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

France Does The Double at 470 Europeans
Double gold medals for France in the 470 Men and Women at the 470 European Championships, with teams from Austria, Croatia and Great Britain joining them on the podium.

It was a dog eat dog day to decide the 470 European Championship titles. Going into the day, in the 470 Women fleet the teams guaranteed of medals were determined, but not which team would secure the gold or silver. Over in the 470 Men event, the only team assured of a medal were Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion (FRA), who had either the gold or silver in their hands dependent on the Medal Race outcome.

It was a tough race day, with a postponement ashore, followed by a postponement on the water for the 470 Women fleet, which knocked back the start time for the 470 Men.

Up first onto the Medal Race track, which was located just off the harbour wall with, were the 470 Women. When racing got underway, the breeze was around 6-7 knots and fairly shift across the course.

The European Championship gold medal was all about Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron of France and Lara Vadlau/Jola Ogar from Austria.

The Austrian pair fought back and managed to move up one place to 7th but were left 10 points adrift of the French who safely sailed through to claim gold after crossing the line in third.

470 Women Top Three - 470 European Championships
1. Camille Lecointre/Mathilde Geron, FRA, 30 points
2. Lara Vadlau/Jolanta Ogar, AUT, 40
3. Sophie Weguelin/Eilidh Mcintyre, GBR, 52

Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion (FRA) did just what they needed to do today and finished 5th in the Medal Race to safely assure them of gold. Finishing one boat behind in 6th were Luke Patience/Joe Glanfield (GBR) who kept hold of their position on the leaderboard going into the Medal Race to win the silver medal, with Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) taking the bronze after a 4th place finish.

470 Men Top Three - 470 European Championships
1. Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion, FRA, 28 points
2. Luke Patience/Jonathan Glanfield, GBR, 41
3. Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic, CRO, 48

europeans.470.org

Marion Bermuda - Leaders Struggle for Late Night Finish
Shindig and Lady B started together and will probably finish together. Photo by Talbot Wilson. Click on image to enlarge.

Paget Bermuda: As predicted late Sunday, the 'line honor' leaders hit the wall Monday afternoon.

The 'handicap' leaders are the smaller boats that have kept the old, reaching breeze longer and made their time on the other boats in their class. Integrity, the Navy 44 Mk II STC (NA22) skippered by Mario Avilia, leads his Class B and appears to be one of the best on corrected time in the whole fleet. Other class leaders are Gardner Grant's J120 Alibi in Class A and David Caso's perennial winner Silhouette in Class C. Classic Division entry Spirit of Bermuda, a heavy 112 footer, suffers in these light conditions. She's slogging along at 3-4 knots vmg at 74º. Her heading is less than perpendicular to the rhumb line in that report. Spirit was 122 miles from home.

At 15:00 EDT Monday afternoon, Integrity seems to have found a fairly steady southeasterly breeze. The Andrews 68 was about 9 miles west of the original 164 degree rhumb line to Bermuda sailing 159 degree 57miles from the finish. Lady B, a Swan 62, was in a similar breeze 22 miles off the rhumb line some 72.5 miles out steering 168 degree. Both boats are doing between 6 and 7 knots so they should reach the island in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It is still a battle for line honors between Integrity and Lady B although Integrity holds the inside edge.

Southerly winds 5-10 knots should persist around Bermuda until Tuesday night. Pressure should then build from the West as a low moves off the mid-Atlantic coast and squeezes the high back to the southeast. This should give the boats in the back of the pack a nice boost to their finishes. -- Talbot Wilson

Yellobrick tracking at www.marionbermuda.com

Wild Ride To Guernsey
The 120-mile race to Guernsey produced some of the toughest conditions in this year's RORC Season's Points Championship so far. However one of the smallest yachts in the race claimed overall victory in the 85 strong fleet.

Gery Trentesaux's MC34 Patton, Courrier Vintage, powered across the finish line at St. Peter Port, Guernsey to win the RORC De Guingand Bowl Race by nearly half an hour on corrected time.

Meanwhile Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens 3, was taking the line and an emphatic win in the East Coast Race, also counting towards the RORC Season's Points Championship. After six races in the thirteen race series, Tonnerre de Breskens 3 leads the championship overall, however Courrier Vintage is very much in the hunt.

Runner up in the De Guingand Bowl Race overall was Ross Applebey's Oyster 48, Scarlet Logic.

Reigning RORC Season's Points Champion, Laurent Gouy's Ker 39 Inis Mor, claimed victory in IRC One and third overall in the De Guingand Bowl Race beating RORC Commodore Mike Greville, racing Ker 39 Erivale III, by just under 5 minutes on corrected time. Andrew Pearce's Ker 40, Magnum 3, was third.

In IRC Three Louis-Marie Dussere's JPK 10.10, Raging Bee, had a tremendous debut to the championship, winning both IRC Three and the Two-Handed Class. Second in IRC Three was Todd Wells with J/109, Je Vante, beating five other J/109s racing to Guernsey.

IRC Four was the largest class taking part in the De Guingand Bowl Race and two Sigma 38s had a fantastic battle for the class win. Kevin Sussmilch's Mefisto was the winner but only just. Chris and Vanessa Choules' With Alacrity was just two minutes behind on corrected time in a race lasting over 17 hours. Robert Boulter's Cal 40, Breeze, was third in class.

Racing with the Royal Ocean Racing Club continues on Friday 28th June with The Morgan Cup Race from Cowes to Dieppe. -- Louay Habib

www.rorc.org

Zeekant and Begemann Winners of the 36th Round Texel Race
De Koog, Texel, Netherlands: Sunday morning half past 10 all competitors in the 36th Round Texel Race heard the redeeming word: "the 36th Round Texel will be raced today!" Due to strong winds on saterday, the race was postponed to the sunday. At 12 am 194 of the initial 288 registered catamarans started in the Biggest Catrace of the World. In their Formule 18, Oscar Zeekant and Karel Begemann become the overall winners of the 36th Round Texel.

Karel Begemann sailed the Round Texel Race with his former sailing partner Oscare Zeekant, they sailed together for three years until Begemann started the Nacra 17 program and became part of the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team. Before he started the Olympic program, they made a deal that The Round Texel Race would be the last event they were going to sail together.

Karel Begemann: "It was a beautiful race. At the end Renee Groeneveld and Thijs Visser came close and faster than we wanted too. Which made it pretty exciting. Upwind they are a bit faster than we are, but we managed to finish before them. It was awesome to sail together with Oscar again and it's the best way to end our sailing adventures together."

Winners on corrected time based on Texel Rating

Winners Texel Rating less than 105
1. Oscar Zeekant & Karel Begemann - 2:59:17
2. Renee Groeneveld en Thijs Visser - 3:01:27
3. Mischa Heemskerk en Bastiaan Tentij - 3:06:09

Winners Texel Rating greater than 105
1. Christopher Hancock en Alex Young - 2:46:50
2. Gert Roukema en Michelle van Dorst - 2:47:10
3. Rogier Duijndam en Sonja Steenvoorden - 2:47:25

Full results: www.roundtexel.com

Irish Cruiser National Championships - West Coast of Ireland Championships
The Tralee Bay Sailing Club achieved their motto for the event of "Great Sailing, Great Craic and Great Memories" over the 4 days covering both events.

Following a 3 hour postponement due to weather on Friday the Race Officers, Alan Crosbie, David Lovegrove and Peter Moore achieved getting all the fleets on the water on Friday afternoon and succeeded in getting in a single race to secure the ICRA Championships. On Saturday, racing had to be abandoned due to wild conditions, with no let up in the strong winds and gusty showers in Tralee Bay.

The ICRA 2013 National Champions after 3 races are:

Division 0:
Antix, Anthony O Leary, Royal Cork Yacht Club IRC
Discover Ireland, Martin Breen, Galway Bay Sailing Club Echo

Division 1:
Bon Exemple, Colin Byrne, Royal Irish Yacht Club IRC
Joker 11, John Maybury, Royal Irish Yacht Club Echo

Division 2:
Checkmate, Nigel Biggs, Royal St George Yacht Club IRC
Surfdancer, Charlie Mc Donnell, Royal Cork Yacht Club Echo

Division 3:
Quest, Barry Cunningham, Royal Irish Yacht Club IRC
Jaguar, Gary Fort, Tralee Bay Sailing Club Echo

Corinthian Cup:
Growler, Diarmuid Dineen, Tralee Bay Sailing Club IRC Non Spinnaker
Ridire Ban, Mike Mc Donnell, Tralee Bay Sailing Club Echo Non Spinnaker

2013 Icra Nationals Team:
Irc: Royal Irish Yacht Club
Echo: Galway Bay Sailing Club

The Icra 2013 National Champions After 3 Races Are:

Division 0:
Antix, Anthony O Leary, Royal Cork Yacht Club IRC
Discover Ireland, Martin Breen, Galway Bay Sailing Club Echo

Division 1:
Bon Exemple, Colin Byrne, Royal Irish Yacht Club IRC
Joker 11, John Maybury, Royal Irish Yacht Club Echo

Division 2:
Checkmate, Nigel Biggs, Royal St George Yacht Club IRC
Surfdancer, Charlie Mc Donnell, Royal Cork Yacht Club Echo

Division 3:
Quest, Barry Cunningham, Royal Irish Yacht Club IRC
Jaguar, Gary Fort, Tralee Bay Sailing Club Echo

Corinthian Cup:
Growler, Diarmuid Dineen, Tralee Bay Sailing Club Irc Non Spinnaker
Ridire Ban, Mike Mc Donnell, Tralee Bay Sailing Club Echo Non Spinnaker

2013 ICRA Nationals Team:
Irc: Royal Irish Yacht Club
Echo: Galway Bay Sailing Club

The events were supported by Dubarry of Ireland Clothing and Footwear, West End Bar & Restaurant, Bons Secours Hospital Tralee, KELLIHERS Toyota Tralee and Euro Car Parks.

www.traleebaysailing.com

Phoenicians Before Columbus?
Three years after building a replica Phoenician ship and circumnavigating Africa former Royal Navy officer Philip Beale and his crew are planning another expedition, sailing the Phoenicia from the Mediterranean to the Americas to illustrate that the Phoenicians had the capabilities and skills to cross the Atlantic two thousand years before Columbus. Crossing the Atlantic is an ambitious challenge as the Atlantic winds and storms are powerful and unforgiving to any sailor. However, it is a quest that is crying out to be attempted and which promises to shed new light on one of history's greatest mysteries.

Christopher Columbus found glory and fortune by braving unknown horizons and discovering the Americas. Today historians agree that the Vikings set foot in North America before Columbus did while some others claim that Phoenicians may have been the first to discover the Americas some 2,000 years before Columbus. Some Phoenician style items have been found in the Americas (amphorae, stele, coins) and Portuguese archaeologists in the Azores, midway between the Old and New World, claim to have found Phoenician temples and burial sites. The purpose of this expedition is to review all the available information and to discover whether or not Phoenician vessels were capable of crossing the Atlantic.

The Phoeniciens were regarded as the "Rulers of the sea" (Ezekiel 26:16 cited by McGrail 2001 pg 129). Occupying what is now modern day Lebanon and the coastal parts of Syria and Palestine from circa 1,200 BC for approximately one thousand years. This civilization, though often overlooked by the modern world, is credited with many discoveries including the alphabet, insurance and remarkable trading and seafaring abilities including the discovery of the pole star. The Phoenician sphere of influence spread throughout the Mediterranean and their trading activities reached as far as Cornwall for tin, and Indian and China for spices and precious goods.

Built in 2008 using traditional materials and construction techniques, Phoenicia is the only sailing replica of a Phoenician vessel anywhere in the world. Many academics and specialists researched and advised on the construction of the vessel, which is primarily based on the wreck of the Jules Verne 7 that was found in the Mediterranean and dated to around 600BC.

www.pioneerexpeditions.com

Contender Worlds
There are 174 entries at the Contender World Championship which will take place in Gravedona, on Lake Como, from July 14th to July 20th.

The event, hosted by AVAL-CDV Centro Vela Alto Lario, sees teams coming from Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.

Among the competitors will be attending the defending World Champion, Antonio Lambertini, the multi world champion Andrea Bonezzi, the Brit stars Graham Scott and Stuart Jones along with the class 'legend' Keith Paul, and the Danish Jesper Nielsen, current European Champion. The former 505 worlds champion Ethan Bixby is coming from USA, as well.

The Contender was designed in 1967 by Ben Lexcen, the legendary designer who won the America's Cup with Australia 2. This is the largest world championship fleet in the class' history. After the 2011 Worlds in Weymouth, with 140 participants, this is the confirmation of a class extremely vital and competitive that in 46 years has been able to technically evolve without changing the original spirit.

www.contenderworlds2013.info
www.contenderclass.org

The Waverleys Of Belfast
Lilias is all of a piece, a beautifully restored little sloop. Photo: W M Nixon. Click on image for article and photos

The Waverleys are the quintessential Belfast Lough class. While the area's many upwardly mobile yachtsmen around 1900 were turning to the likes of Fife and Mylne and Linton Hope to design their burgeoning new One Design boats, down at Whitehead at the seaward end of the northern shore of the lough, the members of the very local if grandly named County Antrim Yacht Club were turning to one of their own, John Wylie, for the design of an 18ft keelboat which would be affordable, robust enough to cope with Whitehead's very exposed anchorage, and small enough to store in the boathouse.

Little is the operative word - in size they're midway between a Mermaid and a Squib. Yet thanks to a full-bodied yet surprisingly fast hull, they can accommodate a reasonable cockpit with bench seats each side, making them much more comfortable to sail than, say, a Howth 17.

... [In1950] the Bermuda-rigged Waverley Fair Maid foundered in a sudden gale while crossing Belfast Lough from Ballyholme back to Whitehead, with the loss of four lives. The class at Whitehead never really recovered from this tragic setback, and many lost faith in the gallant little boats. But then in 1961 brothers Kevin and Colm McLaverty, with Mick Clark as third hand, cruised round Ireland in handsome style from Carrickfergus with the Bermuda-rigged Waverley Durward, and the design resumed its rightful place of respect as a remarkably able little boat.

However, the class weren't finished with misfortune. By 1976, it was undergoing a new lease of life, with 13 boats all at Ballyholme, and all carrying gunter rig. But while Ballyholme Bay is a good passage anchorage in offshore winds, and a great place to sail, it's much too exposed for moorings. Yet in those days there was nowhere else in Bangor to keep a boat, and in September 1976 the Waverleys paid the price in a storm force northerly.

Yet the spirit of the Waverleys lived on, and by their Centenary in 2002-3, they were sailing as a class again. So the chance to sail aboard Lilias with Jeff Gouk - the first time for me in a Waverley since crossing the North Channel in Durward in 1961 - was top priority in Belfast, and every moment was pure joy. They're absolute honeys to sail, with good ergonomics, lovely handling, and everything as light as a feather. -- W M Nixon in Afloat... this is a short excerpt from another long, wonderful read with many photos:

afloat.ie

For The Record
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of a new World Record.

Record: Singlehanded Monohull 60 foot Marseille to Carthage
Yacht: "Groupe Bel" IMOCA 60
Name: Kito De Pavant. FRA
Dates:. 31st May to the 1st June 2013
Start time: 11;32;45 UTC on 31/05/13
Finish time: 14;16;15 UTC on 01/06/13
Elapsed time: 1 day 2 hours 43 minutes and 30 seconds
Distance: 458M
Average speed: 17.15 kts

Comments: Previous Record: "Groupe Bel" Kito De Pavant. FRA Jun 09. 1d 21h 20m 29s

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council

2013 Adria Ferries ORCi World Championship
For 115 teams from 16 countries, excitement is building for the upcoming Adria Ferries ORCi World Championship, to be held in Ancona, Italy over 21-29 June. The Organizing Committee has published its final entry list, where 59 boats will be competing in Class A, and 56 boats will be racing in Class B. This is the third consecutive year there has been over 100 entries for this event, the only ISAF-recognized Offshore World Championship.

After measurements and registration procedures are conducted over Friday, 21 June to Sunday, 23 June at the venue at Marina Dorica, racing will start one week from today on Monday, 24 June. Principal Race Officer Alfredo Ricci and his Race Committee team will set windward-leeward courses for the inshore races, and during the week there will also be two offshore races to be held on courses set in the Adriatic. All racing will conclude on Saturday, 29 June when the two new World Champions will be crowned.

For more updates, photos, videos and information throughout the event, visit www.orcworlds2013.com

Artemis Offshore Academy Selection Trials
The Artemis Offshore Academy Selection Trials for the 2014 Development Squad will take place in the UK between the 18th - 21st July, with applications closing on the 28th June.

The new intake into the 2014 Development Squad will be following in the footsteps of Academy Graduates Sam Goodchild, Nick Cherry and Henry Bomby, all currently competing in the Solitaire du Figaro; and could next summer find themselves racing in the Rookie Division, as are current Academy Development Squad members Ed Hill and Jack Bouttell - who is leading the Rookie Division at the halfway stage.

If Jack holds onto his advantage over the remaining two legs, he will become the first British sailor to ever win the Solitaire du Figaro Rookie title. Seeing five British sailors not only competing but excelling in this tough Figaro race, alongside the outstanding Class Mini and RORC results for the other Development Squad members, is testament to both the sailors talents and that of the Artemis Offshore Academy in nurturing those talents.

Established in 2010, the Artemis Offshore Academy is the UK's only centre of excellence for solo and short-handed offshore racing, giving British sailors the chance to train exclusively in the discipline.

Competing in the Solitaire du Figaro is the first rung on the solo offshore ladder towards the offshore challenge of a lifetime, the Vendee Globe.

Following in the footsteps of British solo offshore greats Ellen MacArthur, Mike Golding, Dee Caffari, Samantha Davies and Alex Thomson, it is the overall ambition of the Artemis Offshore Academy to put its solo British skippers in good contention to one day win the Vendee Globe.

www.artemisoffshoreacademy.com

Featured Brokerage
1994 Bashford 41. EUR 85,000. Located in Athens, Greece.

Bashford 41 is one of the small successful cruiser racer series of Bashford Howinson yachts (then known as Sydney Yachts) designed by Murray, Burns and Dovel in 1994.

These yachts dominated the international racing circuit in the mid 90' winning the fastnet race the Sydney Hobart and the Copa del Rey.

Bashford 41 is the ex "AERA" yacht that has won the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. It is still a very competitive boat and it is set up for cruising too.

Brokerage through Atalanta Marine: www.yachtworld.com/atalanta-group/

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

The Last Word
Wars damage the civilian society as much as they damage the enemy. Soldiers never get over it. -- Paul Fussell

About boats.com
boats.com is a highly powerful and effective global marketing solution for the boating industry. With half a million new and used boat listings, offered across the globe by manufacturers, brokers, dealers and private advertisers, it is the most comprehensive site in the World. Over 1.4 million boating consumers visit our sites every month, generating up to 16.5 million page views, with over 500,000 of these visitors coming from within Europe. Whether you are providing a product or service or selling new or pre owned boats, boats.com offers an extensive and varied range of solutions, tailored to suit all marketing budgets offering extensive local and international coverage.

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html