Team CEEREF, Igor Lah (SLO) / Michele Ivaldi (ITA), 45
3. Katusha, Gennadi Timchenko (RUS) / Andy Horton (USA), 62
4. Artemis Racing, Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE) / Paul Cayard (USA), 64
5. Team Nika, Vladimir Prosikhin (RUS) / Tomislav Basic (CRO), 78
6. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, Valentin Zavadnikov (RUS) / Ed Baird (USA), 83
7. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team, John Bassadone (GBR) / Vasco Vascotto (ITA), 88
8. Team Italia, Massimo Barranco (ITA) / Flavio Flavini (ITA), 90
9. Aleph Racing, Hugues Lepic (FRA) / Mathieu Richard (FRA). 92
10. Ironbound, David Murphy (USA) / Paul Goodison (GBR), 107
11. RUS7 Sail Racing Team, Kirill Podolsky (RUS) / Serguei Chevtsov (RUS), 111
12. Aegir Racing, Brian Benjamin (GBR) /Ian Williams (GBR). 112
13. MAG Racing, Krzysztof Krempec (POL) / Piotr Przybylski (POL), 118

www.rc44.com

Seahorse June 2013
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
Terry Hutchinson applauds the quality of the chess in Long Beach, Peter Holmberg is relieved that the J Class (and others) all missed each other, Campbell Field speaks in defence of 'tracker transparency' and Dobbs Davis goes onboard one of the all-time Whitbread greats

World news
Erwan Tabarly (finally) makes the top step, Figaro sail travails, a vintage (chilly) Spi Ouest, the Moose goes one-design racing, Sean Langman takes Carl Ryves for a burnout and Dobbs Davis says farewell to an old friend and a genuine America's Cup legend. Blue Robinson, Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins

Rod Davis
We shouldn't speculate on the next America's Cup class... Oh, why not?

Editorial
Andrew Hurst

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Gaastra Palmavela
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Palma de Mallorca, Spain: The Maxi yachts started after midday to race a W/L course with a Northeasterly wind of 12 knots of wind, although the Race Committee was forced to cancel the race due to a wind shift for the Wally and Maxi Classes. The Mini Maxis were lucky though to finish after the Race Committee decided to shorten the course.

Bellamente of Haup Fauth won this race, and now clearly leads the Mini Maxi class, followed by Jethou of Peter Ogden and Shockwave of George Sakellaris.  This is the only race that has been able to be sailed as the rest of the classes, after four hours of shifty and soft windy conditions, have not been able to give any further starts.

The Soto 40 did not complete any race at the end due to the complicated wind conditions in their area.  

In the handicap rating system the wind decreased and the crew had to prove their patience and navigation skills. The ORC 1 and 2 sailed a coastal race of 13.2 miles taking them to Cap Enderrocat.

Antílope of Willem Wester wins in ORC 1, followed by Elen Nova of Christian Plump and the GC Dr. Luís Senís, skippered by Alex Rodger.

Histolab of Jose Juan Torres finished first in the ORC 2, followed by the Russian boat, Platinum Bank and Comet@ of Lluis Planchar, from the Club nautico of Arenys de Mar.

The ORC 3 division is lead by Yabadaba, skippered by Bernat Ripoll, followed by the representative of Alicante, Pulpo Negro of Pedro Gil, and Falbala of Tolo Catala, in third place.

Cartujano of Joan Salva leads in the ORC 4 Division, Marigan of Tim Niesenhoff clearly leads in the Vintage class after sailing a coastal race shortened five miles, due to the lack of wind.

The Norwegian boat, Assis, driven by Ole Birger, won in the IRC category, followed by Long Echo of Barry Sampsom and in third place the Dutch, La Belle of F.V. Van Belle.

Gaastra PalmaVela will hold its third competition day tomorrow with the incorporation of the Lateen Rigged and Disabled classes.

Full results: www.palmavela.com/resultados2013/resultados2013_uk.php

www.palmavela.com/principal/index_uk.php

Tour De Belle-Ile
The idyllic Brittany setting of La Trinite-sur-Mer was the base for the sixth edition of the Tour de Belle-Ile race in the Bay of Quiberon, Saturday, 4th May. Sunshine and pleasant spring temperatures suggested that this was going to be an excellent event; the issue proved to be the wind. While a thermal breeze was forecast, a frontal sequence, with cirrus and alto-cumulus cloud led to a battle which lasted for most of the day, depriving contestants of the fuel for their sails, namely wind.

The start was something of an anti-climax, after all the waiting, at the monohull end of the line, where there was some urgent motoring to get back behind the line before the start in a few cases.

The monohulls included Bruno Trouble at the helm of France, the beautiful 12 metre that was the first French entry in the America's Cup, based out of La Trinite-sur-mer, by Baron Biche, in 1970. At the other end of the size scale, the French Youth Team, for the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, entered on Energy Incidences, an Open 7.50, that they had also sailed in Spi Ouest. This was their first Tour de Belle-Ile race.

With the light winds it appeared that this would be a small boat race. A port and starboard, with the leading, British-registered, Open 7.50, ducking Sodebo ("one hull and we would have tried to cross, but three made it too daunting a prospect", Cool Runnings' Danish owner, who lives in London, but used to be based in La Trinite, admitted), was evidence of the way in which the small, light, monohull sport boats had kept up with the maxi multihulls in the zephyrs.

The French Youth Team, for the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, Next World Energy, skippered by Charles Hainneville, also took part in their first Tour de Belle-Ile, in the Open 7.50 "Energy Incidences". They were 28th to finish the race, and third in class in the Open 7.50.

However, it was the TP52 Paprec Recyclage which took overall race honours. This French crew is not a professional team, but the boat is the 2007 MedCup-winning Artemis (ex-Tornqvist), and the sponsor covers the costs of running the boat, which will be competing further locally in Brittany before doing most of the TP52 Super Series in the Mediterranean this year. Other TPs, watch out!

Almost all the entrants finished the shortened race; only about 40 of the 476 competing decided to abandon. -- Anne Hinton, her full article in SailRaceWin:

sailracewin.blogspot.fr

Simplified IRC Rules
When discussing the RYA's Handy Guide to the Racing Rules recently, it prompted the question of whether we could also offer a simplified version of to the IRC Rules, as the full  text can appear long and complex to the untrained eye!  While there is no substitute for being familiar with all the rules, while you are examining them the simplified version on our website might be helpful.

You can find them here: www.rorcrating.com, available either on screen or as a PDF.

The RYA's Handy Guide to the Racing Rules is either available from their website  www.rya.org.uk/shop/ or from Amazon, chandlers and other sellers.

Folkboat Solent Nordic Fleet - May 2013 Review
Portmore Insurance Spring Series 2013
Hosted by the Royal Lymington Y.C. and run over the four Sundays in April the Spring Series consisted of eight races with two discards. The cold weather during the first half of the series kept numbers down to a handful but the racing was still extremely close. When all the results were in and the discards applied the overall series winners were 'Tak', 'Flutterby' & 'Padfoot'.

Club Racing:
Royal Lymington - Thursday Series.
Race 1 was abandoned due to thick fog. The 2nd race in the series saw 'Tak' finish just ahead of 'Crackerjack' with Chris Baldwick's 'Bonnie' less than a minute behind in 3rd.

Royal Solent - Sunday Series
The first race in the series saw Jeremy Cecil-Wright helming 'Ajax' build up a two minute lead over 'Mimi' (Chris Beane) with Bernard Turner's 'Woodpecker II', new metal mast and all, in 3rd.

The season now continues at club level on both sides of the Solent for the rest of May and looking forwards the Nordic Nationals will be held at the beginning of June under the burgee of the Royal Lymington Y.C.

More details available from the new Folkboat Assn website, www.folkboats.com

Australian Scarlet Runner To Challenge For Cape 2 Rio Line-Honours
The 2014 Cape 2 Rio yacht race sees Australian entry, Scarlet Runner confirm its entry into the race.

The 16 meter long Reichel-Pugh designed Racing Yacht has an impressive racing record dating back to its launch in July 2009.

This includes first in IRC Division 1 at the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, line honours and a new race record in the ORCV's Cock of the Bay race and wins in the Audi Docklands Invitational and the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race in February 2010, 2011 and 2012, setting a new race record of 12 hours for the 160nm race.

Her success continued with line honours and IRC wins in the Melbourne to King Island race in 2011 and 2013. In fact she has only been unplaced in one ocean race and that was the 2011 Sydney to Hobart race where she was placed 8th on IRC.

Entries into the race have come from local clubs and a host of international countries that include the UK, Germany, Brazil, Angola and Seychelles.

Scarlett runner has just completed the season at the Sandringham Yacht Club, its home club. It will undergo general maintenance, a training programme and 2 yacht races before it is packed into cruising mode and set off north towards the tropics for the long delivery to Cape Town via the Indian Ocean.

cape2rio2014.com

Featured Brokerage
2001 Beneteau First 40.7. EUR 74,950. Located in Southampton, UK.

This Beneteau First 40.7 is a highly proven Racing Cruiser with an impressive race pedigree. She has had a very successful racing career both in the Carribbean & the UK & has been race equipped to a very high level including an extensive racing sail wardrobe, comprehensive electronics & full safety equipment. Built in 2001, she has been kept in good order by her current owner who has had her professionally maintained & constantly updated. In addition to her racing ability, she has a surprisingly light & spacious interior with eight berths in 3 cabins & saloon, separate heads & even central heating as well as a separate set of cruising sails.

Brokerage through Aspire Boat Sales Ltd.: www.yachtworld.com/aspireboatsales/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. -- William Ward

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