Alamitos Bay Yacht Club

Brought to you by Seahorse magazine, 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 editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

Red Bull Youth America's Cup
The serene island paradise of Bermuda will be rocking this week when the world's best young sailors fly across the Great Sound in the Finals of the Red Bull Youth America's Cup. Amid the already-charged atmosphere of the race action in the 35th America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, eight international teams of sailors aged 18 to 24 will amp the excitement even higher over two days until the youth champions are crowned. Among them are compelling home heroes who have become the Cinderella story of the summer. Don't miss the Finals action LIVE on Red Bull TV, this Tuesday and Wednesday, June 20 and 21.

The teams who have earned a berth in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup Finals are: Team France Jeune (France), SVB Team Germany (Germany), Land Rover BAR Academy (Great Britain), NZL Sailing Team (New Zealand), Spanish Impulse by IBEROSTAR (Spain), Artemis Youth Racing (Sweden), Team Tilt (Switzerland) and - in a magical story for the home of the 35th America's Cup - Bermuda's own TeamBDA.

Just 18 months ago, many on the Bermudian team had never sailed at all, and none had ever experienced anything remotely like the massive AC45F foiling catamarans of the Red Bull Youth America's Cup. Their unlikely success in securing a Finals berth has riveted the entire island, with spectators cheering madly for the team on the shoreline and from boats on the Great Sound.

On paper, Sweden and New Zealand are provisional favorites based on Qualifier placement and the Kiwi team's status as the defending champion. But the terrifically close results so far indicate that the top step of the podium is anyone's to claim.

Watch on www.redbull.tv

Sunday's America's Cup Racing
Great video from BERnews.com:

53 for the RORC IRC National Championship
Giovanni Belgrano's 1939 Laurent Giles classic, Whooper. Photo by Paul Wyeth / pwpictures.com. Click on image to enlarge.

23-25th June 2017, Cowes

Racing gets under way this Friday on the Solent for the cream of the British keelboat fleet at the Royal Ocean Racing Club's IRC Nationals.

The rating rule will create a level playing field between the 53 boats entered ranging from the fastest, the Ker 46 Lady Mariposa, to the slowest, the two Quarter Tonners. In between it must cope with planing machines such as the eight FAST40s or Jamie Rankin's Farr 280, Pandemonium, to the Quarter and Half Tonners originally designed to the IOR rule to Giovanni Belgrano's 1939 Laurent Giles classic, Whooper.

Three 46 footers are competing. In addition to Lady Mariposa is Colin Campbell's Azuree 46 Eclectic, theoretically slowest of the trio. In between is the Marc Lombard-designed Pata Negra, chartered for the summer by the Dutch de Graaf family, who previously campaigned the Ker 40, Baraka GP.

In IRC One they will also face their old foe, Andy Williams' Ker 40 Keronimo, and Tor McLaren's MAT 1180, Gallivanter. There will also be a trio of J/111s, Simon Bamford's Kestrel, Paul Griffiths' Jagerbomb and Cornel Riklin's Jitterbug.

A favourite for this year's title is former RORC Commodore Mike Greville and his trusty Ker 39, Erivale, having come so close to winning last year.

Among the eight FAST 40+s all eyes will be on the latest generation Carkeek design, Girls on Film of 2016 class winner Peter Morton. With a modified cockpit layout compared to her predecessor (now Bastiaan Voogd's Hitchhiker), the IRC Nationals will be her first competitive outing having freshly arrived from her builder in Dubai.

IRC Two will see a dust up between five First 40s, including La Reponse of RORC Admiral Andrew McIrvine, who memorably scored three straight bullets on the final day of the IRC Nationals. On that occasion he was beaten to the class win by Adam Gosling's JPK 1080+ Yes!, ultimately crowned joint IRC National Champion. Yes! will return to defend her title.

IRC Three includes regular campaigners such as Harry Heijst's S&S 41 classic, Winsome, Mike Moxley's HOD35 Malice and Mike Bridges' Elan 37 Elaine.

Alongside Quarter Tonners, Berry Aarts' Wings and Tom Hill's Belinda, Phil Plumtree's Half Tonner, Swuzzlebubble, and Whooper, one of the lowest rated is the Poole-based MG 346, MS Amlin Enigma of Ian Braham.

Racing at the RORC IRC Nationals takes place over 23-25th June with a first warning signal each day at 1050 BST. -- James Boyd

www.rorc.org

Bosun
An immediate opportunity has arisen for an energetic race orientated sailor to become an integral part of the owner's sailing programme.

Activities will include:

- Hands on maintenance of several yachts supported by yard
- Commissioning and race preparation
- Sailing trials and delivery passages
- Joining race crew

This full-time position will appeal to an experienced capable person with good organisational ability. The more sea miles the better with a Yachtmaster Offshore qualification as a minimum.

Please apply to Oyster Properties, Fox's Marina, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP2 8NJ
Email md@oysterproperties.com

Women's Match Racing World Championship
Helsinki, Finland: The battle for the final spots in the quarterfinals came down to the last flight. Eight of the top teams in the world will move on to the second stage and keep their dreams of a World Championship title alive while six teams had their hopes defeated. Lucy Macgregor (GBR) put an exclamation point on her team's round robin by winning all of her matches today and remaining undefeated.

As the last flights played out in the bright sunshine in front of the evening crowds on the terrace of Hernesaaren Ranta, the final two spots were still to be decided. The most exciting of the late matches featured two Finnish teams skippered by Marinella Laaksonen and Antonia Degerlund.

Joining Macgregor and Laaksonen in the quarter-finals will be defending Women's Match Racing World Champion Anna Ostling (SWE), Trine Palludan (DEN), Renee Groeneveld (NED), Caroline Sylvan (SWE), Mikaela Fors (FIN), and Pauline Courtois (FRA).

As the winner of the round robin stage, Lucy Macgregor (GBR) gets two significant "prizes". She will be presented with the ISAF / World Sailing Nucci Novi Ceppellini Memorial Trophy. The trophy is named after Nucci Novi Ceppellini, ISAF Vice-President from 1998-2008, who passed away in February 2008 after many years dedicated to the sport, with women's match racing one of her particular passions. In addition, she gets the opportunity to choose her opponent for the quarter-finals. When pressed by Liz Baylis, WIM Series Manager, during the after race "Sailor Talk Show" to reveal her choice, Macgregor responded: "You'll have to wait until the morning. Our team has to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit and have a chat about it tonight!" The weather in Helsinki has been a rollercoaster over the past few days - bright sunshine then blustery clouds then brilliant sun again.

The racing continues Tuesday with the quarter-finals on the waters at Hernesaari (Ärtholmen), to be followed by the semi-finals and then concludes with the final on the longest day of the year, Wednesday 21 June.

www.wimseries.com

Figaro Leg Four... the Deciding Leg
Just 505 miles remain of this 48th edition of La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro race, the run to Dieppe will seal the fate for the sailors. Well rested following three complete nights spent in Concarneau, the competitors departed Monday once more mustering their strength for the last battle.

So who can beat the leader Nicolas Lunven (Generali)? His opponent Adrien Hardy (Agir Recouvrement), with a difference of 24 minutes in the general classification Hardy recognized on his arrival at the pontoon in Concarneau that it would be necessary to make a perfect race, as the skipper of Generali seems this year the master of speed and navigation. If Adrien Hardy isn't in the best position to be able to worry Lunven it will be Charlie Dalin (Skipper Macif 2015) and Sebastien Simon (Brittany Credit Mutuel Performance) at a difference of one hour who can still claim final victory.

Between the 7th place Damien Cloarec and the 15th place, a group of 9 sailors are separated by just over 20 minutes. In other words, there is not a position between them (Mettraux, Beyou, Macaire, Loison, Biarnès ...) all will be decided in Dieppe. Two of them will be watching especially for the outcome of the Rookie ranking. Julien Pulve (Team Vendee Formation) and Tanguy Le Turquais (Nibelis) who are only separated by a quarter of an hour.

With stage 4 returning to the English Channel, a third of the leg will be raced along the very familiar south coast, the British contingent will be hoping to utilize their knowledge and experience of these waters for a competitive advantage.

Between Concarneau and Dieppe, a complex weather picture awaits the 43 solo sailors on a 505-mile course that will not be easy. The most optimistic routes announce an arrival in the middle of the night from Thursday to Friday. It is mainly in an eastern breeze that the stage will take place, except tomorrow night when the effects of breezes along the Cornouaille and in the Iroise Sea could create the first deviations.

Top ten after three legs:

1. Nicolas Lunven, GENERALI, 6d 13h 59mn 32sec total time over three legs
2. Adrien HARDY, AGIR RECOUVREMENT, 24mn 35sec behind the leader
3. Charlie DALIN, SKIPPER MACIF 2015, 1h 1mn 25sec
4. Sebastien SIMON, BRETAGNE - CREDIT MUTUEL PERFORMANCE , 1h 4mn 19sec
5. Gildas MAHE, ACTION CONTRE LA FAIM, 1h 30mn 6sec
6. Yann ELIES, QUEGUINER - LEUCEMIE ESPOIR, 1h 49mn 28sec
7. Damien CLOAREC, SAFERAIL, 2h 18mn 52sec
8. Justine METTRAUX, TEAMWORK, 2h 19mn 7sec
9. Xavier MACAIRE, GROUPE SNEF , 2h 24mn 37sec
10. Julien PULVE, TEAM VENDEE FORMATION, 2h 24mn 45sec

lasolitaire.com

Hanuman and Ranger Tied At the Top
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

In the historic first ever America's Cup J Class Regatta in Bermuda three different crews won races on the opening day. Just one point separates the top two boats, Hanuman and Ranger on seven apiece with Lionheart poised for three way final day showdown on eight.

The record fleet of seven J Class yachts, the biggest ever mustered in the 87 year history of the class, may have been forced to wait an extra few days after Friday's opening races fell victim to winds which were too light and fickle, but on National Heroes Day, Bermuda rewarded the magnificent gathering with just the most perfect conditions for the first three races of the first ever America's Cup J Class Regatta.

Every one of the seven teams have brought their A Game to this pinnacle event - planning, optimising and preparing since the event was announced two years ago - and today the island's weather and winds responded accordingly. The result was a truly memorable day of close, exciting racing on Murray's Anchorage, off St Georges to the NE of the Island.

In 10-11kts of wind from the SE and beautiful flat water, Lionheart, winners of last week's America's Cup Superyacht regatta, opened with a well earned victory.

With the breeze built to 11-12kts for the start of the second race Velsheda started well and were able to power out to the left side of the upwind and lead all the way around with the very fast and slippery looking brand new Svea in second.

In the final seconds before the gun went for the third race start Lionheart had the door closed on them by Peter Holmberg on the helm of Topaz right at the signal boat. They had to dip back across the start line, losing time on the fleet, most particularly nearest rivals Hanuman and Ranger which were both pin sharp off the start line.

With Kenny Read on the helm and an afterguard comprising tactician Kelvin Harrap, strategist Simon Fisher and navigator Stan Honey, Hanuman were able to lead at the first turn, narrowly ahead of the omnipresent, consistent Ranger. Around the leeward gate Ranger, which has Brad Butterworth as tactician actually lead, but Read stayed patient on the turn at the buoy got back inside the Ranger line. After Hanuman tacked away they extended progressively to secure a comfortable win over Ranger with Topaz sailing a good final run to take third from Lionheart.

Racing concludes Tuesday with two windward-leewards planned, starting 1100hrs local time (-3hrs UTC)

jclassyachts.com

J/80 UK Open National Championship
Kevin Sproul's name has been etched on the J/80 Open National Championship Trophy for the seventh time. Racing J.A.T., the Scottish helmsman scored no lower than a fourth in nine races, to win the UK National title in a fleet of 21 boats. Jon Powell's team, racing Betty, is the runner up, just a point ahead of Olympic Silver Medallist, Luke Patience, racing Ryoko Meka.

The Mediterranean conditions persisted for the entire three days for the J/80 Open National Championship and with air temperature touching 30ºC, the windless mornings were replaced by a fickle sea breeze in the afternoon. The Royal Southern Yacht Club's Race management team, were roundly applauded for keeping competitors informed, and for delivering nine excellent races in difficult conditions. Starts are always important but especially in light air and while Kevin Sproul and Jon Powell showed the way for the first two days. The last day belonged to Luke Patience and his team, who scored three bullets and a second.

Final top ten
1. J.A.T, Kevin Sproul, GBR, 16 points
2. Betty, Jonathan Powell, GBR, 23
3. Ryoko meka, Luke Patience, GBR, 24
4. MockingJay, Chris Body, GBR, 31
5. Slightly Steamy, Nick Haigh, GBR, 32
6. Dunkerque Voile - White Sails , Remy Hurdiel, FRA, 36
7. Jester, Mike Lewis, GBR, 41
8. No Regrets, Chris & Hannah Neve, GBR, 45
9. Checkmate, Ray Mitchell, GBR, 51
10. Mojo, Patrick O Neill, IRL, 55

Full results: https://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eid=4148

The Count Down Commences & Race Partners are Finalised
The Round the Island Race in association with Cloudy Bay, takes place on Saturday 1st July. As organisers at the Island Sailing Club (ISC) in Cowes count down the days, the Rear Commodore Sailing and head of Race Management Dave Atkinson, is hoping for a late surge in entry numbers to record a final number on par with last year at around the 1,500 mark. Entries currently stand at 1,150.

Standard entries closed Saturday, 17th June at 2359

Late entries close at midday on Wednesday June 28th.

If you haven't already done so, you can enter here from your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone: rtir.me/entries

Only four German crews on the way to win the Kiel Week
The coordination between the Kiel Week race organizers and the weather expert Dr. Meeno Schrader is working well. The meteorologist with a diploma had already recommended on Sunday evening to postpone the starts on Monday, the organizers did follow his advice and this was dead right. The sailors did have an easy stat on their third race day, and when they were sent out on the water around midday, they could still work off an intense regatta day.

Top three results Kieler Woche Part 1 Day 3

2.4mR open:
1. Heiko Kroger, GER, 21
2. Matthew Bugg, AUS, 23
3. Dee Smith, USA, 27

29er:
1. Theo Revil / Gautier Guevel, FRA, 39
2. Rok Verderber / Klemen Semelbauer, SLO, 53
3. Aristide Girou / Noah Chauvin, FRA, 68

5O5:
1. Jørgen Bojsen-Møller / Jacob Bojsen-Moller, DEN, 11
2. Philippe Boite / Fountaine Mathieu, FRA, 25
3. Wolfgang Dr. Hunger / Julien Kleiner, GER, 33

Contender:
1. Jesper Nielsen, DEN, 20
2. Markus Maisenbacher, GER, 34
3. Christoph Homeier, GER, 42

Europe:
1. Anna Livbjerg, DEN, 11
2. Fabian Kirchhoff, Herford, GER, 23
3. Lars Johan Brodtkorb, NOR, 28

FD:
1. Kay-uwe Ludtke / Kai Schafers, GER, 19
2. Szabolcs Majthenyi / Andras Domokos, HUN, 23
3. Kilian Konig / Johannes Brack, Waldeck, GER, 30

Folkeboot:
1. Per Joergensen / Kristian Hansen, Bent Mallemuk Nielsen, DEN, 7
2. Ulf Kipcke / Dieter Kipcke, Gero Martens, GER, 18
3. Siegfried Busse / Uwe Pfuhl, Jan Stoltenberg, GER, 25

Formula 18:
1. Iordanis Paschalidis / Konstantinos Trigkonis, GRE, 8
2. Dieter Maurer / Katrin Oldenburg, Lubeck, GRE, 22
3. Robert Schutz / Rea Kuhl, GER, 24

Hobie 16:
1. Knud Jansen / Christina Schober, Kiel, GER, 8
2. Jens Goritz / Kerstin Wichardt, GER, 13
3. Detlef Mohr / Karen Wichardt, GER, 16

J/24:
1. Mike Ingham / Max Holzer, Marianne Schoke, Quinn Schwenker, Paul Abdullah, USA, 16
2. Travis Odenbach / Ian Coleman, Hugh Ward, Annabel Cuttermole, Jack Sharland, USA, 24
3. Stefan Karsunke / Tim Habekost, Carsten Kerschies, Malte Gibbe, Christian Carstens, GER, 29

Laser 4.7:
1. Tobias Sandmo Birkeland, NOR, 21
2. Johan Schubert, DEN, 29
3. Felix Baudet, SUI, 36

Laser Radial:
1. Caroline Sofia Rosmo, NOR, 38
2. Uffe Tomasgaard, NOR, 47
3. Ekaterina Sanko, BLR, 51

OK:
1. Jim Hunt, GBR, 8
2. Mats Caap, SWE, 30
3. Greg Wilcox, GER, 31

Albin Express:
1. Jan Brink / Jorg Ruterhenke, Lasse Waltje, Jan Gunther, GER, 7
2. Andreas Pinnow, GER, 15
3. Martin Gorge / Rasmus Gorge, Beau Outridge, Paul Farien, GER, 16

www.Kieler-Woche.de

Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Alistair Skinner:

Hints of sackcloth and ashes for BAR, but any suggestion they are not looking at why they failed to win is surely misguided.

And was it such a failure in any case? They took two races out of the Kiwis - one as a result of putting so much pressure on them they fell over themselves - which is as many as the well funded Artemis team managed and two more than Oracle has, so far, been able to repeat.

Perhaps the only true failure was, as Nick Fry suggests, that BAR failed to manage the high expectations so many people had in what has proven to be thus far, a very competitive regatta

Remember this was GBR's first go for a good number of years and I would be more concerned about what New Zealand are going to do with The Cup if, or (with Burling appearing to have sorted out his starting weakness) perhaps more likely, when they lift the Auld Mug, at this rate sometime next Monday.

Then, if the Kiwis invoke the nationality rules as they have suggested then BAR would be very well positioned going forward. Not so the Americans - unless it was a single handed race.

* From Dick Enersen:

If the Mirabaud Sailing Video folks think it's tough now, please refer them to: www.offshoreprod.com

Also, the NBC documentary on Turner can be seen online @ www.nbcsports.com/video/

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The Last Word
The judge said I was a menace to society because I had put crime on a scientific basis. -- Gregory Corso

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Land Rover BAR Academy Dominate Day One Of 2017 Red Bull Youth America's Cup Finals
Day one of the 2017 Red Bull Youth America's Cup Finals belonged to Land Rover BAR Academy who sit on top of the leaderboard heading into day two after two second places and a first place in the three races on day one.

For the home of the 35th America's Cup, the day started in fairytale fashion for local heroes TeamBDA whose incredible story in the 2017 Red Bull Youth America's Cup continued in fine style when they won the first race of the Finals against their seven competitors.

Having given the packed Grandstand and all the TeamBDA fans in the America's Cup Village a huge reason to cheer in race one, races two and three proved tougher for the young team and they end day one in sixth place overall.

Day One Standings
1. Land Rover BAR Academy, GBR, 28 points
2. Team Tilt, SUI, 21
3. Team France Jeune, FRA, 21
4. Artemis Youth Racing, SWE, 20
5. NZL Sailing Team, NZL, 18
6. TeamBDA, BER, 18
7. SVB Team Germany, GER, 15
8. Spanish Impulse by IBEROSTAR, ESP, 15

Find out whether the Cinderella story will have a fairytale ending. Watch the Red Bull Youth America's Cup Finals, live on Red Bull TV on June 20 and 21 at 2:00pm local Bermuda time/5:00pm UTC.

www.redbull.tv

Lionheart wins JClass Regatta
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

The final day of the America's Cup J Class Regatta in Bermuda completed two races, with Lionheart and Velsheda trading punches, each scoring a first and second to move up the standings and take the top two positions. Lionheart, with Harold Goddijn on the helm and Bouwe Bekking as tactician, finished three points ahead of Velsheda while day one leader Hanuman dropped to third.

Final score:
1. Lionheart, 11 points
2. Velsheda, 14
3. Hanuman, 14
4. Ranger, 18
5. Topaz, 21
6. Shamrock, 30
7. Svea, 36

www.sailingscuttlebutt.com

www.jclassyachts.com

Semi-Finalist Decided at Women's Match Racing World Championship
Before thunderstorms abruptly ended the racing in Helsinki, there were some exciting matches in the Quarter-Finals of the 2017 Women's Match Racing World Championship. The results went "according to form" as the top four from the round robin stage came out on top in each of their pairs.

Renee Groeneveld (NED) and her Dutch Match Racing Team met local sailor Marinella Laaksonen (FIN) and her L2 Match Racing Team in the first Quarter-Final match, winning 3 - 0.

Defending Champion, Anna Ostling (SWE), had a good feeling about today's races against the second Finnish team in the Quarter-Finals, Mikaela Fors (FIN) and her Pen & Hammer Sailing Team, which Team Anna won 3 - 0.

Trine Palludan (DEN) and her Team Experience used some of their years of experience to fight off a very competitive Pauline Courtois (FRA) and her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, winning 3 - 1.

When the final pair hit the water for their matches, the weather had changed and the sun shown brightly and the breeze increased to a steady fifteen knots. Round robin winner, Lucy Macgregor (GBR) earned the right to choose her opponent and chose Caroline Sylvan (SWE) who finished eighth in the round robin. Macgregor praised her team: "The girls are doing a great job and we've had really good starts which allow us to get ahead and stay ahead."

Quarter-Final Results

Lucy Macgregor, GBR - Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 3 - 0
Trine Palludan, DEN - Pauline Courtois, FRA, 3 - 1
Anna Ostling, SWE - Mikaela Fors, FIN, 3 - 0
Renee Groeneveld, NED - Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 3 - 0

Round-robin results (skipper, nationality, wins - losses, winning percentages):

1. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, 13 - 0, 100%
2. Trine Palludan, DEN, 10 - 3, 77%
3. Anna Ostling, SWE, 9 - 4, 69%
4. Renee Groeneveld, NED, 9 - 4, 69%
5. Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, 8 - 5, 62%
6. Mikaela Fors, FIN, 7 - 6, 54%
7. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 7 - 6, 54%
8. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 7 - 6, 54%
9. Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 6 - 7, 46%
10. Margot Riou, FRA, 5 - 8, 38%
11. Martina Karlemo, FIN, 4 - 9, 31%
12. Antonia Degerlund, FIN, 4 - 9, 31%
13. Sanna Hager, SWE, 2 - 11, 15%
14. Ekaterina Kochkina, RUS, 0 - 13, 0%

wimseries.com

The date's drawing ever nearer!
There are just 47 days left until the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Rolex Fastnet Race gets underway on Sunday 6th August at Cowes, and for owners and crews those safety preparations are a priority. Don't forget to contact us at Ocean Safety to get a copy of our Fastnet safety check list if you haven't already. Click here to request your FREE copy. Our team are right at the end of the phone to give you extra advice on all 40 of the items that are required to meet Cat 2 offshore special Regulations and RORC prescriptions.

Even as a crew member you can take steps yourself to maximise your own personal safety by ensuring that you are familiar with everything on board, its location and how to operate it. At least one person has to have had completed an Offshore Personal Survival Training Course. That could be you - contact your local sailing school. While you're at it you could get yourself a PLB or AIS recovery beacon like the MOB1 or the 3Si Guardian PLB. Ocean Safety's Kru lifejackets are built to house them effortlessly.

www.oceansafety.com

Slow Progress For Figaro Fleet
Monday afternoon saw a very slow start to Stage 4 of La Solitaire URGO le Figaro and was followed by an even slower evening, the conditions allowing the skippers to complete just 60nm of the course with a further 365 to go at the 05:00 hours check Tuesday morning.

Throughout the early hours of this morning the fleet have been negotiating the headland of Penmarc'h, looking for every little bit of speed possible short tacking close into the shore to avoid the adverse current, boat speeds of the fleet down to as little as .5kts making any maneuvers hugely costly and many needing to anchor to avoid backtracking.

This is going to be an incredibly tough stage! The fleet left the port of Concarneau after mid-day yesterday and are still in south Brittany more than twelve hours later! "It's true that the reality is not at all in line with expectations," explained Gildas Mahe to the VHF this morning. "We really had a very weak wind and I almost got wet last night at Cape Caval. It's going to take a long time, but I'm happy to be back in the game." Just like Alexis Loison (Custopol), who was recalled yesterday at the start along with the skipper of Action Contre La Faim, both have made up the time and back within the pack.

Tracking map: www.lasolitaire-urgo.com/en/cartographie

Rockabill VI Gets To Dingle In Time For Dinner
In Dingle of a warm summer Friday's evening, the night has barely started at 9pm, writes W M Nixon. So the multi-talented crew of Paul O'Higgins' JPK1080 Rockabill VI were in plenty of time for a leisurely winner dinner when they swept across the finish line in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2017 at 2048 hrs to stake what looks like an unassailable claim to have won just about everything in this race for which they're eligible.

There have been Dingle Races in the past where the nearer you got to the finish, the more difficult it was to find enough breeze to close the race. But this time round, Rockabill VI has found such sparkling conditions towards the end that, with a warm yet brisk fair wind sweeping her up the majestic Dingle Bay, she covered the last nine miles in less than an hour.

The crew who shared this victory with him were Conor O'Higgins, Mark Pettit, Ian O'Meara, Peter Wilson, William Byrne, Rees Kavanagh, and Ian Heffernan. Many have done the Dingle race before, with some of them winning in times past. Many will do it again. But the totality of Rockabill VI's win - with line honours thrown in despite the fleet having started with many larger boats - is more than enough to be going along with for now.

Afloat magazine's D2D coverage:
afloat.ie/sail/events/dunlaoghaire-to-dingle

www.d2drace.ie

Bosun
An immediate opportunity has arisen for an energetic race orientated sailor to become an integral part of the owner's sailing programme.

Activities will include:

- Hands on maintenance of several yachts supported by yard
- Commissioning and race preparation
- Sailing trials and delivery passages
- Joining race crew

This full-time position will appeal to an experienced capable person with good organisational ability. The more sea miles the better with a Yachtmaster Offshore qualification as a minimum.

Please apply to Oyster Properties, Fox's Marina, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP2 8NJ
Email md@oysterproperties.com

'I'm delighted to be back!'
Dee Caffari returns for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2017-18 - and she's aiming to make a global impact with Turn the Tide on Plastic

Dee - you're back on the start line, and leading a team in 2017-18! How does it feel?

I feel like this has been a long time coming, it's been a huge challenge to get to the start this edition of the race. I'm delighted to be back in the race, and it feels even better because I'm really passionate about the campaign. Above all, I can't wait to get back into the Southern Ocean - that's what we call 'real' sailing. I can't wait to take a whole lot of new blood and see the young ones experience that.

It's not been an easy journey. Were there times when you thought you'd be watching the next race from shore?

I've had a nagging voice in the back of my mind about getting on board a Volvo Ocean 65 for this race. I've had various discussions with teams that didn't come off and I've had glimmers of hope and then been disappointed. I've been frustrated and I was at the point where I thought it was beyond my reach. The fact this opportunity has come together is amazing. I believe I'm more passionate sailing for a cause and I love this race, I love sailing in the Southern Ocean and now I get to do it by leading the way for a group of young passionate sailors.

As a passionate environmental campaigner, does it feel like a big responsibility to be leading a team with such a vital message on a platform like the Volvo Ocean Race?

For sure, it's so exciting to be carrying a global message to a global stage like the Volvo Ocean Race. It's true that when you're communicating a brand or a corporate message it's not quite the same as being part of a campaign that touches and affects every single one of us - and there's a very emotive tie for me to this campaign. This isn't a B2B or B2C campaign, it's relevant to everyone, and so it feels like I'm taking on a major responsibility. We've abused our planet, and it's key to drive conversation about the amount of plastic in our ocean. We're already talking about it, of course, but this campaign is all about pushing people into proactively doing something about it.

Full interview: www.volvooceanrace.com

Tributes paid to Tom McNally
For years, Liverpudlian Tom McNally attempted to set the world record for crossing the Atlantic in a small boat.

He finally did it in 1993 when he sailed the 5ft 4.5 inch boat, Vera Hugh, from Lisbon, Portugal to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida via Puerto Rico.

Even more amazing was the fact the boat was partly built out of an old discarded wardrobe and that the hatch was made out of an old washing machine door.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, his daughter, Lorraine, paid tribute to her father, who was known as the "crazy sailor" as a result of his exploits, many of which raised money for cancer charities.

"My dad was an absolutely incredible man, some of the stories he told were unbelievable, he had such a fulfilled life. He was a very clever, kind and loving man and would do anything for anyone.

"Over the years he must have raised hundreds of thousands for cancer charities and I'm just so proud to be his daughter. Everyone talks about his sailing exploits, but to me he was just my amazing dad," she told the newspaper.

Tom McNally was always passionate about the sea, and bought this first boat, Anisor, sailing it across the Atlantic with next to no sailing experience. Aiming for the Caribbean, he ended up in Brazil.

He did other more traditional Atlantic crossings before he decided to go after Hugo Vilhen's 1968 world record for crossing the Atlantic in a small boat ( Vilhen's April Fool was 5ft 11 inches).

www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/

* From Dale Kushner:

While we are all giving the thumbs up regarding the proposed Volvo Ocean Race proposal, spare a thought as follows:

The Around the World Race is exactly that, so firstly the side show of multihull sounds the most exciting proposal, but the reality is that besides the fanfare that the Volvo Race adds, this is already being done with the extreme series and the M32 circuit and drifting away from the core product as that being the around the world race. The Multihull racing essentially detracts from the true race and in fact could jeopardizing the actual race for the future as it is diluted into much more exciting sailing. It would be better suited to Volvo to run a series of Port events for this outside the VOR.

Secondly, spare a thought for the following: The Around the World Race has always had flexible rules (The IMOCA rules). This has allowed for development in yachting. Eventually applying a box rule. This allowed for varied designs and more boats to be built, allowing older boats to compete again with the newer boats. The Vendee is a good example. There becomes a good base of boats built to this box rule which helps grow the event. Currently the VOR is to launch it as a strict one design which can also comply with Imoca 60 rule. The truth is that perhaps days after the launch of the first boat, a potential Vendee entry might launch a new boat in France that is even more up to date and faster than these boats. By the second event, essentially these boats will be outdated in terms of IMOCA top entries.

Surely the best way forward is to just set a box rule.. or accept the IMOCA rules.. but let each campaign build what they want.. It allows innovations and excitement. Look at the VOR70's, they kept breaking records in each event.. very exciting. Nothing exciting in the 65's. Yes, they are well built boats, but right now people want excitement.. even footage from the VOR70's still get used.. and all those boats are in demand due to their ability to reach fast speeds.

My suggestion to the organizers is to rethink.. suggest perhaps the IMOCA rule or even extend that back to 70 foot. Let the teams do their thing. Their own maintenance etc... and focus on running the race. Learn from the Vendee and stop fleecing sponsors and cities.. The race has lost it's presence. I think if you do this, entry numbers will progressively swell.. and yes, not all teams will be capable of winning.. but then, no event is successful without entries.

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The Last Word
It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice -- there are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia. -- Frank Zappa

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In This Issue
Macgregor (GBR) Wins 2017 Women's Match Racing Worlds | Britain's Land Rover BAR Academy crowned Red Bull Youth America's Cup Champions | Glorious Start To O'Leary Life Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | Volvo Ocean Race Entry Team Akzonobel Christens New Ocean Racing Yacht | Notice of Race released for Legends Race 2018 | Sled Takes the Lead in the First Day of Racing at Audi Sailing Week | Letters to the Editor | Featured Brokerage

Macgregor (GBR) Wins 2017 Women's Match Racing Worlds
Helsinki, Finland: For a second day, the thunderstorms rushed the sailors off of the water, but not before Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and her Team Mac with teammates Silja Lehtinen Frost, Rosie Watkins, Imogen Stanley, and Charlotte Lawrence were declared 2017 Women's Match Racing World Champions in Helsinki, defeating the Dutch Match Racing Team skippered by Renee Groeneveld (NED) sailing with Marcelien Bos-De Koning, Lobke Berkhout, Sanne Akkerman, and Mijke Lievens.

This is Lucy Macgregor's second Women's Match Racing World Championship title. She won her previous title in Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 2010.

The score line may seem on the surface that Team Mac was not challenged, but the battles on the water told a different story. Lots of close matches and thrilling exchanges.

After the brief yet violent showers, the Closing Ceremonies in Hernesaaren Ranta were a festive event with everything from a heartfelt thank you from World Sailing Vice President Ana Sanchez to the prize giving to dancing on stage to the live band.

The winning team at the ISAF / World Sailing Women's Match Racing World Championship are crowned World Champions and presented with the ISAF Francoise Pascal Memorial - Women's Match Racing World Championship Trophy. The trophy is named in honour of the late Francoise Pascal, a former Vice-President of the Federation Francaise de Voile and a hugely influential figure in the growth of women's match racing.

Final Standings (skipper, nationality, Team Name, WIM Series points):
1. Lucy Macgregor, GBR, Team Mac, 25
2. Renee Groeneveld, NED, Dutch Match Racing Team, 22
3. Trine Palludan, DEN, Team Experience, 20
4. Anna Ostling, SWE, Team Anna, 18
5. Marinella Laaksonen, FIN, L2 Match Racing Team, 16
6. Mikaela Fors, FIN, Pen & Hammer Sailing Team, 14
7. Pauline Courtois, FRA, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, 12
8. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, New Sweden Match Racing Team, 10
9. Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, 8
10. Margot Riou, FRA, APCC Women's Sailing Team, 7
11. Martina Karlemo, FIN, Team Karlemo, 6
12. Antonia Degerlund, FIN, Team Skona Vibbisar, 5
13. Sanna Hager, SWE, Stockholm Match Racing Team, 4
14. Ekaterina Kochkina, RUS, Team SailWay, 3

The next event on the 2017 WIM Series is the Lysekil Women's Match in Lysekil, Sweden, 7-12 August 2017.

www.wimseries.com

Britain's Land Rover BAR Academy crowned Red Bull Youth America's Cup Champions
Britain's youth America's Cup sailors from the Land Rover BAR Academy have been crowned the 2017 Red Bull Youth America's Cup Champions in Bermuda.

The British entry completed 12 races against 12 other nations on Bermuda's Great Sound to take the title - six initial qualifying races and six in the finals - and finished the event with 50 points, just two points ahead of second placed New Zealand Sailing Team (48 points) and eight points ahead of Switzerland's Team Tilt (42 points).

The victory came down to a nail biting finale and the final race of the event.

Land Rover BAR launched the Land Rover BAR Academy in January 2016, to support talented young British sailors, and create a structured pathway into the America's Cup. 22-year-old Neil Hunter was an initial example of success, promoted from junior to senior team, becoming not only the youngest sailor to compete in the America's Cup but the only sailor to compete in both competitions.

The British entry is also made up of some of the country's top sailing talent, aged between 19-24 years old and led by Skipper Rob Bunce. 23-year-old Strategist, Annabel Vose, was the only female crew member to compete in the Youth Cup.

Red Bull Youth America's Cup squad:
Skipper, Rob Bunce
Helm, Chris Taylor
Strategist, Annabel Vose
Main Trimmer, Elliot Hanson
Jib Trimmer, Sam Batten
Bow, Neil Hunter
Substitute, Adam Kay

Land Rover BAR Academy Support team:
Rob Andrews
Andrew Walsh
Matt Adams
Jono Macbeth
Tim Carter

Red Bull Youth America's Cup overall results:
Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR), 50 points
NZL Sailing Team (NZL), 48
Team Tilt (SUI), 42
Artemis Youth Racing (SWE), 37
Team France Jeune (FRA), 35
Spanish Impulse Team (ESP), 34
SVB Team Germany (GER), 33
Team BDA (BDA), 33

red-bull-youth.americascup.com

Glorious Start To O'Leary Life Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale
Photo by David Branigan, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

With light winds and broken sunshine, flat seas allowed a full programme of opening day races to be sailed on four course areas at the O'Leary Life Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale today where a fleet of 98 boats has gathered.

At this early stage, few of the nine divisions racing have clear leaders and with the prospect of fresh to strong winds for the next two days, a full test in all conditions is likely to bring the final results down to the wire for Saturday's finale.

At stake, the Sovereigns Cup for the best performing boat on IRC handicap alongside the Portcullis Trophy for the best boat on Progressive ECHO handicap.

Laying down a clear signal of intent to become the overall winner of the regatta, Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold from Waterford Harbour won both races of the day in Division 1, the largest fleet in the event with 18 entries, a result only matched in the White Sails Division 2 fleet where Stephanie Ennis' Club Shamrock Demelza had two bullets for the day.

In Division 2, the second largest fleet on the course, the top three boats are within one point of each other while the chasing pack aren't lagging too far behind either. Kieran Collins' Coracle IV leads after winning the opening race before placing fifth in the second and lies level with Howth's Richard Evans on The Big Picture.

In the 1720 Sportsboat European Championships that is being sailed as part of the main regatta, a luffing match between father and son in race one saw Olympic sailor Peter O'Leary defeat his father Anthony to take first place. However, O'Leary senior was the more consistent over the three races and is the clear overnight leader.

Full results are available here: sovereignscup.com

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
Rodney Pattisson and Luca Devoti are on the same page, the new Cannonball is already looking ominous and how to choose your whomper. Plus America's Cup 36, anyone? Philippe Serenon, Jack Griffin, and Terry Hutchinson

Still improving
So which fleet is the greatest test? Ken Read

Out the same mould
TP52 moulds have been put to good use recently but with a bit added on top. Rob Weiland

Founding father - Part II
But Adrian Morgan draws the line at following Sir Robin Knox-Johnston And Chris Bonington up any mountains

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Volvo Ocean Race Entry Team Akzonobel Christens New Ocean Racing Yacht
Click on image to enlarge.

Team AkzoNobel, the Dutch ocean racing team preparing to compete in the 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, has christened its newly built Volvo Ocean 65 racing yacht at an event in the Netherlands.

The ceremony took place at the team's home base in The Hague, four months almost to the day before the start of the 83,000-kilometer (45,000-nautical mile) round-the-world race, which begins in Alicante, Spain, on October 22.

Team AkzoNobel is backed by global paints, coatings and specialty chemicals company AkzoNobel and skippered by renowned Dutch yachtsman Simeon Tienpont - with British three time Volvo Ocean Race competitor Jules Salter in the navigator's role.

The team will take on up to seven other professional teams in the race which crosses four oceans and stops at 11 major cities before the finish in The Hague in June 2018.

A flotilla of nine young dinghy sailors from the Dutch national Optimist team proudly escorted the 65-foot team AkzoNobel yacht into the dock. Like several other members of his crew, Tienpont began his own sailing career racing Optimists in the Netherlands.

This was followed by the ceremonial breaking of a champagne bottle on the bow of the team AkzoNobel yacht, which was performed by Mayor Krikke, accompanied by Deputy Mayor of The Hague, Karsten Klein.

The team AkzoNobel yacht is the only one of the fleet of identical boats in the race to have been newly built for the 2017-18 edition. Launched for the first time a fortnight ago in Lisbon, the boat underwent stringent safety testing before being handed over to Tienpont's crew.

https://www.teamakzonobel.com

Notice of Race released for Legends Race 2018
Gothenburg, Sweden: The Official Notice of Race for the Legends Race 2018 was launched on 21 June, detailing the rules under which boats that have taken part in either The Whitbread Round the World Race or the Volvo Ocean Race, will race each other from Gothenburg to The Hague next summer.

On 21 June 2018, and for the first time ever, a fleet of Legends boats will cross the official start line, just 45 minutes ahead of the racing fleet of Volvo Ocean 65s, to race from Gothenburg to The Hague.

The stage for this historic race from Sweden to The Netherlands is steeped in ocean racing history. Both countries have each fielded winners of the world's premier ocean race: Flyer in 1977-78 and 1981-82 plus ABN AMRO One in 2005-06 for The Netherlands, and EF Language 1997-98 and Ericsson 4 in 2008-09 for Sweden. Both nations are expecting to field entries to contest the race again.

"Racing round the world has been an enormous part of my life and I am very excited that a fleet of Legends boats will be here in Sweden, my home country, next year. It's going to be an event not to be missed and I will be there to cheer them on", said Swedish race veteran Roger Nilson.

Following a departure ceremony in Gothenburg , the fleet will race approximately 460 nautical miles directly to the finish line in The Hague.

The boats will be open to the public both in Gothenburg and The Hague as well as being available for charter sailing before and after the race itself. There will be a parade of sail in both host cities, and the event will conclude with an official prizegiving in The Hague.

www.volvooceanrace.com

Sled Takes the Lead in the First Day of Racing at Audi Sailing Week
Porto Cervo, Italy: The Audi Sailing Week, an event that is organised by the Yacht Club Costa in collaboration with Title Sponsor Audi, officially started today. The fourth event in the most competitive circuit of keelboat racing will end on Sunday, June 25th and currently sees Sled in first place, followed by Alegre and Rán Racing who finished in second and third places respectively today.

Punctually at 1:00 PM today the eleven TP52s that are racing in this event were at the starting line in Porto Cervo ready to start a 13,5 nm race that also included three windward/leeward legs for a total of almost 20 nm of racing. After the W/L legs the fleet headed out to the Golfo delle Saline then back through the Passo delle Bisce keeping Capo Ferro to starboard and ending in front of Porto Cervo.

The American team aboard Sled with its owner Takashi Okura at the helm was in the lead from the first downwind gate, with about 150mt on the second boat, the English team aboard Alegre with former America's Cup tactician Andy Horton. Niklas Zennstrom's Ran Racing placed third today.

The cumulative overall circuit results see the German team aboard Platoon in first place after she placed seventh in today's race. Azzurra, with today's fifth place finish has recovered two points on the circuit's leader overall and is in second place, while Quantum is currently in third place on the cumulative circuit scoreboard.

Tomorrow, Thursday June 22nd, the 52 Super Series races will begin at 12 noon. Two windward/leeward races are scheduled to be held in medium to light winds. As always in this circuit, competition on the water is followed by a prestigious social programme on land: tomorrow will see the Owners Dinner at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's Clubhouse.

www.yccs.com

* From Alistair Skinner:

Interesting words from Dale Kushner about the VOR, some I agree with, some less so.

I wholeheartedly agree that in-port races in a different boat takes away from the Round the World element while on the other hand it opens up the opportunity for ports to host the race that might not otherwise be able to due to inadequate area of deep enough water.

While I am not necessarily a fan of one design, it must not be forgotten that this is a commercial event and therefore all about ROI to the sponsors, the fun we observers get looking on is a) a spin off and b) partly how the sponsor gets their return from their name splashed everywhere.

Often, skippers and teams made decisions at the design stage that meant they had little chance of winning. Ian Walker was pretty sure right after the first Abu Dhabi's Fastnet record they had a problem and if Peter Blake had not asked that one question of Bruce Farr about the difference to rating a masthead or fractional fore-triangle would make then Steinlager 2 might not have been so dominant.

Dale's comment about the VO70s might well have read "Look at the VO70's, they kept breaking... " because they certainly did, bomb doors coming off - even leading to a sinking - , rigs falling over the side and hulls delaminating with many legs completed on the deck of a ship or back of a truck.

My understanding is the one design, the Boatyard, the reduction in crew numbers etc have all been in an attempt to control costs. By controlling costs you make the race more accessible to sponsors yet even with these efforts it is still not easy to raise the double figures of millions to fund an entry.

Throw in the additional design and tooling costs of individual designs and (going on previous budgets) you could be looking at a 50% increase in entry level expenditure.

Whether a close copy of the latest generation IMOCA boats is the right way to go, I am not sure and likely the jury will be out all the way to the finish line of the next race (2020 that is).

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The Last Word
The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks. -- Christopher Hitchens

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In This Issue
Bertrand: "Right blueprint to be among the world's best sports" | Ran Racing On Top | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | Barcelona fourth Act of the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series | Light wind specialists shine at the Para World Sailing Championships | Andrew Simpson Foundation : The Sailing Charity at Lendy Cowes Week | European Match Race Copenhagen | For the Record | Letters to the Editor | Featured Brokerage

Bertrand: "Right blueprint to be among the world's best sports"
"These guys are now fighter pilots who have to go out and fly in mortal combat,"

The assessment of former America's Cup winner and Australian sailing legend John Bertrand, casting his eye over the current crop of America's Cup sailors, having witnessed first hand the revolution taking place in one of the world's oldest and most prestigious international sporting competitions.

The America's Cup may be a world-renowned sports event, but recent years have seen many facets of the competition undergo a transformation including the racecourse, the TV coverage, the spectators and the sailors themselves.

However, the greatest changes have perhaps come on the water with the boats themselves, helping to create an incredible visual spectacle that is unrivalled in sailing, let alone major global sport.

From the traditional monohulled vessels, such as Bertrand's iconic Australia II which was revolutionary for its time in 1983 with its winged keel, to the new-age vessels competing for the America's Cup this summer which are far more akin to F1 cars, flying across the water - this revolution in the boats used in the America's Cup further reinforces Bertrand's original view.

"We now have high-speed projectiles, operated by super-fast decision makers, and some incredibly close racing which is very cool," said Bertrand, skipper of Australia II in 1983, the boat which finally broke the 132-year stranglehold American teams had enjoyed on the America's Cup.

"I don't think anyone involved with selecting the boats on show out there could have ever envisaged just what they are capable of and what we have witnessed so far.

www.americascup.com

Ran Racing On Top
Porto Cervo, Italy: For two of the 2017 season's top 52 SUPER SERIES teams the familiar waters of Porto Cervo, Sardinia have been something of an emotional rollercoaster. The oft heard cliche that so competitive is the 52 SUPER SERIES fleet right now that one day you are in the penthouse, seemingly unstoppable, then, severely punished for the smallest of mistakes, you are languishing on the pavement.

On Day 1 of the Porto Cervo 52 SUPER SERIES Audi Sailing Week the defending 2016 champions Quantum Racing finished rock bottom of the leaderboard, counting maximum points, 12, after a finishing line infringement.

Today, in perfect conditions it was the turn of the world champions Platoon to have an unfortunate taste of life down in the nether regions of the fleet.

Harm Müller-Spreer's crew were over the start line on the first race today and finished last. Indeed the German flagged crew already have an aggregate of 22pts from three races, the same tally they won last month's World Championships over eight races in Scarlino.

On the up, Quantum Racing bounced back today in the style they have become known for. More often than not when they suffer a rare bad day then they are at their most accomplished in the races that follow. Today was no exception. The Terry Hutchinson, Doug DeVos, Ian Moore, Bora Gulari afterguard nailed a perfect pin end start. With space to leeward to drive into and accelerate.

Niklas Zennstrom's Ran Racing lead the regatta on 11pts with Vladimir Liubomirov's Bronenosec second on 14pts with three boats – Sled, Alegre, Provezza – all tied on 15pts. For Liubomirov's team who were ninth of ten at the World Championship the return to Porto Cervo and a change in the afterguard seems to be working.

Standings after three races
1. Ran Racing, Niklas and Catherine Zennstrom, SWE, 11 points
2. Bronenosec, Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS, 14
3. Sled, Takashi Okura, USA, 15
4. Alegre, Andy Soriano, GBR/USA, 15
5. Provezza, Ergin Imre, TUR, 15
6. Quantum Racing, Doug DeVos, USA, 16
7. Gladiator, Tony Langley, GBR, 17
8. Azzurra, Familia Roemmers, ITA/ARG, 18
9. Platoon, Harm Müller-Spreer, GER, 22
10. Paprec Recyclage, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA, 23
11. Sorcha, Peter Harrison, GBR, 29

www.52superseries.com

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Stunner
Designer Adolfo Carrau from Botín Partners and project manager Micky Costa take this opportunity to present to you... The Cannonball

Too much to digest!
There's been a lot going on at Volvo Towers in Alicante. James Boyd catches up with round the world race supremo Mark Turner

The flying mermaid
When will this foolish madness end? Jocelyn Bleriot takes a close look at the most crazy Ultim yet... with Guillaume Verdier, Sebastien Josse and Cyril Dardashti

Sobering
The pre-race period in Bermuda was far from easy for Land Rover BAR. Andy Claughton

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Barcelona fourth Act of the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series
The Extreme Sailing Series is set to return to Spain as Barcelona is announced as host for the fourth Act of the 2017 season, in a four-year deal with Host Venue Partner Fundacion Navegacion Oceanica de Barcelona, FNOB.

The cosmopolitan capital of Spain's Catalonia, a major tourist destination and one of the world's leading cultural and economic centres, is the final venue to be announced as part of the 2017 global tour.

From 20-23 July, Barcelona, where the 1992 Olympics were staged 25 years ago this summer, will become the fourth Olympic sailing venue to host the Series, alongside Qingdao, Rio and Sydney.

The free entry public Race Village will be located in front of the impressive structure of the W Barcelona hotel on the Placa Rosa dels Vents in the Barceloneta neighbourhood, the same location that the fleet of IMOCA 60s use to start and finish their epic voyage in the Barcelona World Race.

The Race Village will provide the perfect viewing arena for the racing, and will also offer a host of on-shore entertainment. Spectators can also watch the action for free from nearby Sant Sebastia, Barcelona's longest beach.

This will be the first time the ultimate Stadium Racing championship will be hosted in Spain since Almeria in 2011, and the first time since the Series transitioned to the hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans.

extremesailingseries.com

Light wind specialists shine at the Para World Sailing Championships
The Para Worlds, held alongside Kieler Woche (Kiel Week) sailing festival in Kiel, Germany, saw more than 80 sailors from 39 nations tested by an inconsistent 6-9 knot west north westerly breeze.

Two races were completed in the Open 2.4 Norlin OD, Men's Hansa 303 and Women's Hansa 303, all One Person Keelboats open to classified sailors with minimum disabilities.

Those who thrive in light wind and sailors with their thinking caps on, constantly looking for shifts and gains on the water, moved to the head of their respective fleets.

Christopher Symonds (AUS) took two race wins in the Men's Hansa 303 with Rio 2016 Paralympian Piotr Cichocki (POL) following on both occasions.

The Australian and Polish racers hold the gold and silver positions at the early stage of the regatta. Three-time Paralympic medallist Jens Kroker (GER) follows in third overall.

The forecast for the rest of the week is for stronger breeze

In the Women's Hansa 303, France's Magali Moraines and Spanish Rio 2016 Paralympian Violeta del Reino share the lead on four points.

Moraines took the opening race win and followed up with a fourth. Del Reino sailed consistently, finishing second in both races.

Daniel Bina of the Czech Republic was the surprise package in the 2.4 Norlin OD, grabbing a first and a third to lead the 43-boat fleet.

Full results at www.manage2sail.com

Andrew Simpson Foundation : The Sailing Charity at Lendy Cowes Week
With all of its regatta activations capitalising to the fullest extent on the high profile spotlight on Lendy Cowes Week, the Foundation's objectives are, above all, to inspire, educate and fundraise. Additionally, this is the perfect platform to also remind the huge sailing and shoreside audiences, including local businesses, sponsors and partners, to support the Foundation's flagship event, the world's largest annual sailing event, Bart's Bash, taking place over the weekend of 16-17 September.

The 'Face of the Foundation' is none other than Olympic sailor Mark Covell who won a Silver medal in the Star Class with Ian Walker in 2000. Since then Mark has carved out a successful career as a reporter, MC and broadcaster/commentator. He will be galvanising everyone into action on behalf of the Foundation and providing a daily morning overview of activities on Cowes Radio.

The highlight is surely the Charity Day, Monday, 31st July, when the first race sailed at Lendy Cowes Week has been designated the 'Cowes Bash'! As a reminder of why the Foundation was formed and in a nod to the global fundraiser 'Bart's Bash', results from all fleets will be pooled to find an overall winner for the day. After racing, the Foundation is then hosting 'The Big Bash' in Cowes Yacht Haven, a great big party with fabulous prizes and on-stage entertainment

On-water & on-shore activities at Lendy Cowes Week also include:

- Daily overview of activities with Mark Covell on Cowes Radio
- Daily 'Try Sailing' sessions for local community and youth groups and regatta visitors
- A Golden Ticket Draw for major prizes
- Cardboard Boat Race
- The 'Cowes Bash' race followed by the 'Big Bash' party!
- ASF Youth ambassadors sail with Sunsail
- A Careers Cafe at the Sugar Store/Shepards Wharf
- The Great British Sail Off
- 'Simpson Sunnies' (the absolute must-have accessory for sale at the regatta)
- Audience participation; fun & games on the Parade and Cowes Yacht Haven stages!
- Foundation Ambassador appearances

Prior to the regatta, the Foundation will publish the daily schedule on its website andrewsimpsonfoundation.org and armchair supporters can check in daily and follow the action on social media:

twitter.com/AndrewSimpsonFo
www.facebook.com/andrewsimpsonfoundation
www.instagram.com/andrewsimpsonfoundation

European Match Race Copenhagen
While local skipper Martin Boidin took the honours at the sixth European Match Race Tour event held in Copenhagen, eyes were on World #11, the Polish skipper Patryk Zbroja who closed the gap to overall leader Simon Bertheau to 10 points. Mads Degnegard defeated compatriot Henrik Christensen to complete the podium.

In a perfectly organized event by the Royal Danish Yachtclub (KDY), local favourite Boidin completed the round robin with a clean sheet, while Zbroja, already winner of two European Tour events in 2017, struggled at the start, but then showed great consistency to finish in second place. Windy conditions on the demanding DS 37 did not favour the lightweight crews of Tour leader Simon Bertheau from France and World #21 Max Trippolt from Austria. This left the podium open for another Danish skipper, Mads Degnegard.

With only one qualifying event left, Tour leader Simon Bertheau is already qualified for the Grand Final, where Patryk Zbroja will start his final attack only 10 points behind. Already qualified are Slovenian skipper World #19 Dejan Presen and Austria's two time Olympian Christian Binder.

Germany's Ploen will host the last qualifying event of the European Match Racing Tour from 25 to 27 August 2017 where the remaining four spots at the Grand Final will be decided.

The Grand Final is 8 - 10 September in Ravenna, Italy. -- Helmut Czasny-Bonomo

Top five places, European Match Race Tour after event 6 of 8
1. Simon Bertheau, FRA, 150
2. Patryk Zbroja, POL, 140
3. Dejan Presen, SLO, 110
4. Christian Binder, AUT, 100
5. Vladimir Lipavsky, RUS, 75

European Match Race Tour Copenhagen
Final Results
1. Martin Boidin, DEN
2. Patryk Zbroja, POL
3. Mads Degnegard, DEN
4. Henrik Christensen, DEN
5. Simon Bertheau, FRA
6. Max Trippolt. AUT
7. Jelmer van Beek. NED
8. Louise Christine Kristensen, DEN
9. Toby Austin-Fraser, NZL
10. Felix Jacobsen, DEN

www.facebook.com/europeanmatchracetour

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

Record: Bermuda to Plymouth. Monohull.
Yacht: "Talanta" Class 40
Name: Mikael Ryking. SWE. and crew Irina Gracheva. SWE
Dates:.2nd to the 15th June 2017
Start time: 02;09;04 UTC on 02/06/17
Finish time: 07;28;42 UTC on 15/06/17
Elapsed time: 13 days 5 hours 19 minutes and 38 seconds
Distance: 2870 NM
Average speed: 9.04 kts

Comments:
Initial Monohull Record

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
sailspeedrecords.com

* From James Gaskin:

I, like some of you have been fascinated with the America's Cup for many years, I love the anticipation of the Cup Races, I enjoy the bewildering tactics employed by all teams to be at the pinnacle of development and I am always impressed with the innovation that is on offer. Innovation which through time, like any top sport (thinking F1) does filter down into normal facets of life and sport. We need such endeavours to spark and interest the curiosity and development of humanity, please do not knock it for the sake of being politically correct. Although it can seem like a circus, there are benefits to all, plus some lively entertainment - I am currently revelling in some Oracle bashing, let's hope the five day development window keeps Team NZ on top.

What interests me is the seeming development leaps that are being made in the area of Aero and Hydro Foils. Taking account of the fabulous achievements of Paul Larsen and the team at Sailrocket to push the Speed Sailing Record to 67 Knots. I wonder how the developments achieved through this America's Cup cycle could push the ultimate speed record further. The understanding and devotion we have employed to improving all foils and their performance could surely push this boundary to 100 Knots, in time.

For no other reason, than it would be fun. I dearly wish for some cross pollination of ideas to allow humanity to continue to strive forward. You could argue that it is through pursuits such as these that the idea of kites on container ships and other fuel saving ideas have been developed. Could this lead to automated, sail powered cargo vessels of the future, plus a new speed sailing record - I dearly hope so.

Let the cup live long in our hearts, make sure it is tough, because out of adversity some brilliance always come forth.

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The Last Word
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -- Frederick Douglass

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Match point Emirates Team New Zealand
Day four of the America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, belonged firmly to Peter Burling and the New Zealand team who comfortably won the two scheduled races of the day, races seven and eight of the final stage of the 35th America's Cup.

Having won race six on Saturday, ORACLE TEAM USA went into the second Sunday of the America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, looking to gain more ground on their Kiwi rivals, but the New Zealand juggernaut had found its pace again and was unbeatable in similar weather conditions to day three, Saturday 24th June.

The America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton leaderboard now stands at 6-1 to Emirates Team New Zealand who need only one more race to take the 'Auld Mug' back to their home country.

For ORACLE TEAM USA, this is familiar ground, and nobody would write off the Defenders who so memorably staged one of, if not the, greatest comebacks in sport when they pulled back from an 8-1 deficit to win the 2013 America's Cup 9-8 against the same rivals.

Racing is scheduled to resume at 2.00pm on Monday 26th June with races nine and ten in the America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, taking place on Bermuda's Great Sound.

americascup.com

This cake is pretty well baked
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

There are people remembering the comeback of all time in 2013. Same teams, same situation with ETNZ on match point and Oracle with a very steep hill to climb. But the situation is much different. There is no "low hanging fruit" this time. The boats are very developed and there is no 10% increase in boat speed to be found over night. If there is to be a comeback, it is going to be through exceptional sailing on the part of the USA team, something that frankly has been glaringly missing in the America's Cup.

It isn't that the Kiwis are doing exceptional things. They are fast, but so is Oracle now. They are sailing consistently and they make high percentage decisions. On top of that, Oracle is making it easy for the Kiwis. This entire series, starting with the start of race 1 when the American team was penalized for being over the start line early, has been a demonstration of sub par sailing by USA. The start of the second race of today was an example of that. Spithill tried to get tricky and Burling simply hooked him, parked him and left him for dead.

The world was expecting a different American team following on from the win in race 6 and solving their speed deficit of the first 4 races. Yet, right from the start of both races today, the Americans were on the back foot...14 seconds worth in race 2. You can't beat this Kiwi team sailing like that. Then the Americans even sailed out of bounds in race 2. How? Why? Hard to understand.

The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same; 5-10 knots of balmy, humid wind. Just like the Kiwis like it. It could all be over by 14:35 tomorrow.

But Jimmy Spithill is vowing to take it one race at a time. He says they have the speed to win but admits they needs to sail better. The lineup of the crew came into question at the post race press conference and Jimmy said; "Everything is on the table". He said that he and Tom Slingsby will make the crew decisions for tomorrow just a they have always done. I think substituting someone for Spithill as this stage would be suicidal. The Kiwis tried that in 1992 with Russell Coutts coming in for Rod Davis and as good as we all know Russell is, it didn't work. The only way to victory for this team is to hang together and sail perfectly, 6 times. But they only need to, and only can, win one race at time.

It is a very, very tall order. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

Second IRC Nationals title for Whooper
With a near perfect scoreline, Giovanni Belgrano's 1939 classic yacht Whooper was today crowned 2017 champion at the Royal Ocean Racing Club's IRC Nationals. Today, two windward-leeward races were held on the Solent in similar brisk southwesterlies to the first two days. This year's event may not have been an 'all-round test' weather-wise, but has been extremely challenging in terms of preparation and boat handling.

During the event Whooper, a classic Laurent Giles sloop that was previously IRC National Champion in 2004, scored six bullets, a fourth and a discardable DNF in the final race.

Whooper is no rating demon. She is optimised with modern sails and Belgrano has an experienced crew who do 60-70 races/year.

Elsewhere, the racing was extremely close. In the FAST 40+, Johnny Vincent's Pace fended off charges from Peter Morton's brand new Carkeek 40 Mk3, Girls on Film to win by a slender two points. Today Pace scored a 1-3 to Girls on Film's 2-1.

IRC One concluded with a dog fight for the lead between the Ker 46 Lady Mariposa and Ker 40 Keronimo. The larger boat held a two point lead going into the final race in which they suffered a major blow, being over the start line early.

Finally they managed to shake Keronimo off and were able to get up to speed until they had to make a last minute change to their lighter spinnaker, despite the wind building to above 20 knots. "We were praying that it would hold to the finish," recalled Hardy. Ultimately finishing fourth to Keronimo's second left them tied on points, claiming IRC One on countback.

In IRC Two there was a leader change with Ed Fishwick's Sun Fast 3600 Redshift Reloaded, leader all weekend, finally trounced by Adam Gosling's JPK 1080+ Yes! who came very close to successfully defending their IRC Nationals title.

As to relinquishing the IRC National title to Whooper, Gosling said: "Giovanni sails really well. He's campaigned Whooper for a long time. It is nice to see an old boat win."

www.rorc.org/racing/race-results/2017-results

Nicolas Lunven wins La Solitaire Urgo le Figaro
Saturday morning at 8:16 local time Nicolas Lunven on board his Beneteau Figaro 2 Generali crossed the Stage 4 finish line completing the gruelling 505-mile course from Concarneau to Dieppe in fourth place, securing the top of the General Standings in La Solitaire Urgo le Figaro.

Today marks Lunven's second victory in the Solitaire. He has competed in eight editions of the race and secured his first win in 2009.

"This race with equal weapons is difficult and so demanding, it's probably my greatest victory, so much work has been going on for the past two years," Lunven said.

Taking second place in the final standings Adrien Hardy (Agir Recouvrement), who arrived at the dock completely exhausted after finishing Stage 4 in 12th position.

A bold decision on the English coast, opting for the more offshore route meant Hardy tumbled 20 places down the leaderboard. Working relentlessly right through the night until the finish, Hardy managed to claw back 10 of those places to retain second place on the overall podium. Justine Mettraux (Teamwork) retains her place in the top 10 standing of the fourth Stage, finishing in ninth. This result enough to take seventh in the General standings, beating her closest rival by less than 3 minutes.

Mettraux is the highest ranked International competitor and also the top female in the 2017 edition.

www.mysailing.com.au/offshore/

Final top ten:
1. Nicolas Lunven, Generali, 10j 7h 8mn 52sec total elapsed time over four legs
2. Adrien Hardy, Agir Recouvrement, 34mn 32sec behind Lunven
3. Charlie Dalin, Skipper Macif 2015, 57mn 1sec
4. Sebastien Simon, Bretagne - Credit Mutuel Performance, 1h 2mn 55sec
5. Gildas Mahe, Action Contre La Faim, 1h 35mn 59sec
6. Yann Elies , Queguiner - Leucemie Espoir, 1h 53mn 12sec
7. Justine Mettraux, Teamwork, 2h 25mn 21sec
8. Xavier Macaire, Groupe Snef , 2h 28mn 38sec
9. Alexis Loison, Custopol, 2h 32mn 3sec
10. Damien Cloarec, Saferail, 2h 35mn 14sec

www.lasolitaire-urgo.com

Second Life
Dodge Morgan's famous round-the-world yacht American Promise is back out there crossing the oceans where she belongs

'A key element of The Schmidt Family Foundation strategy is to provide the resources for grantees to be successful at what they do. At 11th Hour Racing we leverage the platform of sport to broaden the connections between grantees, sponsorship and ambassadors, and we broadcast these inspiring stories to a larger, more diverse audience,' says Todd McGuire, programme director of Newportbased 11th Hour Racing.

In the summer of 2016 11th Hour Racing grantee Rozalia Project sailed research vessel American Promise up the Hudson River to conduct the Hudson River Microfibre Sampling Expedition. This famous stretch of fresh and brackish water was a perfect laboratory: a giant river running through one of the most densely populated regions in the world.

Onboard American Promise particles were captured through 'grab samples', water samples passed through vacuum filters. Fibres from manmade sources, plastic and non-plastic, such as cotton textiles, were painstakingly counted under a microscope to measure microfibre contamination up and down the river - from the remote alpine regions to New York Harbour. These fibres easily enter the food chain and can ultimately end up on our plates.

Full article in the July issue of Seahorse magazine: www.seahorsemagazine.com

Ran Racing Rise To Win From A Dramatic Porto Cervo Finale
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

From one of the most dramatic last day 52 SUPER SERIES finales, Niklas and Catherine Zennstrom's Ran Racing won the Porto Cervo 52 SUPER SERIES Audi Sailing Week title on the last downwind.

While there was elation for the ice cool Swedish owner-driver and his hard working crew there was huge disappointment for Quantum Racing and for Provezza who both within minutes of each other had one hand on the top prize, before gear failures successively dropped them from contention.

Without question this fourth regatta of the 2017 52 SUPER SERIES has been an emotional roller coaster for many teams. But while the elation for the Ran Racing crew bubbled over immediately after finishing, winning their first event since Valencia's 2015 season opener, the unfortunate gear failures robbed first Quantum Racing of the title when they were lying six points clear at the top of the event standings, with - as disappointed tactician Terry Hutchinson pointed out - 'just 12 minutes of the race left to sail'.

A strop inside the boat which supports the forestay gave way just after the leeward gate turn. Only their quick reactions saved their rig. According to Hutchinson the failure is believed to be the same as caused Alegre to lose their mast on Friday.

In the blustery 21-23kts Mistral conditions Ergin Imre's Provezza had just got themselves into a winning position at the top of the last beat. They were chasing leaders Azzurra round the last mark of the course, and so leading the three way tie between them, Ran Racing and Bronenosec. Whichever crew crossed the finish line first after Azzurra would win the regatta. Suddenly Provezza had one hand on the Porto Cervo title, and with it a chance to atone for Key West in January where they shed a two point lead on the last day with a bad start. But no sooner had they taken the regatta lead than a shackle failed on the kite during the hoist. Unable to sheet the spinnaker on they were almost dead in the water, struggling to find a solution as Ran Racing surfed past in spumes of spray. For Ran Racing there was echoes of Miami in 2013 when they surfed past a broaching Azzurra on the last leg to win the TP52 World Championship.

With four regatta sailed of the six which comprise the 2017 52 SUPER SERIES, four different teams have won event titles, Quantum Racing in Key West, Azzurra in Miami, Platoon at the World Championship in Scarlino and now Ran Racing.

Porto Cervo 52 SUPER SERIES Audi Sailing Week (Final)
1. Ran Racing, Niklas and Catherine Zennstrom, SWE, 34 points
2. Bronenosec, Vladimir Liubomirov, RUS, 35
3. Quantum Racing, Doug DeVos, USA, 38
4. Azzurra, Familia Roemmers, ITA/ARG, 39
5. Gladiator, Tony Langley, GBR, 39
6. Provezza, Ergin Imre, TUR, 39
7. Platoon, Harm Muller-Spreer, GER, 44
8. Sled, Takashi Okura, USA, 52
9. Paprec Recyclage, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, FRA, 68
10. Sorcha, Peter Harrison, GBR, 72
11. Alegre, Andres Soriano GBR/USA, 73.5

Full results: www.52superseries.com

* From Euan Ross:

Déjà vous all over again

Fremantle 1987: Dennis Connor optimises his boat for the hard weather which habitually characterises the month of the Cup Match and struggles with variable form in the qualifiers when the breeze is soft. The Kiwis have the best record until the latter stages of the qualifiers. Then the wind kicks in and the nimble 'Kiwi Magic' is neutralised by the lumbering dragster 'Stars and Stripes 87'.

The Aussies, who only need to sail in the final, make the same mistake as the Challengers, with the home syndicates prioritising winning their trials over winning the Cup. All the Australian boats could be moded for heavy airs, but were basically classic compromises - even the eventual Defender 'Kookaburra III' designed by this week's PRO. The result, of course, was inevitable.

The 2017 Defence could end tomorrow or there could be another unbelievable comeback but, whatever happens, it seems that the lessons of 1987 were taken to heart by TNZ. The Kiwis doubled down on the crucial mode of marginal foiling, while it appears that Oracle has sought to avoid weakness across the spectrum. There is no doubt that the Yanks can win in the mid to upper wind-range, but they are now between a rack and a hard place in Bermuda where the breeze is forecast to remain substantially light for at least the next two weeks. Bring it on!

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The Last Word
It's strange how the simple things in life go on while we become more difficult. -- Richard Brautigan

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

In This Issue
Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand win the 35th America's Cup | ORACLE TEAM USA Congratulates Emirates Team New Zealand | O'Leary Life Sovereigns Cup | Harken and the America's Cup: Bermuda and Beyond | Queen Mary 2 Leaves French Four In Her Wake But Resists Luffing | Finn Gold Cup Anniversary Regatta | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | 750 miles on a Standup Paddleboard | Rolex Middle Sea Race Notice Of Race | Letters to the Editor | Featured Brokerage

Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand win the 35th America's Cup
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Another dominant race win for Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand in race nine of the America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, gave the Kiwi team victory on the Great Sound in Bermuda, sparking wild celebrations on board their America's Cup Class (ACC) boat, and the team's support boats on the Great Sound.

The Kiwi team dominated the final stage of the 35th America's Cup, winning eight races to ORACLE TEAM USA's one race win, giving the New Zealanders a final winning scoreline of 7-1.

The America's Cup was last won by a team representing New Zealand in 2000 and they are now the Defenders of the America's Cup for the 36th instalment of the competition for the oldest trophy in international sport.

Quotes and insights from the leading players in both Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE TEAM USA will follow soon.

America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton Race Nine

Race nine started with both Emirates Team New Zealand and ORACLE TEAM USA enjoying clean starts and engaged in a drag race to the first mark, the US team edging just ahead but then losing ground to their rivals on the run to the second mark.

Burling was serene at the helm of the Kiwi boat, displaying no nerves as he steered his team towards glory, but Spithill and the ORACLE TEAM USA crew were not giving up, pushing harder than ever to try and take the tie to race ten. However, it was not to be.

By the third mark the Challenge's lead was up to 26 seconds, increasing further still at the fourth mark, up to 34 seconds, and from that point, barring mistakes by Burling and his all-conquering Emirates Team New Zealand crew, the die was cast.

ORACLE TEAM USA managed to peg back their rivals slightly in the latter stages of the race, but New Zealand sealed their win in impressive style, crossing the finish line for the final time in the 35th America's Cup 55 seconds ahead of the US team.

americascup.com

ORACLE TEAM USA Congratulates Emirates Team New Zealand
ORACLE TEAM USA offers its sincere congratulations to Emirates Team New Zealand. The team is a worthy champion.

"On behalf of ORACLE TEAM USA I want to congratulate Emirates Team New Zealand," said skipper Jimmy Spithill.

"They were the complete package and fully deserving of the win.

"Thank you to our families, friends, partners and supporters. You've been with us every step of the way.

"I'd also like to thank Bermuda for hosting a fantastic America's Cup. What you saw here was some of the best racing in the history of the event and you have to credit the vision of Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts for passing the event over in such a strong position."

Team founder Larry Ellison addressed the team after racing, saying: "I am very proud to be a part of this team. We gave it everything.

"When you compete against the very best in the world, you aren't going to win every time. We did it Valencia in 2010 and in San Francisco in 2013. But this was New Zealand's time and we congratulate them for a great win."

O'Leary Life Sovereigns Cup
Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club. Photo by David Branigan/Oceansport, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image to enlarge.

There was no doubt about the overall winner of the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club at the weekend when a standout performance by Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold delivered the trophy to Waterford Harbour Sailing Club.

Straight wins across the series - a string of six bullets - in Class 1 IRC which was the largest division with 16 boats out of the 98-strong fleet meant McConnell's result was the best score of the event.

Pat Kelly's J109 Storm from Howth YC followed victory at the Scottish Series barely a month ago with straight second place finishes against the Dunmore East-based Fool's Gold.

With no fewer than 11 J109's taking part in the division, a separate title was sailed within the series. However, as Storm is currently ineligible for J109 one-design racing, the class title went to John Maybury's Joker II, just one point ahead of Andrew Algeo's Juggerknot with Timothy and Richard Goodbody's White Mischief in third place; all three boats sail from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.

In the 1720 European Championships, run as part of the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup this year, Anthony O'Leary's Antix was crowned 2017 Champion denying overall victory from his son Peter, a double Olympian veteran.

In Class Zero, Tony Ackland's Dark Angel claimed two bullets on the final day to come home ahead of Conor Phelan's Jump Juice and Johnny Mordaunt's eye-catching Tshcuss. There was some consolation for the Jump Juice team when they were awarded the Michelle Dunne Prix d'Elegance for the best presented boat at the 2017 regatta.

Local boat Artful Dodger, skippered by former Kinsale YC Commodore Finbarr O'Regan claimed overall victory in Class 2 IRC by the tightest of margins, squeezing out Kieran Collins' Coracle VI by just 0.5 points after six races. Overall 2015 Sovereign's Cup winner Equinox, skippered by Ross McDonald mounted a worthy defence of her crown to third place overall by a narrow 0.5 point margin.

In the Coastal Class, as Friday's programme was cancelled due to high winds, there was no series discard so after the three races, the overall podium positions in IRC and ECHO were identical. Conor Doyle's Freya, fresh from a broken boom in KYC's Spring Series, claimed top spot, despite not matching her race winning exploits of Wednesday and Thursday. The Coastal Class was locked out by Kinsale boats with the Carroll Brothers' Chancer second overall and with John Godkin's Godot finishing the event in third place.

Full results are available here: www.sovereignscup.com

Harken and the America's Cup: Bermuda and Beyond
From the era of trim tabs on the 12 Meters to the hydraulic foil adjustments on today's amazing flying machines, technology has always played an enormous roll in the America's Cup. And the 35th iteration was no different - cutting edge hardware solutions implemented by brilliant sailors making immediate decisions under incredible stress--brimming over with the drive to win.

Where will the new Defender take us? Who can say? But be assured, Harken will be there, armed with the latest thinking to fuel the skills of competitors in the battle for sailing's greatest trophy. It's been our honor and privilege to work with all of these remarkable teams--At The Front of sailing... where Harken must be.

harken.com

Queen Mary 2 Leaves French Four In Her Wake But Resists Luffing
After enjoying a magnificent start from the place of its birth in St Nazaire on Sunday, the Queen Mary 2 has powered into a commanding lead of over 250 miles after 24 hours of racing in The Bridge Centennial Transat race. She has left the four giant trimarans in her long wake. In the battle behind, the veteran record-breaker Francis Joyon and his crew on IDEC Sport reeled in the young gun Francois Gabart and MACIF on Monday afternoon to lead by 9 miles at the 19:00 ranking (French time)

The only regret for the Queen Mary 2's captain, Chris Wells, is that he was not allowed perform what would have been the largest luffing manoeuvre in history after the starting gun sounded.

"The first and most important thing is that currently I am in the lead," Wells, who has been captain of Queen Mary 2 since 2008, said, tongue maybe partially in cheek. "I was a little disappointed as the gun went off that I was not allowed to accelerate very fast because we had to give enough room for the four trimarans to get ahead of me to allow them to tack in the channel. I could have been like Mr Lewis Hamilton and squeezed into the space quicker but we did have the race director on the bridge with me, so we had to wait. It would have been a magnificent luffing manoeuvre. But, I was a British gentleman and allowed them to go first."

Wells will average 23.2 knots covering just over 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, speeds easily within the compass of these Ultime-class trimarans in different conditions to the anticyclonic ridge that greeted them in the Bay of Biscay. Joyon has been averaging 13 knots. They may be nimble for their size, but the QM2 has a 157,000-horsepower engine plant to call on allowing her to churn out a metronomic 540 miles a day.

From Tuesday, the face of the race should radically change and take a completely different turn with an approaching a low-pressure system, which should allow sail racers to seriously speed up the pace. The south-westerly will intensify (up to 20 knots) and switch to the north-west," Vittet added. The boats that catch these winds first will begin to open up the first significant gaps and match the speed of their steel leader.

www.thebridge2017.com

Finn Gold Cup Anniversary Regatta
Palamos, Spain: The Trofeo 40 Aniversario de la Palamos Finn Gold Cup 1977 drew to a close on Sunday with no more racing possible with persistent cloud, light rain and an almost non-existent wind. So the results stand from Saturday with Miguel Fernandez-Vasco winning from Alejandro Muscat and Paul Mckenzie.

The event was held to commemorate the 1977 Finn Gold Cup which was plagued by political problems and caused the Finn Gold Cup to be withdrawn from the competition, and the event being renamed the Finn World Week. Last night at a vineyard inland, the Finn Gold Cup was finally handed over to the winner of the 1977 Finn World Week, Joaquín Blanco and he became an official Finn World Champion for the first time, with his name finally engraved on the Cup.

Overall winner, Fernandez-Vasco said, "I am happy because this is a regatta for the Spanish circuit, and with 32 boats it is the result of good work by the National Secretary before me, Victor Serrano, who was working so hard to build the fleet to more than 40 boats. In particular, the Masters fleet is so important to build the youth and the senior fleets."

On winning the weekend, "I am so happy because I am sentimental and yesterday with Joaquín's recognition for his Gold Cup win, 40 years ago, it was such a happy moment for us and to win this regatta 40 years later with Josele Doreste and Alex Muscat, one of the best sailors in Spain, is so nice for me, especially ahead the Spanish Championship in two months."

"I want to thank the International Finn Association for coming here and supporting this event, and showing that this regatta was important."

Final results
1. Miguel Fernandez Vasco, ESP, 5 points
2. Alejandro Muscat, ESP, 5
3. Paul Mckenzie, AUS, 10
4. Jose Luis Doreste Blanco, ESP, 14
5. Dorian Gachon, FRA, 18
6. Carlos Ordonez Sanchez, ESP, 18
7. Joaquin Blanco, ESP, 19
8. Francisco Castaner, ESP, 27
9. Miguel angel Cabrerizo Morales, ESP, 29
10. Miquel Alvarez Valls, ESP, 36

Full results www.cvpalamos.org

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Not so simple
Who better than a cycling nut to send to unravel Emirates Team New Zealand's 'power cell'? Richard Aspland

Unprecedented
Technology among the resurgent J-Class is only heading in one direction with rig technology at the forefront of development

Faster and faster
The new 65-footer from Mylius is just the latest example of a type of boat that would once have been considered inconceivable

Second life
Dodge Morgan's famous round-the-world yacht American Promise is back out there crossing the oceans where she belongs

Special rates for Scuttlebutt Europe subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code SB2

1yr Print Sub: €77 - £48 - $71 / Rest of the World: £65 www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

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Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

750 miles on a Standup Paddleboard
Ketchikan, Alaska, USA: Hot damn! Team Heart of Gold on a 19' custom Standup Paddleboard has finished the Race to Alaska! The first and only SUP competitor to complete the 750-mile race course. Karl Kruger, 45 from Orcas Island, Washington solo paddled the 710-mile stage two leg from Victoria, BC to Ketchikan, AK in 14 days, 6 hours and 17 minutes ahead of almost a dozen other teams.

This was Kruger's second attempt at the R2AK. Last year, he was forced to quit after approximately 100 miles when his board broke. Two other SUP racers competed in this year's race but both exited midway up the course.

The annual Race to Alaska (R2AK) is a 750-mile race open to all engineless vessels, and has no handicaps or classes and a $10,000 first prize. Second prize is a set of steak knives.

https://r2ak.com

Rolex Middle Sea Race Notice Of Race
Valletta, Malta: The 38th edition of the iconic Rolex Middle Sea Race is scheduled for Saturday 21st October 2017.

Full details about the Race can be found on the Notice of Race which is available online and can be accessed on the event's official website www.rolexmiddlesearace.com or collected from the Royal Malta Yacht Club Secretariat.

Entries may be submitted on line through the event website and close on the 6th October 2017.

Participants are nevertheless encouraged to submit their entry early to assist the organisation with their preparation for the event.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race is truly an international race and so far entries from over fifteen countries have been received with Spain and the United Kingdom leading the fleet – we expect more to be added to the list in the coming weeks.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race starts on Saturday, 21st October 2017 and the final Prize Giving ceremony will be held on Saturday, 28th October 2017.

For further information about the race please contact the Royal Malta Yacht Club via email on info@rmyc.org or on +356 2133 3109.

* From Ernesto Bertarelli:

Congratulations to Emirates Team New Zealand for their much deserved victory in this America's Cup. Their innovation and determination is an example to everyone in competitive sport, and a reminder of the passion and ingenuity that is at the heart of the Cup.

Combined with the incredible sporting talent of the sailing team, helmed by the remarkable Peter Burling, they have taken our sport to a new level. Well done, thank you and enjoy your celebrations!!

* From Phil Ross:

In reply to Euan Ross: you are quite correct, realised after the 1987 Cup that the racing was not decided on the water, it was decided four years prior around the design table. Once you start on a design path it is very difficult to change - both philosophically as well as in a manufacturing sense

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The Last Word
But I'll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything. -- Alan Watts

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Dalton: We almost didn't make it...
The financial strains of Team NZ's 2017 America's Cup campaign almost saw it crash to a halt altogether, revealed CEO Grant Dalton.

Dalton told TVNZ that staff almost missed out on having their salaries paid in June as the pressure of the purse-strings began to tell.

"Ironically, we pay salaries on the 15th of each month, and until we won the Louis Vuitton a week and a half ago, I couldn't actually pay the 15th salaries so it's been pretty tight," said Dalton.

Team members were on reduced wages throughout the campaign, with the government opting to pull their funding following the move of the round-robin series from its original destination of Auckland to Bermuda.

It got so bad that at one stage, Dalton even considered giving up on the 2017 regatta altogether.

Ultimately a $5 million grant was made in order to help the Kiwis retain some of their talent following San Francisco, but decided against any further public grants under the weight of taxpayer pressure.

www.newshub.co.nz

A proud nation!
It’s done and dusted. The Kiwis were a force too strong to be reckoned with. They innovated and backed themselves! The Cup now returns to New Zealand where a nation that is passionate about sailing and will embrace it with gusto.

Monday'’s race was just a rerun of the other 8. Groundhog Day. Nine knots of wind, sunny, warm, and a faster Kiwi boat being pedaled by four cyclists, carrying a very talented young sailor around in an armchair. He hardly looked like he was in a competition..more like a Sunday drive. Peter Burling, 26 years old, becomes the youngest helmsman to win the America’s Cup surpassing Jimmy Spithill who won at the age of 30 in 2010. How would it be to win a gold medal and then the America’s Cup all in 10 months at the age of 26? What do you do for the next 30 years?

The Island nation of Bermuda was a spectacular host in every way. The crystal clear water, the warm gentle breeze and the friendly people. It was a gem of a regatta.

Now it’s over to the Kiwis to make the rules? What kind of boat will it be? Mono hull or multihull? When will it be? Where will it be? I think there will be a large number of challengers least initially. Bertelli, Bertarelli, DeVos, New York Yacht Club, BAR, Artemis, Japan, France, Australia. I expect at least 12 challengers at the outset with about 9 showing up. Maybe the Kiwis and their Italian friends, Mateo de Nora and Patricia Bertelli will go for a large (80-90′) monohull, fixed keel, masthead roller furling headsails downwind, 15 crew. The boats could be quite fast, not as fast at the cats, but there would be plenty of action onboard. They will probably go for a 100% nationality requirement as this is the tradition of the America’s Cup and it suits the Kiwis. They will wait 4 years to host the Cup. But what do I know, it’s all just speculation. There will be plenty of that in the next few months.

I do think this America’s Cup was amongst the best ever. The television was the best ever, the village was the best ever, the races were short and sharp and the boats were shockingly fast! The whole event was shrunk down to 5 weeks. There is a lot that was good there. Hopefully the Kiwis can build on that. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

Partner Relationships
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Transpac Starts in One Week
Los Angeles, California, USA: The first wave of three starts to the 49th edition of the 2017 biennial Transpac Race starts next Monday, July 3rd, when 17 yachts in three monohull divisions will cross the start line at Point Fermin in Los Angeles to race to the finish at Diamond Head in Honolulu 2225 miles away. In addition, one yacht in the multihull division - Jerzy Poprawski's catamaran Kastor Pollux - will make the start this day as well.

The starting gun will fire at 1:00 PM Pacific time, with the first (and only) mark of the course being to leave the West End of Catalina Island to port, 26 miles away. From there its over the horizon for a journey that could take some as long as 2 weeks, others as short as a few days depending on weather and size and speed of their boats.

Those that start on Monday will be the slowest boats in the fleet of 55 entries, with faster boats starting in another wave on Wednesday, July 5th and the fastest starting on Thursday July 6th, all at 1:00 PM except for the Multihulls on Thursday starting at 1:30.

From 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM on Sunday, July 2nd Circle Porsche is hosting Porsche Palooza, a fun day featuring test drives, new models from Porsche, and an impressive collection of 50 vintage models as well. Food, music, and many of the boats participating in Transpac will also be on display. The event is open to the public and is being held at Gladstone's and the Pine Street Pier in Long Beach.

For those interested in viewing the race firsthand on a spectator boat, contact Karen Edwards at Kledwards1010@gmail.com. Media interested in attendance must first register with the event at the Press registration page found at yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=4073. From on land the start may be seen from a cliff-top view at the historic lighthouse at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro.

2017.transpacyc.com

Tris Begin To Fly
The Queen Mary 2 looks unbeatable at the front of the The Bridge - Centennial Transat but during the second day of racing on Tuesday she was finally being outpaced as the “Ultime” class trimarans behind her spread their wings and began to fly.

After heading north, just west of the British Isles to get through the anticyclone that faced them in the Bay of Biscay from the start, all four have now tacked west. IDEC Sport (Francis Joyon) and MACIF (Franvois Gabart) were first to the depression and were making over 30 knots as they continued to exchange the lead. At the 19:00 ranking, Joyon was leading, with Gabart 13 miles behind, with 2,351 miles of the 3,152-mile course to New York to go.

But unlike the QM2, heading directly to New York at 24 knots, the trimarans are having to square the great circle. “The race is anything but straightforward,” Joyon said. “There’s no direct route in sight, and a lot of depressions to negotiate. It reminds me of my English Transats.”

Sodebo (Thomas Colville) lost ground overnight and in the morning, and was 85 miles behind, but was also making over 30 knots by the afternoon.

Actual (Yves Le Blevec) was 200 miles behind Joyon, but gradually revving up over 20 knots. Samantha Davies, the only Briton in the race, on Actual reported this morning that even before they tacked west life was already becoming more difficult as their boat began to jump the waves.

Mervyn Wheatley, a 73-year-old ex-Royal Marine from Newton Ferrers, competing in the race for the fifth time, was taking on water through a smashed port hole after his 38-footer, Tamarind, was knocked flat in reported 60 knot winds and 15-metre waves. When the QM2 arrived to save him he had to scupper his yacht to avoid it being a danger to other shipping.

www.thebridge2017.com

Doug Peterson
On the same day the United States lost the America’s Cup to New Zealand, a San Diegan who designed Cup-winning boats for both countries died after a long bout with cancer.

Doug Peterson, a longtime Point Loma resident and San Diego Yacht Club member, was 71. His friend, Chris Calkins, said Peterson died Monday in a San Diego hospital.

Peterson was one of the top yacht designers in the world in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, then revived his career in the 1990s. He was voted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame earlier this year; the induction ceremony is scheduled for October at the USS Midway Museum.

In the mid-1970s, Peterson’s designs, often in partnership with Dennis Conner, dominated offshore racing contests.

In 1992 he joined with Bill Koch’s group and helped design America3, which defended the Cup in San Diego. Three years later, he wasn’t hired for the defense so he joined Team New Zealand as one of its lead designers and helped the Kiwis’ Black Magic win the Cup, again in San Diego, over Conner’s Stars and Stripes.

“A whole generation of yacht designers worked at some point for him and went on to be the principle designers during the past 30 years,” said Calkins. “He had a passion for the traditions of design and yachting.”

Peterson is survived by four children - Mark, Jamie, Laura and Julia.

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Super-Senior Gauntlet Thrown Down by Fred Seeley (age 89) Series
The second Annual Thomas Point Lighthouse Race - a long distance race for Solings - from the Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis Harbor to - and around in either direction - the Thomas Point Lighthouse and return - will be conducted on Saturday, August 19th.

This year the event will include (for the first time) the Fred Seeley Esteemed Master´s Challenge.

The Fred Seeley Challenge is restricted to helmsmen over age 89 (Fred´s age) and is particularly directed at Stu Walker (who recently turned 94). One would think that Stu, sailing his own boat in his home waters and benefiting from having sailed the race last year, would be greatly advantaged over Fred, who will be sailing a borrowed boat far from his usual venues off Martha´s Vineyard and is handicapped by never having seen the course. But then Stu is handicapped by his visual loss (from macular degeneration) and the high likelihood that he will run into something (probably Fred) before the race is over.

Last year in a 12-14 knot gradient southwesterly Stu led the race under spinnaker for the first three miles down Annapolis Harbor - only to be overtaken on the beat to the lighthouse by the entire fleet who, looking for more wind, had ventured into the strong flood current in mid-Bay. But Stu was far to their right, dodging the adverse current inshore, when the local sea breeze and an abrupt 30 degree backing shift appeared. The mid-Bay boats rounded the lighthouse - and finished - far ahead.

The Thomas Point Lighthouse Race was conceived by Stu Walker as a summer variant of the highly popular New Year´s Day Ice Bowl Race up the Severn, around St Helena´s Island (in either direction) and back. All Solings are invited to participate in the annual Ice Bowl as they are to participate in the annual Thomas Point Lighthouse Race.

For the first time the event (August 19th) is also a call to all helmsmen over 89 to join Fred and Stu in a battle for the ages!

(Article written by Stuart Walker)

* After much consideration with members of his crew and other senior advisors, Fred Seeley has agreed to reduce the entrance age for the Esteemed Masters Challenge from 89 (his age) to 85, to bring in young blood (and thus providing a clearer path to victory by bringing into play additional competitors for Stuart Walker to run into, evil thought though that may be).

Further thought is being given to establishing a JV Class of 70 to 85, with the understanding that such competitors would not qualify for the Esteemed Masters Challenge, the Gauntlet, instead would be striving for the Mitten.

This contentious issue is being discussed and further news is to be expected. Advice from interested parties is welcomed.

Additionally, on the advice of his legal counsel, in order that the competition be free from any charges of undisclosed unfair advantages, Fred has admitted that he has, in fact, just had a successful cataract operation, which should enable him to see fairly (?) well by August 19th

* From Barry Pickthall:

Back in 2013, the world and I were locked on the edge of their seats as Jimmy Spitall, Ben Ainslie and the Oracle America’s Cup team secured the biggest comeback in sporting history. Millions watched the action live on the web and as the sporting miracle evolved sailing won thousands of new fans.

2017. The outcome didn’t even make last night's BBC News. There has been no coverage on the web and TV footage in the UK has been limited to pay-per-view on BT Sport.

Yes the BBC did run a highlight package the day after, but once we have found out who had won, interest wains/

There was also an App but judging from the reviews this was not up to much:

by buoyracer32
"A poor app which is not easy to use and which does not give full information about each race. Could be a lot better"

Flakey App
by RobWinter44
"Virtual Eye disappointingly unreliable. Missed all the serious action of the final".

Keeps crashing
by Andy20392
"Paid for this app by mistake, wanted to watch a video, asked me for my Touch ID and next thing I know it thanks me for my purchase! So I just go with it and find that the App just keeps crashing and the content is so sparse you're better off on google news or YouTube. Rubbish!!”

I paid for a subscription, but then found that being in the UK, we were locked out of the fead!

This was short-sighted greed on the part of the Cup holders. Bermuda paid $80 million to put their Island on the world map. Land Rover shelled out the better part of £100m to promote their cars. Did either realise how few would be watching the Cup when they signed their cheques?

Congratulations to Grant Dalton and his Team New Zealand. Lets hope the Kiwis have a better view on how to present the Cup.

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The Last Word
Tis an ill wind that blows no minds. -- Malaclypse the Younger, Principia Discordia

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Luna Rossa Challenges America's Cup
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron accepts the challenge of Circolo della Vela Sicilia, which becomes the Challenger of Record for the XXXVI America's Cup.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is pleased to announce that it has accepted a challenge from Circolo della Vela Sicilia which was received immediately upon the victory of Emirates Team New Zealand in the last race of the 35th America's Cup.

As the first challenger, CVS will be the Challenger of Record for the 36th America's Cup and its representative team will be Luna Rossa Challenge.

The 36th America's Cup will be open to further challengers from any organized Yacht Club of a foreign country under conditions to be announced in due course.

RNZYS and its representative team, Emirates Team New Zealand, look forward to working with CVS and Luna Rossa Challenge to create an exciting future for the event by combining innovation with the traditional sporting values of the America's Cup.

www.sailingworld.com

Bouwe Bekking back with Team Brunel
Bouwe Bekking, the most experienced sailor in Volvo Ocean Race history, will return to skipper the seventh confirmed team in the 2017-18 edition - and give himself another chance at claiming an elusive first victory at the eighth attempt.

No one has sailed more miles in the Volvo Ocean Race than Bekking, who made his first appearance as a crewmember on Philips Innovator back in 1985-86.

More than 30 years on, and now aged 54, Bekking's Volvo Ocean Race obsession has only intensified.

Team backers include Brunel, the Dutch-based global project management, recruitment and consultancycompany, and its founder Jan Brand. Brunel are Volvo Ocean Race veterans themselves, having had their first involvement in 1997-98.

The theme of the 2017-18 campaign is 'Engineering the Future.' - an initiative of a consortium of Dutch companies, including Brunel, Abel, Royal Huisman and EY.

With four months to go before the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the starting grid is almost full.

The other confirmed entries are team AkzoNobel (skippered by Simeon Tienpont), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier), MAPFRE (Xabi Fernandez), Vestas11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright), Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (David Witt) and Turn The Tide On Plastic (Dee Caffari).

The return of Brunel means that for the first time in the race's history, four major team sponsors are back for a second successive edition. As well as Brunel, Vestas, Dongfeng and MAPFRE are all back after competing in the most recent edition in 2014-15.

volvooceanrace.com

Out of the Same Mould
TP52 moulds have been put to good use recently but with a bit added on top.

With the 2017 Rolex TP52 World Championship coming up, a decade after the first Rolex TP52 worlds in 2006 in Miami and after so much development of boats and class racing over the years, maybe a good time to weigh in?

A TP52 is of course more than a set of numbers, but then again to get an idea what you are actually looking at or reading about numbers do help. The length overall of 15.85m and beam of 4.42m result in a hull area including the transom of just under 85m2 and a deck area of just under 59m2. Depending on build quality a Nomex cored hull will weigh 500-550kg, a Nomex cored deck 210-240kg and the internal structure just over 300kg. Then taping the lot together plus some items like composite chainplates, stanchion sockets and so on will add another 50kg for a total weight of the composite construction of 1,050-1,150kg.

If not restricted by the TP52 structural guidelines I would say theoretically one can build up to 10 per cent lighter, but either at considerable added cost using ultra high-modulus carbon and optimised Nomex cores or at reduced strength or a very unproductive combination of the two. There is no way one can build lighter, stronger and cheaper by for instance using foam cores as I still see suggested every now and then. -- Rob Weiland

Full article in the July issue of Seahorse:
www.seahorsemagazine.com

Dragon Edinburgh Cup
Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK - With 38 teams from as far afield as Russia and Turkey and across the UK and Europe already entered, and some 40 boats expected on the start line, the 2017 edition of the Dragon Edinburgh Cup is lining up to be a bumper edition. Sponsored by Oliver Morgan Architects and Stoneham Construction Ltd and hosted by the Island Sailing Club, the Edinburgh Cup will be preceded by the Dragon South Coast Championship, with the two events running from 8 to 14 July 2017.

The entry list includes some of the biggest names in the sport including Denmark's Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, whose sailing CV includes two Olympic Gold and one Olympic Silver medals as well as multiple World, Continental and National Championship wins, who will be hoping to claim his sixth Edinburgh Cup title. Julia and Graham Bailey were Edinburgh Cup champions in 2016 and 2015 respectively and are returning to the fray equally keen to engrave one of their names the trophy for a second time.

Fresh from victory at the recent International Dragon World Championship in Portugal comes Andy Beadsworth, who is very much hoping to add his name to the illustrious list of winners already on the Edinburgh Cup.

Other big names we can expect to see challenging for podium positions include Ireland's Martin Byrne, who won the Edinburgh Cup in 2011, Cornwall's Martin Payne who last won the Cup in 1999, multi-class champion Mike Budd from Abersoch, who is keen to break his reputation for being the bridesmaid at this event, and Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, who will combine her duties as Regatta Chairman with a serious campaign to finally get her hands on the coveted trophy.

www.edinburghcup.org

Vendee2020Vision: The final four
In its quest to determine the best candidates to follow in the footsteps of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dame Ellen Macarthur, Mike Golding and Alex Thomson as Britain's next top singlehanded offshore racing star, Vendee2020Vision has further refined its squad of sailors down from six to four.

The scheme, run by Whitecap Ltd in Southampton, provides vital training for its candidates in their goal to win singlehanded offshore racing's ultimate event: the Vendée Globe. The quadrennial solo non-stop round the world race is next due to take place in 2020 and throughout its history has been French-dominated. British sailors have finished second twice (Alex Thomson in 2016-17 and Dame Ellen Macarthur in 2000-01) and twice finished third (Mike Golding in 2004-05 and Alex Thomson in 2012-13), but ultimate victory has eluded them.

The Vendee2020Vision squad of four for this season comprises:

Andrew Baker - 27, from Saintfield, Northern Ireland
Lizzy Foreman - 26, from Surrey
Sam Goodchild - 27, from Falmouth, Cornwall
Will Harris - 23, from Weybridge, Surrey

whitecapltd.com/vendee-2020/

Dan McConnell
Dan and wife Jane, BOC Challenge in 1995. Photo and text by Paul Gelder.

The life of Dan McConnell a Seattle public relations pioneer in extreme sports who died aged 72, will be celebrated Thursday June 29th.

Dan was a globe-trotting communications strategist and Crisis Consultant who worked on campaigns in the Everest of sailing as well as mountains. He died on May 8, 2017, after a courageous battle against complications with diabetes. He continued to work up until the last few months of his life. His wife of 47 years, Jane, who travelled with him as they covered adventures around the world was part of a unique, enduring partnership.

British sailing journalist Paul Gelder, who edited Yachting Monthly magazine for ten years writes:

'I circled the globe with Dan during the 1994-95 BOC Challenge Round the World Singlehanded Race. During that 8-month epic Dan was the calm at the center of a raging publicity storm as three separate dramas unfolded and became front page news around globe. Throughout these dramas, Dan fielded press requests with dignity, integrity and incredible patience.

'First, Brit Josh Hall was rescued from his sinking boat after hitting a shipping container off Brazil on the first leg from Charleston to Cape Town. Then French superstar singlehanded sailor Isabelle Autissier, the only woman in the race, was dismasted in the Southern Ocean on leg two when waves smashed a five square meter hole in the coachroof of her 60ft yacht, EPC2 (Ecureuil Poitou Charentes 2).

'In one of the most dramatic rescue in ocean racing history, Isabelle was rescued by helicopter from a Navy frigate 1,000 miles south of Australia on New Year's Eve. Questions were asked about the rescue cost in the Australian Parliament. Isabelle said: 'Maybe I'm not worth a million dollars?'

'Finally, on leg three 70 year old Brit Harry Mitchell, sailing a 40ft yacht in Class II was lost at sea 1,400 miles from Cape Horn. His body was never recovered.

'Dan belonged to a rare breed in the media - a newspaper man's idea of a PR man. He was succinct, informative, sympathetic and always went the extra mile to help get the story out. But never at the expense of inaccuracy. He also had a secret weapon: an entertaining wit and wry humor when appropriate. '

American sailing editor Herb McCormick recalls collaborating with Dan on a 13-month sailing expedition he took part in around North and South America. 'In every instance, Dan was a great boss - direct in his opinions and instructions, nurturing when he needed to be, a natural teacher, praiseworthy when justified, fair and honest at all times.'

A celebration of Dan's life will be held on June 29, 2017, on what would have been his 48th wedding anniversary at Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle. To honor Dan's legacy, endowment donations can be made at giving.uw.edu/mcconnell

* From David Munge:

Great Kiwi win, World domination now, as they are also likely to beat the Lions.

I hesitate to even comment on remarks made by somebody as eminent as Paul Cayard, and this might be envy, but Paul was in Bermuda, and no doubt mixing it with the teams etc. However, for the viewer in the UK, and I had to go to the local hotel to see it, it was akin to the Red Bull Air Races, and once you have seen one, nothing much changes.

Seeing the boats flying is fantastic, but if you see the tack from the prodder webcam all you see is a foil go down, and another go up, and the jib languidly flop from one side to the other. That the flying tacks can be made is great, but there is very little action apart from bouncing on the trampolines. Gybes are almost invisible from a distance. Mark rounding no drama. Scalectrix comes to mind.

Cyclors, were great but the TdF starts on Saturday and then we shall see real cyclors, in the saddle for 5-6 hours uphill and downhill.

Match racing is almost no existent, Ken Read tried to make a big thing about the hook at the start, but the boat making the hook invariably was the loser since being high up the line was beneficial. Little bits of up wind covering happened but when one knot of extra wind speed is worth three knots of boat speed, getting into the pressure was the big winner.

Watching Oracle start with an extra point was outrageous, and having 5 days to work on the boat between races equally so.

Poor Ken Read again trying every day to explain VMG was also amusing.

Would I love to sail on the boats absolutely, would I like to be in Bermuda for a month and mix it with the teams, absolutely, was it a spectacle absolutely. Is it the pinnacle of match racing, absolutely not.

Too much Kings clothes. Let's hope the Kiwis change things.

* From David Pelly:

With the America's Cup on its way back to Auckland, it is time for a wide-ranging debate on suitable boats for future matches which will also filter down to other branches of sailing.

For large and fast sailing yachts, the concept of 'Powered Sailing Systems' has been accepted for a while, both to control crew numbers and for the general safely of navigation but this year's A/C boats went a big step further away from traditional ideas of sailing yachts by developing boats that absolutely required powered systems for both their hydrofoils and their deformable wing rigs. They could not sail at all without their hydraulic systems which in turn were powered by hydraulic accumulators that stored the energy supplied by grinding or pedalling crew-members.

I think many people might feel this went too far in breaking the long-held view that stored mechanical energy should not play a part in yacht racing, especially as the same work could easily have been done by efficient electric motors and batteries, recharged by solar cells on the sails.

A puzzling feature of this year's boats was their reliance on curved lifting foils that needed to be constantly trimmed in both rake and twist. None of the designers seem to have tackled the concept of dynamic stability, with ride-height controlled by surface feelers, as seen on the International Moth and many other small hydrofoil boats. These weird curved foils seem to have been a hang-over from earlier attempts to rule out flying hydrofoils that were in turn circumvented by the Kiwi designers who saw they could 'bend' their permitted dagger board through a right-angle so that it provided both lift and side-force.

It might be more sensible to dump all such rules, leaving only limits on overall beam and draught. This could open the way to boats that were at once faster, cheaper and easier to handle while at the same time provide a certain 'step back' towards a more traditional view of sailing yacht and away from this year's hybrid clockwork toys.

* From John Walker:

Comments about AC televisual coverage have raised a number of questions. For those not familiar with the BT Sport packages, BT Sport 1 comes free of charge to those of us who elect to use BT as a broadband provider, but BT Sport 2 is a high definition output for which BT charge. All of the preliminary challenger racing and most of the final was streamed live on BT Sport 1, using very good imagery, graphics and informed commentary - not sure why they put Clare Balding in to bat so late in the proceedings but probably budget, but you've guessed it, the penultimate day of racing was transferred to BT Sport 2 and those subscribers who have chosen not to pay the extra were left without coverage at what might have been expected to be the moment critique. BT also have a nasty habit of switching their coverage of premier rugby to BT2 at critical moments in the season without explanation or apology.

For those of us interested in watching the coverage of the Red Bull Youth America's Cup competition, the only option appeared to be Red Bull TV, whose live stream dropped out with alarming and frustrating regularity on both days and Barry's point about coverage in general was highlighted by the fact that in the only competition in which the British entry actually won, British print media that I saw completely failed to report the success.

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The Last Word
You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you. -- Robert Anton Wilson

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Race Day: Saturday 1st July: First start: 0530
The Round the Island Race in association with Cloudy Bay Management team led by Rear Commodore Sailing Dave Atkinson at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, is making last-minute preparations to welcome 1,342 yachts to eleven individual starts first thing on Saturday morning 1st July. The first start is scheduled for 0530 and the starting sequence will be completed by 0710 as the fleet heads west from Cowes to the Needles.

Among those signed up to race are last year's Gold Roman Bowl winner, Bernard Langley's TP52 Gladiator with (fresh from his Land Rover BAR America's Cup debut), David 'Freddie' Carr on board. The Race also welcomes back the Greig City Academy Sailing Team, the inspirational and ultra-competitive North London inner city state school entry Scaramouche.

Last year's runner-up to the record-breaking MOD70 Phaedo3 who took Line Honours, with the distinctive blue hulls of Concise 10 is back aiming to achieve that accolade this year. The record set by Phaedo^3 was an astounding 2 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, smashing the Multihull race record time set by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2013 by a stunning 28 minutes!

Somewhat more sedately but equally competitive, the Cloudy Bay Brand ambassador Ben Fogle is racing with the race sponsor's guests on board the Farr 52 Bob by Cloudy Bay, skippered by Stephen Durkin.

Racing for the FAST40+ Class continues with Round Two of the FAST40+ Race Circuit, consisting of one day of Windward Leeward racing tomorrow (Friday) followed by 11 FAST40s racing around the Island on Saturday for the FAST40+ Cloudy Bay Trophy.

The organisers are hosting their popular pre-Race press conference tomorrow (Friday) at the Island Sailing Club, followed later by the all-important Raymarine Weather Briefing at 1800hrs with meteorologist Simon Rowell.

www.roundtheisland.org.uk

GC32 Villasimius Cup
Jason Carroll expertly steered his Argonauts to an early lead at the GC32 Villasimius Cup in Southern Sardinia today. The second stage of the 2017 GC32 Racing Tour got underway with four races in breeze ranging from 10 to 20 knots on flat water, and Team Argo from the USA won the second race and always finished in the top three.

The principal race officer Stuart Childerley had called for an early start at 10am this morning, for fear of the wind and the wave state building up too much for the high-flying, fast-foiling GC32s. As he motored out of the Marina di Villasimius, Childerley was alarmed at the waves rolling into the bay, but he pressed on with his plan to motor round Capo Carbonara and was delighted to find much flatter water in the eastern bay on the other side of the Cape and looking back on to the beautiful beach of the Valtur Tanka resort. It wasn't just sailable, it was pretty much spot on for GC32 racing.

Friday's forecast looks very fluky with the wind looking like it could come from any direction. From 4pm onwards a stronger northerly breeze is expected to arrive, but it's certainly going to be a different challenge from today's steadier south-westerly wind.

The aim is to hold up to five races each day on a mix of windward-leewards or ones with reaching starts/finishes, depending upon the wind conditions. A live blog from the race course can be found on the GC32 website along with Georacing tracking provided by the French company Trimaran.

www.gc32racingtour.com

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Not so simple
Who better than a cycling nut to send to unravel Emirates Team New Zealand's 'power cell'? Richard Aspland

Unprecedented
Technology among the resurgent J-Class is only heading in one direction with rig technology at the forefront of development

Faster and faster
The new 65-footer from Mylius is just the latest example of a type of boat that would once have been considered inconceivable

Second life
Dodge Morgan's famous round-the-world yacht American Promise is back out there crossing the oceans where she belongs

Special rates for Scuttlebutt Europe subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code SB2

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Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

RC44 Porto Cervo Cup
John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum holds a slender lead after three races and considerable patience from race officials and competitors alike on the opening day of the RC44 Porto Cervo Cup, hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. While conditions were forecast to be a brisk 15-20 knots, they were anything but this. After race one, the wind shut off for most of the afternoon before a light breeze filled in enabling two more races to sailed, finally completed at 1900 CET.

Race one kicked off at midday directly off Porto Cervo in 12-15 knots from the WNW. In this Russian Alexander Novoselov and his crew on Katusha did a good job to reach the top mark first. Maintaining control of the race from there was made easier as a rain squall passed over the course causing the race track to skew, the wind piping up to 20 knots before dropping to six for the final run.

Unfortunately this same cloud activity then caused the wind to vanish. As a result the nine-strong RC44 fleet was sent ashore leaving the race committee to wallow, waiting for the breeze to re-establish. This it finally did as crews were contemplating their first 'refreshment' of the day.

With the boats returned to the course, at 1700 the first of two races were held in 8-10 knots. Still very shifty, Nico Poon's Charisma led around the majority of the course only to be rolled in a photo finish by Peninsula Petroleum in race two and Kirill Frolov, at the helm of Bronenosec Sailing Team, got in an early gybe to take the lead and then defending well to the finish in race three.

www.rc44.com/results

Extreme Sailing Series Act 3 - Madeira Islands
SAP Extreme Sailing Team took an early lead on the opening day of Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, as the international fleet of seven GC32s raced against the stunning backdrop of the Madeira Islands capital, Funchal, in front of a packed Race Village.

Following six races in shifty conditions, it was the Danish team that was able to narrowly secure the victory, but with NZ Extreme Sailing Team hot on its heels. The Kiwi syndicate had sat at the top of the leader board for most of the day, before being pipped to the post in the final race.

Alinghi, who won the Act in the Portuguese venue last season, finish the day in third, a further eight points behind NZ Extreme Sailing Team.

Despite a strong start for Land Rover BAR Academy, which opened with a second and a third consecutively, the British squad was unable to maintain its form. It followed up with three fifths and a seventh to finish in sixth overall.

The action resumes tomorrow, with the Flying Phantom Series scheduled for a 10:00 UTC+1 start, followed by GC32 Stadium Racing from 14:00 - 17:00 UTC+1

Standings after day 1, 6 races (29.06.17)

1. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Køstner, Adam Minoprio, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi de Felice, Nicolas Heintz, 64 points
2. NZ Extreme Sailing Team (NZL) Chris Steele, Graeme Sutherland, Harry Hull, Sam Meech, Josh Salthouse, 62
3. Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothé Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 54
4. Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari, 54
5. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Stewart Dodson, Shane Diviney, Jason Saunders, Will Tiller, 52
6. Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Rob Bunce, Owen Bowerman, Will Alloway, Adam Kay, Oil Greber, 51
7. Team Extreme (POR) Mariana Lobato, Olivia Mackay, Owen Siese, Peter Dill, Micah Wilkinson, Francesca Clapcich, 41

extremesailingseries.com

New Team for Clipper Race
HotelPlanner.com, the leading online provider of group and individual travel services, will make its global ocean-racing debut as a Team Partner in the eleven-month duration Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race, which will start from Liverpool, UK, on Sunday, 20 August, 2017.

The HotelPlanner.com yacht will be one of twelve teams participating in the eleventh edition of the unique 40,000 nautical mile, Clipper Race, which was founded in 1995 by legendary sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the globe in 1968-69, to allow everyday people the opportunity to follow his experiences.

HotelPlanner.com will provide the best rates for the Clipper Race crew and supporters in every port. It will also run competitions at stopovers for locals in an effort to create buzz for the HotelPlanner.com Skipper and team.

The Clipper 2017-18 Race will start in Liverpool on Sunday 20 August 2017 and return almost a year later on Saturday 28 July 2018, after following a global route which includes stopovers in Punta del Este, Cape Town, Fremantle, Sydney, Hobart, East Coast Australia (Port TBC), Sanya, Qingdao, Seattle, Panama, New York, and Derry Londonderry.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

Industry News
Boat International are delighted to present the third annual Ocean Awards, in partnership with leading ocean conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation. After two successful years, our ambition is to continue celebrating and supporting the inspiring individuals who have made the greatest strides in the ongoing struggle to fix the largest solvable problem on the planet - the crisis in our oceans.

For 2018 there are five award categories up for nomination and the winners will be decided by our dedicated panel of judges which include Princess Zahra Aga Khan and Peter Lurssen along with Professor Alex Rogers of the University of Oxford and Professor Callum Roberts of the University of York.

2018 Award Categories
1. The Local Hero
2. Science
3. Innovation
4. Visionary
5. Public Awareness

The closing date for nominations is Thursday 30 November 2017. To qualify, entrants must have made their contributions to the health of the oceans between 1 July 2016 and 30 November 2017.

Submit a nomination

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Adidas Sailing - Marine Clothing, Apparel, Accessories and footwear manufacturer, has entered into a partnership agreement with the International 49er and International Nacra 17 Class Associations, representing Olympic 49er, 49erFX, and Nacra 17 sailing.

The agreement will see Adidas Sailing appointed as exclusive partner in the category of Clothing, Apparel, Accessories, Luggage and Footwear supporting the International 49er and Nacra 17 Class Associations by not only providing a dedicated range of clothing and equipment for Class Association staff and appointed event personnel, but also by sponsoring the televised media output from all class-specific events, presented via the 'Adidas Sailing Daily Show'.

An additional benefit of this partnership is that the International 49er and Nacra 17 Class Associations will be able to provide members and team supporters with access to a dedicated online retail store that will feature both a selection of customised 'Team wear' clothing featuring branding that highlights selected national teams and individual sailors, as well as access to a wide range of customised Adidas Sailing clothing and apparel featuring designs that include 49er, 49er FX and Nacra 17 branding. Class Association members and supporters will be able to benefit from special price offers discounted of the listed retail price on all purchases made through the 49er / Nacra 17 online store olympic-classes.catamaransports.com

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UK-based Ancasta International Boat Sales was named Best Dealer Sailing Yachts 2017 at Beneteau's annual dealer awards in Bordeaux, France this week.

Ancasta International Boat Sales is a UK-based yacht brokerage and boat dealership with 15 offices across Europe. The company is also a new-boat dealer for Beneteau Yachts, Beneteau Power, Lagoon Catamarans, Fairlie Yachts, CNB Yachts and McConaghy Yachts.

plus.ibinews.com

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Marlow, the world's leading performance yachting rope, has again been selected as official supplier to the British Sailing Team as they embark on their journey to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

Marlow and competitive sailing have a long and very successful relationship. Having already supported the British Sailing Team for the last 20 years, Marlow's cutting edge research and development of high performance rope has secured its position as the leading sailing rope in the world.

Great Britain is the world's most successful Olympic sailing nation, with British sailors topping the tables at four of the last five Olympic Games, including at Rio 2016, and emerging as top nation from the 2016 Olympic Classes World Championships and World Cup Series.

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Doyle International has been sold to its New Zealand affiliate. Terms were not disclosed but the deal will be effective from July 1st.

Doyle Sails New Zealand has announced its ownership of Doyle International. The leadership team, headed by Mike Sanderson, David Duff and Richard Bouzaid, will also have controlling interests in the Doyle Salem loft and Doyle Sails Europe (UK).

The new owners have seen an opportunity to drive the Doyle brand to new levels of strategic growth.

Sanderson, a well known competitive sailor, has been involved in sail programs and integral to design and build teams for the Volvo Ocean Race, America's Cup and other events. He sees opportunities in the Grand Prix sailboat market.

Robbie Doyle, founder of Doyle Sails, will continue with the company by managing superyacht and other special projects.

The company also announced that Jez Fanstone is the new Corporate Manager and Terry Nicholas is Business Development/Chief Financial Officer. Jez is a past Volvo Ocean Race skipper, sailmaker, Olympic coach and Team Director. Nicholas is a Chartered Accountant and Business Development specialist. He has acted as Group CFO for Doyle Sails NZ during its transformation over the last five years. He has a background in Olympic sailing and Olympic programme management.

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British marine and lifestyle clothing brand Henri Lloyd has committed their continued support to Phil Sharp Racing, and will be providing technical sailing clothing for Phil and his team, whilst they work towards ticking off the Energy Challenge objectives in sustainable high performance offshore racing and also competing in the 2017 Class 40 Championship.

Phil's role as a Henri Lloyd Ambassador will also include product development through the feedback of advanced material and product testing in harsh offshore and race environments.

In 2016, Phil racing aboard Imerys came 3rd in the Class 40 Championship after a late race-season entry and a dated sail package, and closed the year as a Guinness World Record holder. Ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council, Phil broke the existing record for the Channel by nearly three hours, becoming the fastest single-handed Channel crossing of any yacht below 60ft.

2017 Class 40 Championship Race Programme and results to date
April 29th - May 1st: Grand Prix Guyader: 1st Phil Sharp Racing/ Imerys
May 14th - May 21st: Normandy Channel Race: 1st Phil Sharp Racing/ Imerys
July 2nd - July 20th: Les Sables - Horta - Les Sables
6th - 11th August: Rolex Fastnet Race
5th - 30th November 2017: Transat Jacques Vabre

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The Yacht Racing Forum is pleased to announce a two years partnership with SEAir, an innovative company that focuses on the latest technologies including foils. Established in Lorient (Britanny), SEAir is a key player in the nautical world, using its expertise to make boats fly. SEAir's flying Mini has - amongst other successful achievements - made a strong impact and obtained a worldwide audience.

SEAir will exhibit its latest developments during the next Yacht Racing Forum, and actively participate in the panel discussion dedicated to foils, in the Design & Technology Symposium.

The Yacht Racing Forum 2017 will take place on November 27-28 in Aarhus, Denmark, six months prior to World Sailing's World Championships. The leading annual conference for the business of sailing and yacht racing will once again reassemble the sports key personalities, events, sailing classes, clubs or sponsors. It will be the tenth edition of the event.

www.yachtracingforum.com
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* From Adrian Morgan:

So many takes on the America's Cup, depending on your perspective.

Those with a vested interest in hyping it up, commentators, organisers, TV pundits with a ring side seat and access to all areas who, despite the match itself being (be honest) a procession with just enough close calls to avoid being called boring, swear it was the best racing in America's Cup history.

Those who love technology swear the boats are the most exciting ever.

Even those with access to television complain at the frustration of spasmodic coverage

Those in Bermuda, those trying to keep in touch in a cottage with limited internet in the Highlands of Scotland, the Kiwis have a formidable task to manage the expectations of everyone next time around.

As Grant said, there were some good thing things to take away from Bermuda, implying a whole load of bad things, the chief being the cynical skewing of the event too far in the defender's direction.

The Kiwis destroyed that, clinically and quietly. That was immensely satisfying. My view,(from a cottage in the Highlands) has not changed from day 1. Speed alone is not enough, especially when a gybe looks much like a tack, and 27 knots looks a lot like 23 knots. Size matters too, and so do wind (lots of it), and waves.

One abiding impression: when Oracle's grinders ground their last, the sense of relief was palpable. Let's hope that next time around "the best sailors in the world" [sic], ideally from the country they represent, won't be chained to a pedestal but given meaningful tasks around a boat that looks a bit like the boats that millions of us sail, and sailing on a wide expanse of water, not boxed into a flat water stadium the size of a few football pitches.

* From Len Davies, Cape Town:

How sad to read of the passing of Dan Mc Connell.

As Race Officer for Cape Town legs of the BOC Around Alone Race on 3 occasions, I had the great fortune to meet Dan as he went about his duties of providing the world's press of the latest positional reports, distances to the finish and finishing times.

In seeking this information, he showed much consideration for the pressures others may have been under at the time. Never one to place his needs above those of others, he left a memorable impression on all he met. A ready smile and good grace always accompanied his greeting.

To his family and no doubt many friends, I extend my sympathies and thank you for sharing him with me, albeit it briefly.

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The Last Word
We're all puppets. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings. -- Alan Moore

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Round The Island Race: Four Seasons In One Incredible Day
Four seasons in one day, a game of two halves, a bit of everything; you can pick your cliche, but the 2017 Round the Island Race in association with Cloudy Bay has certainly delivered on all levels.

Ultimately, it will be the MOD70, Concise 10 taking the lion's share of the headlines, and rightly so as Ned Collier Wakefield steered the 70ft trimaran to a thrilling race record, shaving exactly a minute off the time set by Phaedo3 in 2016.

If the spotlight falls on Concise then the remaining accolades will surely go to Adam Gosling's JPK10.80, Yes! which stormed round in IRC1 to take the biggest prize of the day, the coveted Gold Roman Bowl, awarded to the overall winner of the race on corrected time.

The morning dawned with little promise as a NNW wind in the high teens and some rain showers greeted the earliest starters, who were due to set off west, down the Solent and towards the Needles at 05:30.

At least the wind and rain helped wake the competitors up a little and perhaps wash away some of the excesses from the night before.

The early weather also conspired to give the 1342 racers a fast start, close reaching down the Solent with the tide beneath them; there were personal best times recorded to the Needles across the board.

Concise 10, the fastest boat on the water this weekend, started at 05:40 and made the Needles by 6:10 and went on to make St Catherine's Point at around 06:50. But it was not just the multihulls romping in the conditions, the monohulls were lifting their skirts and flying too.

The first monohull to round the Needles was the Volvo70 Sanya Lan at a little after 06:30.

For a long time it looked as though Irvine Laidlaw's Reichel-Pugh 82, Highland Fling XI would take the coveted Gold Roman Bowl after they took line honours for the monohulls. But, ultimately no-one could match the might of Yes! who managed to take victory by just shy of seven minutes on corrected time. -- Peta Stuart-Hunt

The top trophies have gone to:

IRC:
1 - Gold Roman Bowl winner - YES!
2 - Silver Roman Bowl winner - Highland Fling
3 - Royal Thames Challenge Trophy winner - Salvo

ISC RS:
1 - Silver Gilt Roman Bowl winner - Antilope
2 - Fidelis Trophy winner - Cherete
3 - Geisco Trophy winner - Touche

Full results: rtir.me/results

Invictus wins the Cloudy Bay Trophy
1342 yachts competed in this year's Round the Island Race, and nine of the top twenty yachts to finish were FAST40s. Sir Keith Mills' Ker40+ Invictus, helmed by Keith and his son Alex, took Line Honours for the FAST40+ Class, and the class win after IRC time correction to win the FAST40+ Cloudy Bay Trophy. In an epic race around the Isle of Wight, nine FAST40+ teams finished within just 18 minutes, after a six hour duel around the 56 nautical mile course - the class lead changing hands on numerous occasions.

Second for the Round the Island Race is Peter Morton's CF40+ Girls on Film, and combined with the team's results from the previous day's Windward Leeward Racing. Girls on Film is the winner of Round Two of the 2017 FAST40+ Race Circuit with Invictus second. Stewart Whitehead's Carkeek MkII Rebellion is third. -- Louay Habib

www.fast40class.com

Star World Championship
Troense, Denmark: The 2017 Star World Championship kicked off today with the first race in 15-23 knots of wind and cloudy skies. The conditions got a bit gusty as the race progressed and 7 boats lost their masts. Unfortunately for us, we were one of them. We submarined near the end of the second downwind leg and the mast simply imploded. Yes, that is expensive.

I am crewing for my son Danny who is racing in his first Star World Championship. It is fantastic to have the opportunity to be together in this race. This is my 40th year racing Stars and to sail with my son, in his first World Championship, is an opportunity not to be missed. His grandfather Pelle Petterson, World Champion in 1969 arrived today to support the team. Pelle bought dinner tonight proclaiming we had already spent too much money for the day.

The Star World Championship course is rather long for these boats and featured 3 x 2 mile windward legs and 2 x 2 miles downwind legs, for a total of 10 miles. It was pretty physical out there so everyone will sleep well tonight.

For those of us with broken masts, we just got done putting in a new mast at 8:00 pm.

Up front, Lars Greal and Samuel Goncalves BRA, 2015 World Champion led wire to wire but only just held off a strong charge by Dr. Hubert Merkelbch GER Brian Fatih right at the finish. Third place went to Reinhard Schmidt and Paul Sradnick of GER. Elvind Melleby and Josh Revkin sailed a good race to claim fourth place.

This was one of those races were the top 20 were racing and most of the rest of us were surviving... or not. There are 76 boats entered. I'll get the number of countries tomorrow.

The Championship will consist of 6 races and each competitor will discard their worst score. This a nice feature for something like today but its a bit early to use your mulligan. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

www.starworlds2017.com

Unprecedented - Southern Spars
Technology among the resurgent J-Class is only heading in one direction with rig technology at the forefront of development...

In the 1930s, when the rule was first introduced, J-Class yachts were the pinnacle of world yacht racing. But by 1940 many had been stripped or broken up for scrap metal for the war effort or just abandoned and left to rot in mud berths. Decades later several of these leviathans have been rebuilt and restored and are now part of a healthy and spectacular racing class that has also witnessed a number of new builds... or 'new old' builds. And as the level of racing in a remarkable fleet has increased so inevitably has the demand for 'faster' technology. Enter Southern Spars.

As in all development classes, the Js are restricted in what modifications can be made to the platform in the search for speed - but for the rig it is a different story.

Full story in the July issue of Seahorse magazine:
www.seahorsemagazine.com

SAP Extreme Sailing Team wins at Madeira
It all came down to the final double-points race of Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, Madeira Islands, which went the way of Danish-flagged SAP Extreme Sailing Team.

Alinghi fought back to take second from Oman Air, but was not able to do enough to catch SAP Extreme Sailing Team. The Swiss syndicate finishes second and Oman Air makes up the podium in third.

It was a double victory for the Danes, who also take home the Zhik Speed Machine Trophy for the fastest team on the water, with insights from SAP, for hitting 24.5 knots in the Bay of Funchal.

In the Flying Phantom Series, Red Bull Sailing Team was crowned champion of the regatta, having been a clear leader since the beginning. The two-man crew included Jason Saunders and Thomas Zajac, who came fourth and third in the Nacra 17 class in the 2016 Rio Olympics respectively. The second and third spots went to the French, with Culture Foil 36 points behind the leaders and ZEPHIR by Idrewa a further 13 points back in third.

Act 4 of the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series will take place in Barcelona, where the fleet will race from 20 - 23 July.

Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, Madeira Islands

1. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Kostner, Adam Minoprio, Mads Emil Stephensen, Pierluigi de Felice, Nicolas Heintz, 228 points
2. Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothe Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 225
3. Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Ed Smyth, Nasser Al Mashari, 220
4. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Stewart Dodson, Shane Diviney, Sam Meech, Will Tiller, 199
5. NZ Extreme Sailing Team (NZL) Chris Steele, Graeme Sutherland, Harry Hull, Sam Meech, Josh Salthouse, 195
6. Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) Rob Bunce, Owen Bowerman, Oli Greber, Will Alloway, Matt Brushwood, 169
7. Team Extreme (POR) Mariana Lobato, Olivia Mackay, Owen Siese, Peter Dill, Micah Wilkinson, Francesca Clapcich, 150

extremesailingseries.com

ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 Starts Monday
Trieste, Italy: After over a year of preparation, a consortium of organizers from six regional clubs near Trieste, the Porto San Rocco Marina, and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) are pleased that 115 entries from 19 countries have accepted their invitations and come to compete at the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017. This fleet is divided into three classes - 17 entries in Class A and 49 entries each in Classes B and C - with World Champion crowns to be awarded in each class after the conclusion of racing on Saturday 8 July.

Racing starts Monday on offshore courses set for each class, with the starts scheduled for 1400 local time on the waterfront of downtown Trieste and a course set to do laps along the Adriatic Italian and Istrian coasts. Each class will have courses designed in length to keep them at sea for at least 24 hours, and for the first time in the past 17 years of ORC Worlds history the fleet will be sailing in the waters of 3 nations: Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

Principal Race Officer Giancarlo Crevatin explains another interesting feature of this race is that it is two races in one: "The fleet will pass through an intermediate scoring gate at Pirano to complete the Short Offshore Race scored as 1 point, and carry on to complete the course and get scored also 1 point as the Long Offshore Race. If the wind looks like it will go light and they will not be able to complete the course, we can shorten the race at a few different points."

The brand-new Humphries-designed Aquatich in race action for the first time:

"This boat is Humphries design, a fast racer/cruiser, and we are learning this as a new crew on a new boat every day we sail," says Bjornsen, who is from Stavanger, Norway. "So far things are going well, the boat is nice, it feels lively and it's fast. This looks like it will be a tough championship, there are many good teams here. Immediately after racing here we are packing up to move the boat to also race at the ORC Europeans in Gdansk, so this is an intense time for us."

Another northern European entry - Jani Lehti's Mercedes-AMG from Finland - is also trying out what amounts to a new boat: their Cossutti-designed Next 37 has new foils, a new taller mast and larger sails, placing it as a fast 37-footer in Class B.

The weather forecast for tomorrow and tomorrow night looks promising for wind: a weak offshore Bora system will keep the fleet doing laps in a westerly breeze in the Gulf after their start, and then when headed south to Croatia the conditions will be mixed with the possibility of the wind shifting to the south tomorrow night to bring them back to the finish near Porto San Rocco.

www.orcworlds2017.com

ÅF Offshore Race has started
ÅF Offshore Race 2017 has started. Tacking starts in light winds on the sunny Stockholm waters meant that the crews on the 241 boats had to make difficult decisions between taking time consuming manoeuvres or sail on in inferior winds in order to gain distance.

The starts, in the Royal Swedish Yacht Club´s classic regatta round Gotland, went smoothly. The only incident was in the class SRS A start when First 40,7 Blueprint miscalculated it´s position. As they tried to avoid a false start they instead collided with the starting vessel. The boat Blue print had to make a 360 degrees turn as penalty.

The last start was the Classic class with all the beautiful wooden yachts. They do not sail all the way around Gotland as the other boats, but go directly to Visby and back. The offshore cruiser and last year´s winner of the Classic class, Ballad, had a beautiful start. Among the other old wooden yachts is Peter von Seestermühe from Germany. This very yacht took part in the first round Gotland in 1937 and now after 80 years it is back again.

Now they have all started the 350 NM long adventure. The fastest boat can be expected to arrive in Sandhamn already on Monday evening, but for most of them the race will be much longer - probably two to three days. -- Mats Olsson

www.ksss.se

* From Jeff Morgan:

Those of you hoping to see "the best sailors" in the world at the next A/C should consider that Glenn Ashby is probably the greatest Catamaran racer on the planet today, you don't get to be 10 times World Champion in the formula one of boats without some talent. To stand any chance of competing with him would take a catamaran mind not just a bloody brilliant monohull sailor, and there in a nutshell is my perception of where teams without a proven seasoned multihull team member lost the cup before their campaigns had even commenced.

Since Dick Ogilvie and myself designed the initial principles of what would become the Extreme 40 series I cannot deny that seeing multihulls race for The America's Cup has been a dream since my childhood days at the Catamaran Yacht Club. So I enjoyed the coverage, though my feelings may well have been tempered had the result not gone the way it did. However, they did so I can say this was by far the best A/C I have ever seen, I am still smiling.

Now if we really wanted to know who is the best sailor in the world I do have a champion of champions event designed. Racing in multiple types of random craft, round robin knock out basis, last man or woman standing, would cost a fraction of what Mr Ellison had to spend to get people to come race him, we could even host it in Bermuda being there are some openings in the schedule. My money would be on Lars Grael, with Ian Williams on the podium.

Though restricting this to say 7 classes of multihulls Mr Ashby would probably be unbeatable. Hats off to Glenn, and, more importantly Team New Zealand for recognising what it is you need to make a multihull win. A renegade cat sailor.

Featured Brokerage
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2010 PARADOX 62ft cruiser-racer trimaran. 990,000 EUR. Located in Bermuda.

One of the most unique sailboats launched in the past five years, Paradox is a unique cruiser / racer trimaran designed by the legendary design team of Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret. Built by Marsaudon Composite , using the moulds of Loick Peyron’s highly successful ORMA racing trimaran Fujifilm

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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2007 IMOCA 60 COMPAGNIE DU LIT - BOULOGNE BILLANCOURT. 2,200,000 EUR. Enroute to France.

A fine racing yacht that has proven its capabilities in all kinds of conditions, COMPAGNIE DU LIT is arriving in Australia in the coming days and will be available for viewing over the Christmas period.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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The Last Word
The man who really thinks he has an idea will always try to explain that idea. The charlatan who has no idea will always confine himself to explaining that it is much too subtle to be explained. -- G.K. Chesterton

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Star Worlds
Troense, Denmark: Because of the weather situation with heavy winds, the Race management decided to cancel all racing for today.

Heavy winds and rain, gave the sailors a well deserved break after yesterday's tough sailing conditions with broken masts and spoiled sails ad libitum.

For many sailors, this unexpected break was a good opportunity "to heal the injured boats".

www.starworlds2017.com

New Speed Record Around Gotland
Ludde Ingvall with crew on the 100-footer CQS made a new speed record in ÅR Offshore Race - round Gotland, when entering the port at Sandhamn Monday evening. Twenty years since he last broke the record he did it again.

CQS crossed the finish line as the first boat, but it will take another 24 hours or so before the winner of ÅF Offshore Race - around Gotland 2017, at recalculated time, can be named.

Luddes deadline to beat the record was at 21:19:23, but he crossed the finish line already at 20:51:35. He got the line honor in superior style, and also the speed record for monohulls. The record for multihull is held by the Swedish trimaran HiQ.

The recipe to be fastest ever from Stockholm, round Gotland and back to Sandhamn? Build a fantastic, hundred feet long super-maxi with all the latest race technology in Australia, build a team of dedicated sailors who thinks that every meter and inch counts, bring the boat cross the world. Sail at the very top of your, your teams and the boats ability.

CQS is equipped with foils to help her come up in the water to lessen the friction. She also has canting keel. Since she is six meters deep under the water line, the navigation through the archipelago was exciting for Ludde and the crew.

Apart from the newly set speed record in ÅF Offshore Race - around Gotland, Ludde has a fantastic list of merits with two wins in the Sydney-Hobart race, and one in the British Fastnet Race. He also had the speed records across the Atlantic for monohulls. He also was the skipper at the Finnish boat UBF in Whitbread round the World Race 1989/90.

How far the time will take him in the overall competition remains to be seen. -- Mats Olsson

www.ksss.se

The Nations Trophy
The Nations Trophy was launched this year by Nautor's Swan with the fundamental commitment to revitalize the concept of competition between nations. It is an event which celebrates the history and spirit of international sailing, and reflects the camaraderie and competiveness central to the success of the sport.

The first edition of The Nations Trophy will be held from 10 - 14 October 2017 in Palma de Mallorca hosted by the Real Club Nautico Palma and is open to three Swan One-Design classes: ClubSwan 50 and ClubSwan 42, which will also be competing for their European Championship; and, Swan 45, which will also be contesting its World Championship. Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!

Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

World Sailing Show
This month's World Sailing Show comes from the heart of the 35th America's Cup, Bermuda where this beautiful mid Atlantic island put on a show like no other. Flying Cup boats, Superyachts, the J-Class and the Youth America's Cup pulled the crowds. The World Sailing Show was there.

Features:

How the America's Cup was won
J-Class spectacular
Red Bull Youth America's Cup
Sailing World Cup Final
The Volvo Ocean Race's ambitious new project

GKSS Match Cup Sweden
Marstrand, Sweden: With breaking waves and gales blowing today on the Marstrand Arena, competition at the World Match Racing Tour's GKSS Match Cup Sweden will get underway tomorrow.

"This morning we had 30 knots average and gusts up to 40 knots - way outside the limit," explained World Match Racing Tour PRO, Mattias Dahlstrom. "Plus this westerly direction creates a really bad sea state." While the wind dropped this afternoon, the sea state hadn't and at 1530CET Dahlstrom cancelled racing.

Remaining ashore today allowed crews to appraise their competition. With the America's Cup just over and in a year following the Olympic Games, all manner of world class sailors have descended upon the Swedish island paradise of Marstrand for the GKSS Match Cup Sweden.

Having just ﬁnished his second America's Cup with Oracle Team USA, is Australian Kyle Langford, competing here in Ian Williams' GAC Pindar crew. Then there is Italian Pierluigi de Felice, a America's Cup campaigner since 2003 including Luna Rossa's last two catamaran campaigns. He is here with Chris Steele's 36 Below Racing.

Several Olympic sailors are in the all-female crew on Team Magenta 32. Skipper Sally Barkow represented the USA in the Yngling in Beijing, Kate Macgregor and Annie Lush were in the British Women's Match Racing crew at London 2012, while Switzerland's Natalie Brugger raced at Rio 2016 on the mixed Nacra 17 catamaran.

GKSS Match Cup Sweden is 23 years old this year and its famous venue, Marstrand, has emerged as the new spiritual home of match racing. This is why it still attracts old hands from this discipline of sailing such as GAC Pindar's Ian Williams and Team FLUX's Johnie Berntsson, through to the new generation of youngsters.

Racing Tuesday is set to be in 10-15 knots from the north with a ﬁrst warning signal at 1000.

www.wmrt.com

Announcing the 2018 Antigua Bermuda Race
Start Antigua: May 9, 2018

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club announces that the second edition of the Antigua Bermuda Race will start on the May 9, 2018.

The 935-mile offshore race is organized in association with Antigua Sailing Week and is supported by the Bermuda Tourism Authority. Yachts of 40ft and over will be racing under the IRC Rating Rule, MOCRA and the CSA Racing Rule, with the latter amended to permit boats to use their engines, subject to a time penalty. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, with many year's experience hosting the Newport Bermuda Race, will guarantee a fantastic welcome and a great party.

"We have had great feedback from the competitors who took part in the first race," commented Race Chairman, Les Crane. "The America's Cup put Bermuda in the spotlight as a superb sailing destination and the Antigua Bermuda Race is designed to carry forward this legacy. The race will start just a few days after Antigua Sailing Week on May 9, 2018, a time when a lot of boats gather in Antigua before returning to North America and Europe. The Antigua Bermuda Race gives sailors an opportunity to safely experience about a thousand miles of Atlantic Ocean racing in company, at a time of year when conditions should be ideal."

"This is exactly the result we planned for when the Bermuda Tourism Authority supported the inaugural Antigua Bermuda Race this year," said Pat Phillip-Fairn, chief product and experiences development officer at the Bermuda Tourism Authority. "The America's Cup inspired the Antiqua Bermuda Race in the first instance and Bermuda's high quality nautical experience is what has them coming back in 2018. This is an exceptional America's Cup legacy event and we are excited to welcome it back to the island in May 2018."

Competitors are invited to express their interest in the Antigua Bermuda Race at: antiguabermuda.com/contact-us/survey

Impact of America's Cup to be tallied
With the conclusion of the 35th America's Cup, an independent assessment has been commissioned to determine its economic impact on Bermuda.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been hired by the ACBDA to conduct an independent study for completion by October, according to Grant Gibbons, the Minister of Economic Development.

Giving his congratulations to victors Emirates Team New Zealand, along with all the teams that took part, Dr Gibbons added: "Without a doubt, Bermuda has never hosted an event of this magnitude, and our success has already put us in an excellent position to host future international sporting and leisure events of similar scale.

"ACBDA will produce an event report by September that will detail their work and describe how AC35 was delivered. ACBDA currently plans to wind down by the end of the calendar year.

"Some information about AC35 is already available. I am pleased to note that through this prestigious sailing event, Bermuda received extraordinary visibility on the world stage as the Cup was broadcast to 162 countries with millions of people watching. This is only a snapshot. More details about Bermuda's media exposure will be released as part of the final assessment report. Over 100,000 people visited the Village over 22 days, there were 62,315 booked tickets on the special AC ferries alone, and some 2,000 boats registered as spectators of the event.

"Bermuda hosted over 460 visiting boats, with over 80 of them being superyachts. We received extremely positive feedback from the owners and captains of these boats, some who had never been to Bermuda before. As a result of this success, we have been developing a long-term superyacht policy and legislative framework. Another positive feature of AC35 has been the development of new marinas and marine services at the Hamilton waterfront, Hamilton Princess, Caroline Bay and the facilities at South Basin in Dockyard.

"Small Bermudian-owned businesses also benefited from AC35. ACBDA formed partnerships with the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, the Imperial Group and others to support small-business involvement during the events. More than 30 Bermudian small businesses, some of them new, were represented in the AC Village, and our food and beverage vendors enjoyed a huge volume of business.

The event brought new sailing regattas to the island, with more expected, the minister said. -- Jonathan Bell in The Royal Gazette

www.royalgazette.com

UK/McWilliam Sailmakers Open New Chapter of Their International Success Story
Leading Irish and international Crosshaven-based sailmakers UK/McWilliam are embarking on a fresh stage of development, with a major change in the company's ownership structure which will draw on and develop the company's exceptional range of global activities and expertise, providing customers in Ireland and abroad with an enhanced range of services and products writes W M Nixon.

Sailmaker Des McWilliam is to retire at the end of this year, and is selling the Cork loft to Barry Hayes who started his sailmaking career with the Crosshaven firm, his wife Claire Morgan, and Graham Curran who currently works in the Crosshaven loft.

Since its foundation 43 years ago by noted dinghy and offshore racing champion John McWilliam, the firm has been essentially a McWilliam family enterprise. As the business became established, its picturesque headquarters were created in a skillfully and stylishly re-configured former mill at Hoddersfield in the peaceful countryside immediately inland from Crosshaven in County Cork.

But while the scenery may have been gentle, within the loft the production pace was usually hectic as suits of top class sails were turned out for boats of all kinds which were winning races, both in Ireland and at the highest levels of international competition.

WM Nixon's full story in Afloat: afloat.ie

Golden Globe
In less than one year, up to 30 sailors will set out from Plymouth UK to recreate history at the start of a solo circumnavigation in small traditional long keeled yachts using just paper charts, a sextant and wind up chronometer to navigate by. The Race marks the 50th anniversary of the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and the remarkable achievement of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in becoming the first man to complete a solo nonstop circumnavigation.

Fifty years on from the original race when only one of the nine starters managed to finish, the dramas being faced by competitors during their 2,000 mile proving trials show that the challenges remain just as great.

Six months after Australian entrant Shane Freeman was capsized and left dismasted 600 miles from Cape Horn, Frenchman Loic Lepage lost his liferaft, when it exploded from its canister stowed on deck during his 2,000 mile proving trial. It was a heart-stopping moment, but after returning to France to replace the raft and review the position and fastenings, he has set out once more to sail solo to the Azores and back.

Frenchman Lionel Regnier, who has made 23 previous transatlantic crossings and never retired from a race before, also suffered self-steering failure when racing his Rustler 36 One and All in this year's windswept OSTAR transatlantic Race from Plymouth to Newport. The damage forced him into early retirement and long hours of hand-steering back to France.

Then, just days ago, American based Palestinian entrant Nabil Amra told us of the trials he experienced aboard his Contessa 32 during a voyage out into the Atlantic to gain his 8,000 sea mile qualification. "It was a much rougher trip than I let on but it hasn't shaken me off the GGR horse. I'm still in it. I had a Shane Freeman incident with the wind vane and my drogue... Then had to hand sail the last 550 miles with a sodden cabin and clothes, spoiled food, no heat or self steering gear. It was a real test of mental and physical endurance. I'm now working on having my phone and camera, destroyed by the conditions, salvaged to get the footage off them to make a short video of the voyage."

Amra's choice of yacht for the Golden Globe Race, a Biscay 36, is currently being refitted at the Falmouth Boat Co in Cornwall and with this experience, he is likely to call for additional alterations.

And spare a thought for Neree Cornuz, the 27 year old Swiss/Italian currently sailing his engineless Lello 34 solo from Cape Town to the Mediterranean has suffered broken rigging and problems with his home made windvane self steering enroute .

www.goldengloberace.com

Government puts up starter $5 million to America's Cup defence
The Government has put an early $5 million envelope on the table so Team New Zealand can retain its talent.

The early funding boost is similar to what the Government provided in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous 2013 America's Cup Challenge, to give TNZ breathing space while it worked to secure funding for its next bid.

It was a "no-strings" commitment, however the Government's resolve to be more involved in a defence, given the likelihood it would be held at least in part, on New Zealand waters appeared to be far stronger than four years ago.

Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges and Sports and Recreation Minister Jonathan Coleman made the announcement following Monday's Cabinet meeting, saying it would allow Team New Zealand to keep hold of its key staff, despite rival syndicates with deeper pockets circling.

Planning for the defence was still in preliminary stages, and it was not yet a given that the 2021 event would even be held in New Zealand.

The Government would be keen to see that happen however, with Bridges saying that hosting a regatta in New Zealand "has the potential to generate significant economic benefits".

www.stuff.co.nz

Featured Brokerage
1993 Whitbread 60 - BLUEPRINT. 70000 GBP. Located in South Coast, UK.

An excellent opportunity to buy into an established charter Whitbread 60. strong and well looked after, with regular maintenance and recent rigging and engine.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679222
ben.cooper@berthon.co.uk

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2016 Club Swan 50-003 'Cuordileone'. 1,240,000 EUR. Located in the Caribbean.

ClubSwan50: A yacht that is a small revolution in performance and pure sailing pleasure.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Nautor's Swan Brokerage - Lorenzo Bortolotti
brokerage@nautorswan.com
Tel. +377 97 97 95 07
nautorswanbrokerage.com

-----------------------------------------

Outremer 5X - NEW BOAT

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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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Outremer Yachting
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See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Why not? -- Timothy Leary (reportedly HIS last words)

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Light Conditions Challenge ORC Worlds Fleet In Offshore Races
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Trieste, Italy: In conditions that yesterday and last night tried the patience of both competitors and the Race Committee, today the fleet of 116 teams finally limped across the finish line near the base venue at Porto San Rocco to complete the first phase of competition at the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017. Winds were light and got lighter on and off throughout the day and night as teams in three classes made slow progress on their respective courses laid out in the Gulf of Trieste with a turn south down the Slovenian and Croatian coasts, and back.

For example, defending Class A World Champion Feccia Rossa, Vadim Yakimenko's TP 52 with the same Russo-French team that won a similar light-air championship in Copenhagen last year, looked strong to repeat the same with a win scored at the race first scoring gate of 51.4 miles for this class. But the slower boats overtook them on the final leg to the finish after 121 miles where Maurizio Poser's Swan 42 Sheraa YCH from Italy took the win and Freccia had to settle for 12th.

Sheraa's 5th in the first race puts them in a solid lead in Class A on 6 points, with Klaus Diederich's Swan 45 Fever and an international crew that includes Volvo navigator Wouter Verbraak and helmsman Andy Beadsworth tied with Vincenzo Onerato's Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino on 11 points each.

In Class B there is a surprising leader, one who has not been among the local Italian or Baltic-based favorites going into the event but maybe now will have their rivals take notice. On the strength of their scores of 3-13, Sergey Kolesnikov's mostly Russian team on his X-41 Technonicol leads Class B by only one point over Diego Zanco's Croatian team on another X-41/

In Class C to say an Italia Yachts 9.98 is winning would not be very surprising: teams sailing this Matteo Polli design have won the last two World Championships in this class. Both seasoned and new teams did well last night on 9.98's, winning both of the races on the 31.5 and 99 mile courses.

On Wednesday inshore windward-leeward racing will start, with Classes A and C competing on a course area to the south of Porto San Rocco, and Class B by itself to the west. All teams will no doubt enjoy a quiet evening of rest tonight before the battle starts again tomorrow, with two races planned.

www.orcworlds2017.com

Star World Championship - Back on the water again
Troense, Denmark: After yesterday's cancellation of the sailing, due to strong winds, the majority of sailors were eager to race again.

In consideration of today's weather forecast, with risk of winds like on the first race day, five crews decided to postpone their competing until the next race to protect their rigging and sails and did not start.

Today's race was postponed for 2 hours, due to strong winds, but at 13.30 o'clock and after a restart, the race was on with 59 boats on the start line.

Despite wind conditions like in the previous race, there were no broken masts today.

Nine boats did not finish the race due to damages on sails or rigging and after a very challenging competition the final battle for stepping on the podium was between boats from Argentina, Germany and Norway.

The winners of race no. 2 are:

1. Facundo Olezza Baza / Juan Pablo Engelhard, Argentina
2. Reinhard Schmidt / Paul Sradnick, Germany
3. Eivind Melleby / Joshua Revkin, Norway

Aged 23 years old, today's no. one winner Facundo Olezza Baza is the youngest helmsman of all in this World Championship, a very optimistic sign for the Star Class!

www.starworlds2017.com

What is The Nations Trophy?
The first edition of The Nations Trophy will be held from 10 - 14 October 2017 in Palma de Mallorca hosted by the Real Club Nautico Palma and is open to three Swan One-Design classes: ClubSwan 50 and ClubSwan 42, which will also be competing for their European Championship; and, Swan 45, which will also be contesting its World Championship.

While a number of these events have fallen by the wayside as trends in yacht racing have changed, the sentiment that nation versus nation competition should be a strong part of the sailing world has never wavered. The Nations Trophy is a small step towards reinvigorating this element of the sport.

Enter while you can. Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!

Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

First Start Of 2017 Transpac
Los Angeles, California: Seventeen yachts in three divisions set off yesterday in the first wave of three starts to the 49th edition of the 2017 biennial Transpac Race. Under sunny skies and light winds the fleet left the start area promptly at the start signal of 1:00 PM local time to head west towards the finish at Diamond Head in Honolulu 2225 miles away.

The weather at the start featured a pleasant westerly sea breeze and enough sun to reduce the chill of the coastal water, which for the teams will get colder as they head west into the first few nights of the race. The long-term forecast for this fleet is for the typical northwest coastal winds to start out to be moderate in strength, and as the fleet moves south and west it will bend more towards the northeast and become the famous downwind slide to Hawaii, and while the wind speeds in the current forecast do not show to be very strong, the pattern does look more typical and normal to this time of year than that experienced in the unusal El Nino conditions experienced in the last race in 2015.

The next start for Divisions 3 and 4 will be Wednesday July 5th at 1:00 PM, also at Point Fermin.

The YB tracking can be found at yb.tl/transpac2017#

2017.transpacyc.com

Williams firing on all cylinders at GKSS Match Cup Sweden
Marstrand, Sweden: Qualifying at GKSS Match Cup Sweden concluded in magnificent conditions on Marstrand Arena today with northwesterly winds gradually building to 15 knots by mid-afternoon. With the teams divided into three groups of six teams, all sailed five races and the stand-out performer was Ian Williams' Team GAC Pindar. The British six time World Match Racing Tour champion scored consecutive bullets in the first three races with no result off the podium.

Elsewhere competition was much closer.

In their group Australian Matt Jerwood came out on top, but tied on points with two time Tour champion Taylor Canfield from the US Virgin Islands. Jerwood enjoyed three race wins, but consistency failed them.

The tightest group was the last to race and ended up topped by three antipodean teams - Phil Robertson, Chris Steele and Torvar Mirsky - all tied on points.

Wednesday and Thursday will be the first-to-three Super 16 elimination round, while the three bottom-ranked teams from Qualifying will race to decide the 16th team to go through: Harry Price will face Eric Monnin, the victor then lining up against Evan Walker.

Qualifying - results

Group 1
1. Phil Robertson, NZL, China One Ningbo, 14
2. Chris Steele, NZL, 36 Below Racing, 14
3. Torvar Mirsky, AUS, Mirsky Racing Team, 14
4. Pieter-Jan Postmam NED, Sailing Team NL, 17
5. Mans Holmberg, SWE, Team Sweden, 19
6. Evan Walker, AUS, KA Match, 27

Group 2
1. Matt Jerwood, AUS, Redline Racing, 11
2. Taylor Canfield, USVI, US One, 11
3. Sam Gilmour, AUS, Neptune Racing, 16
4. Sally Barkow, USA, Team Magenta 32, 20
5. Nevin Snow, USA, 13FIFTY Racing, 21
6. Harry Price, AUS, Down Under Racing, 28

Group 3
1. Ian Williams, GBR, GAC Pindar, 8
2. David Gilmour, AUS, Team Gilmour, 14
3. Yann Guichard, FRA, Spindrift Racing, 14
4. Johnie Berntsson, SWE, FLUX Team, 20
5. Nicklas Dackhammar, SWE, ESSIQ Racing Team, 22
6. Eric Monnin, SUI, Albert Riele Swiss Team, 27

www.wmrt.com

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

World news
The rise of the Mini scow is proving relentless, a new Vendée Globe 'launching', the ultimate Transat rivalry, skiffies on top, tough (Olympic) decisions and New York gets out the cheque book. Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins, Rob Kothe, Dobbs Davis

Paul Cayard
Now this one just became very interesting...

IRC - Less than obvious
Or why a one-design can be easier to draw

Design - A (very) different task
Stephane Leveel has travelled a long way during a successful international career in yacht design. His current task is (literally) the biggest

Special rates for Scuttlebutt Europe subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code SB2

1yr Print Sub: €77 - £48 - $71 / Rest of the World: £65 www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

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Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

Corfu Challenge
Corfu, Greece: The 2017 Corfu Challenge Maxi 72 class regatta kicked off with an official practice day. Prior to leaving the dock, Father Alex Karloutsos came down to bless newly named Evniki, as well as the entire fleet. Teams then zipped out to the racecourse in a sunny, 20 knot north westerly wind. Breeze remained consistent throughout the day, only decreasing briefly near the windward mark in front of Mount Pantokrator. "Conditions today were relatively straight forward to drive [the boat] to. It was mostly about angle of heel because the telltales and instruments delay in breeze." Cannonball owner/driver Dario Ferrari, ITA.

Principal Race Officer Ariane Mainemare ran two practice starts before the windy two mile, two lap practice race. MOMO, Cannonball, and Proteus were all on the line, each showing moments of speed throughout the day. Racing was close, and it was MOMO who won the race with a lead change after the second windward mark. Both Evniki and Bella Mente also spent time on the water to ensure everything was setup for race day.

Bella Mente's tactician Terry Hutchinson: "Racing for the week is going to show a little bit of breeze early on, and then easing as the week goes, probably into a more typical Corfu, Greece condition. I suspect it will be tricky with five strong teams!". All five boats are in line on the dock and ready for the 1300 start tomorrow, where conditions will determine whether races will be around the buoy laps or a costal race.

www.corfuchallenge.com

Argo runs away with the GC32 Villasimius Cup
Jason Carroll and Team Argo were unstoppable at the GC32 Villasimius Cup after the American crew foiled to victory on a beautiful final day in Sardinia. The breeze started around 10 knots from the west and built to 18 knots by the end of four windward-leeward races that saw the fleet charging downwind at speeds approaching 30 knots. It was the perfect conclusion to the second round of this season's GC32 Racing Tour.

Carroll didn't win a race today but throughout the 10 races he never finished outside the top three, demonstrating a level of consistency that no other crew could come close to matching.

For an Owner Driver competing against Olympic medal winning helmsmen such as Iker Martinez on Movistar-Ventana Group and Erik Heil on Armin Strom, Carroll's feat is all the more remarkable.

The battle for second place was a three-way battle that all came down to the final race. Martinez seized victory in race 10 and almost made his way on to the podium. Movistar-Ventana Group finished tied for third with Mamma Aiuto! but it was Naofumi Kamei who edged out Martinez in the tie-break and made it to the podium.

Racing at the GC32 Villasimius Cup took place over 28th June-1st July, with the competition also featuring the GC32 Racing Tour's new Anonimo Speed Challenge.

GC32 Villasimius Cup - The Teams
Team Argo (USA) - Jason Carroll
ARMIN STROM Sailing Team (SUI) - Flavio Marazzi
Team ENGIE (FRA) - Sebastien Rogues
Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco (MON) - Pierre Casiraghi
Mamma Aiuto! (JPN) - Naofumi Kamei
Movistar - Ventana Group (ESP) - Iker Martinez
Realteam (SUI) - Jerome Clerc

www.gc32racing.com

* From Malcolm McKeag:

So Dr Grant Gibbons, Bermuda's Minister for Economic Development, tells us and the world that thanks to AC35 "Bermuda received extraordinary visibility on the world stage as the Cup was broadcast to 162 countries with millions of people watching. "

I wonder whence comes this estimate. From the same agency that tried to tell us that Donald Trump's inauguration attracted bigger crowds than did Barrack Obama's perhaps. As Barry Pickthall has already pointed out once Ben was eliminated AC35 was all-but invisible on British television (and while Ben was still in the coverage - naive and ill-informed as it was - was all about Land Rover BAR and its programme, not of Bermuda and AC35).

It was a similar story in print, where yesterday our local round-the-island race warranted a front page photograph in the Times but last week New Zealand lifting the America's Cup was buried to the point of invisibilty.

Undoubtedly AC35 with its assorted sideshows, from Js to Juniors (where GBR's excellent performance was all-but ignored here) did much for Bermuda's tourist trade and was no doubt hugely enjoyed by those present in person but any sort of global event, or rivetting television spectacle, it was not.

I am not one who shares the view that foiling multihulls have no place in the America's Cup which has always been about eye-wateringly rich people and their profesionals pushing the limits, technical and human, of all aspects of racing wind-powered craft across water.

But if the Kiwis want to bring the 36th iteration of the event that began in 1870 in New York harbour to 'millions of people' they will need to do a much better job than did the recent defenders. As will the broadcasters, magical graphics notwithstanding.

* From Bengt O. Hult, Lidingo Sweden, Ex IJ:

Three cheers for New Zealand who did what most of the sailing world was hoping for. And how they did it! It was a great joy to see them smash Oracle to pieces. Thank you. Now hopefully even Ellison has realized that money does not reign.

Now I sincerely hope that you keep your promise to make the next America´s Cup a real match race and not a drag race as this time. Using the so called boats that Ellison introduced for match racing is ridiculous. In them the crews had to concentrate on keeping them up on the foils and to stay away from the other boat. It had practically nothing to do with match racing where tactics is all important, tacking, covering and so on.

One more thing. According to the Deed of Gift AC should be a competition between nations. What was Ellison´s bought foreign legion representing? Not America, that is for sure. Next time I hope that the crew members will be born in the country they represent. Then we would get something that reminds of the real America´s Cup.

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The Last Word
I have used movies to go to sleep at night. You flip from channel to channel to channel and see just enough to make your brain mushy and go to sleep. -- Kip Thorne

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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Swedish David topples Aussie Goliath
Marstrand, Sweden: GKSS Match Cup Sweden is renowned for drawing out exceptional performances from local sailors, fired up by crowds cheering them on from the perimeter of Marstrand Arena and with assistance from the Nordic wind gods. This occurred today when Nicklas Dackhammar's ESSIQ Racing Team, 15th on the World Match Racing Tour leaderboard, overcame Australian Matt Jerwood's Redline Racing 5th placed team in a five race marathon.

The southerly wind veered west mid-afternoon and there were large holes across the course, with wind speeds of 4- 14 knots. Aboard their high performance M32 catamarans, Dackhammar won race one, then in the second Jerwood prevailed after three lead changes. Jerwood planted a pre-start penalty on his opponent taking it to match point but then the young Swede bounced back the level the score. The final race seemed to all be over when Dackhammar copped another pre-start penalty. Advantage Australia.

However "there were puffy conditions. It was getting quite light and we thought that would favour us, sailing upwind with the gennaker," explained Dackhammar. "We tried to avoid the light patches and make good manoeuvres sailing fast all the time."

Swedish fans were euphoric when their underdogs eventually pulled ahead, to win the decider and a Quarter Finals place.

Tomorrow the remainder of the Super 16 Knockout series will be sailed to determine the rest of the Quarter Finalists.

Qualifying sail off - results
Harry Price (AUS) Down Under Racing 2-0 Eric Monnin (SUI) Albert Riele Swiss Team
Harry Price (AUS) Down Under Racing 2-0 Evan Walker (AUS) KA Match

Super 16 knockout - results
Yann Guichard (FRA) Spindrift racing 3-0 Sam Gilmour (AUS) Neptune Racing
David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour 3-0 Sally Barkow (USA) Magenta 32
Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) Sailing Team NL 3-1 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Nicklas Dackhammar (SWE) ESSIQ Racing 3-2 Matt Jerwood (AUS) Redline Racing
Chris Steele (NZL) 36 Below Racing 3-0 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) FLUX Team

www.wmrt.com

Second Wave Starts 2017 Transpac
Photo by Doug Gifford/Ultimate Sailing. Click on image for photo gallery.

Los Angeles, California, USA: The second wave of three starts to the 49th edition of the 2017 biennial Transpac Race left Pt Fermin today in a pleasant 8-10 knot Southern California seabreeze, en route to a finish line awaiting them 2225 miles away at Diamond Head in Honolulu. The group of 16 boats in Divisions 3 and 4 were today faster and more lively than the cruiser/racers crossing the line on Monday's first start, with plenty of action and even one boat over the start line at the gun.

With a slight pin end favor to the line set perpendicular to the course, John Schulze's SC 50 Horizon timed it perfectly to win the pin with speed and jump out to an early lead. Horizon is one of the perennial favorites among the competitive Fast 50's in this race, having earned herself top prize in this class except for last year when Eric Grey's Allure beat her by less than 3 minutes after nearly a week of racing,

Steve Sellinger's SC 52 Triumph set up early on the line, luffing her headsail to modulate her speed, but got caught when the fleet converged and kept her above the line at the gun. So PRO Tom Trujillo and his team raised the X flag and called her back, a small hiccup for a race lasting several days ahead.

Another early leader in the pack was Naomichi Ando's R/P 45 Lady Kanon VI, powered up, heeled over and going fast even in the light breeze.

https://2017.transpacyc.com

100 Days to The Nations Trophy
The first edition of The Nations Trophy will be held from 10 – 14 October 2017 in Palma de Mallorca hosted by the Real Club Nautico Palma and is open to three Swan One-Design classes: ClubSwan 50 and ClubSwan 42, also competing for their European Championship; and, Swan 45, also contesting its World Championship.

The Nations Trophy is reminiscent of events popular during one of the golden ages of international yacht racing. The Admiral's Cup in 1957 proved a catalyst for number of nation versus nation team events and, even as trends in yacht racing have changed, the sentiment that nation versus nation competition should feature strongly has never wavered. Come October, anticipated entries from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA will hopefully demonstrate that The Nations Trophy is playing its part in reinvigorating this element of sailing competition.

Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!
Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

ORC Worlds Trieste
Trieste, Italy: The start of inshore racing on the third day of the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017 saw another day of light air - 6-8 knots from the southwest - but racing that was surprisingly close in corrected time. Two races on windward-leeward courses were completed today, with a shortened course in the second race, and new series leaders have emerged in two of the three classes.

Maurizio Poser's Swan 42 Sheraa Yacht Club Hannibal seems to have chosen the right strategy in being the slowest rated boat in Class A because the are sailing extremely well and have extended their lead in the standings on the strength of their 3-1 finishing record today.

In Class B Diego Zanco's X-41 Nube from Croatia had solid finishes of 3-3 today to jump to the top of standings, helped in part by yesterday's series leader - Sergey Kolesnikov's X-41 Technonicol from Russia - suffered a 50-point black flag penalty for being over early at the start, a testament to the aggressiveness of the starts in this class.

In Class C the racing was especially close, with two teams in the top ranks having to share points for third place. On scores of 5-3 in Races 3 and 4, Alessio Querin's Farr 30 Mummy One-Lab Met jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a 7.5-point lead over Michael Mollmann's X37 Hansen from Denmark and another Farr 30, Giacomo and Franco Loro Piana's Sease. They are 10.5 points ahead of the next nearest rival, Giuseppe Giuffre's Italia 9.98 Low Noise II, Class C World Champion in 2014 and 2015. The leader after the first two offshore races, Aivar Tuulberg's Arcona 340 Katariina II, the reigning ORC Class C European Champion, had a tough day on scores of 20 and 16, forcing him off the top of the standings.

Racing resumes tomorrow in the Gulf of Trieste, with another two inshore races planned.

www.orcworlds2017.com

Your Fastnet Race starts here. Book for the Pre-race party...
To celebrate the 47th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Royal Ocean Racing Club is delighted to announce a pre-race Crew Party for competitors on Wednesday 2nd August.

Flying in from Antigua for this special event is RORC's favourite singer songwriter Asher Otto and her band, Itchyfeet.

The party starts at 2000hrs with rum punches on arrival, followed by music and dance in the marquees and on the deck.

- Wednesday 2nd August from 2000hrs
- Antigua's hottest singer songwriter and Caribbean band
- Only 800 spaces available
- Welcome drinks on arrival
- Book your tickets now £10 cowes@rorc.org

To secure your exclusive tickets to this event, please email cowes@rorc.org

Star World Championship
Troense, Denmark: Today was a beautiful day here in Troense. No rain, and there was more sun than clouds. The wind for the two races held today was 12-14 knots still from the west. The Star World courses are 10.4 miles long by the class rules so 2 of those plus a 4 mile sail out and 4 miles sail back, made for a long day.

Danny and I managed to keep the boat in one piece today and fairly happy with finishing both races in the mid 20's. In the first race of the day, race 3 of the regatta, Augie Diaz USA & Bruno Prada, 2016 World Champs, took first place. Eivind Melloby NOR and Josh Revkin finished second and Lars Grael BRA with Samuel Goncavles brought home a third place.

This gave Melloby/Revkin the lead at the half way point in the regatta. They were awarded the Bud Vandeveere trophy for the leading skipper at the half way point and the Robert S. "Buck" Halperin trophy for the crew.

There is a perpetual trophy named after various illustrious sailors from the 110 years of the class, for the winner of each of the 6 races plus the mid week, the overall skipper and crew, the second place skipper and crew, and the Harry Nye Trophy for a life long contribution to the class.

The Nye trophy was awarded to Sune Carlssson SWE this afternoon. Sune, who has been in attendance here in Troense all week, had a heart attack at the harbor, during the day and was hospitalized. He is stable but awaits a surgery. Our thoughts are with him!

The race committee postponed tomorrows start until 13:00 as the forecast is for very light winds tomorrow. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

www.starworlds2017.com

Irish Sail Training Ship Hopes Given Boost by Taoiseach
The up-beat mood of the weekend's Galway Seafest was moved several notches higher by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, when he revealed at Galway Port that his government is broadly in favour of the concept of an all-Ireland sail training ship, which is promoted by the Atlantic Youth Trust writes W M Nixon.

The recent turbulence in Irish politics had induced a mood of pessimism about any implementation of this complex project, with some of the difficulties involved being outlined recently in Afloat.ie. However, we indicated the likelihood that, if such an idealistic scheme were ever to achieve fruition, then it would most likely be through the Enda O'Coineen-inspired Atlantic Youth Trust, whose Chief Executive, the popular Neil O'Hagan, has been quietly beavering away lobbying on the project's behalf on both side of the Irish border.

For O'Hagan, the story from Galway by Lorna Siggins in the Irish Times is well-earned encouragement in his challenging quest. The Taoiseach said that sail training was "one of the areas where we could have North-South co-operation, and also very important cross-community co-operation".

He acknowledged that many people deeply regretted that the sail training brigantine Asgard II was no longer available, but indicated that his government is well aware of the €16 million cost of a replacement. Nevertheless his own enthusiasm for the concept was in evidence, and he clearly stated that discussion about the new ship "'is certainly something we can engage in".

afloat.ie/sail/tall-ships/

Remembering Kilo
It is with great sadness that we see the sudden passing of one of Sydney Harbour's great sailing legends Robert "Kilo" Killick who crossed his last finishing line on Saturday 24 June. Kilo was well known around Sydney Harbour, Port Hacking, Hervey Bay and numerous locations around the planet through his sailing, whale watching, charter vessel operations and pretty much any activity that involved having fun.

In recent years he was best known for his contribution to 18 ft skiff sailing whether it was Saturdays skippering the Historic 18 ft skiff "Yendys" out of the Sydney Flying Squadron or Sundays following the modern 18 footers out of the League at Double Bay around the track on Sydney Harbour in the Camera Cat. Kilo was passionate about 18 footer sailing and played a pivotal role in developing and sustaining both classes.

At the Sydney Flying Squadron Kilo was a key figure behind the building of a number of the replica skiffs including the most recent Myra Too being Billy Barnett's 1951 winning skiff, and his beloved "Yendys" that he cared for like a father.

Kilo was a great man, he had a great heart and shared his love generously in bringing people together and providing encouragement towards helping us believe in ourselves.

For those of us who were fortunate enough to share his acquaintance he leaves a big hole in our heart, but always a smile on our face.

Never a dull moment Kilo!

Heartfelt condolences to Sam, Mackenzie and Angus and his family.

Bon Voyage brother.

Billy Loader
Commodore Sydney Flying Squadron

Samantha and Gus Killick extend an invitation to all Killo's friends to his "Last Race"
Friends should arrive at
Double Bay Wharf, 77 Bay Street, Double Bay
in time to board the ferry at 2:15pm
Sunday, 9th July 2017 for a 2:45pm start.

The ferry will sail one lap of the n'east course then back to the Australian 18footers league for eulogies, refreshments and tales of Killo's amazing life.

Tea and scones probably won't be served.

* From Giles Pearman:

I would like to understand better why there is an apparent clamour in some quarters for America's Cup races to be in boats that encourage close-quarter match racing. I'm sure the aficionados and historians will put me right, but the original Deed of Gift and even the notice for the race that spawned the Cup make no mention of 'match-racing', particularly as we might think of it today. The Cup was referred to as a 'match' in the Deed and, by default, two boats racing 'one on one' is a match race. But wasn't it the introduction of the 12 Metres that cemented the notion that the Cup must be decided by a series of close-fought match-races; a concept continued by the IACCs and clung to pointlessly by the subsequent multihulls. Could the Js and other yachts that preceded the 12s engage in a 'modern' match-race duel any more than an AC50? Certainly dial ups and dial downs in the pre-start must have been tricky.

As for the need to increase the proportion of crew deemed to be sailing, again that seems a hangover from the 12s and IACCs. I'd hazard that a guy pulling a halyard (along with 10 or so others) to hoist a sail on a J was no more skilled a sailor than someone riding a bicycle to drive hydraulic pressure today. Fit, athletic, committed, competitive, dedicated - absolutely, but skilled in the nuances of sail trim and tactics? I suspect that is a romantic view of the fishermen earning some extra cash by racing for the rich boys.The J Class Association website advises that: "The permanent racing crew in the early days was probably around 16 men though this may have been augmented to around 30 for racing. When not required for sail changes, spare crew were often moved to below decks." At least today's grinders or cyclors stay in sight all race, permanently contribute to the speed of the boat and get wet.

I understand that foiling multihulls are not to everyone's taste. I was unconvinced of the move away from monohulls before the Kiwis first went flying on the Waitemata in 2012. The AC has always been a contest on many different levels, and not just on the water. The racing seems to me to be the final, short-lived part of an engaging spectacle and I would go so far as to suggest it almost does not matter what is raced as long as it is impressive in today's world. Albeit with some constraints to avoid complete mismatches, I'm for letting them 'race what they brung', whether they race next to each other after the start or a mile apart.

* From Paul Newell:

Comment by Malcom McKeag: "But if the Kiwis want to bring the 36th iteration of the event that began in 1870 in New York harbour to 'millions of people' they will need to do a much better job than did the recent defenders".

Am I the only one that read "irritation" instead of "iteration"?

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The Last Word
To look at you, anyone would think a famine had struck England. -- G. K. Chesterton to George Bernard Shaw
To look at you, anyone would think you have caused it. -- George Bernard Shaw to G. K. Chesterton

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Last Wave Starts 2017 Transpac and Fleet is Headed West
Merlin at the start. Photo by Doug Gifford/Ultimate Sailing. Click on image for photo gallery.

Los Angeles, California, USA: Another perfect Southern California summer day yielded perfect conditions for the final wave of 17 fast monohulls and five fast multihulls to set off on their 2225-mile odyssey to the finish in Honolulu of the 2017 Transpac Race. The breeze started at a light 6-8 knots, but quickly built up to 10-12 knots after the start allowing the fleet to speed towards their first - and only - mark of the course at the West End of Catalina.

In this 49th edition of this classic biennial ocean race there is a healthy mix of sentimental favorites - such as Bill Lee's 68-foot Merlin, a boat of his design and build who made its debut exactly 40 years ago to set a course record then and re-write ocean racing design on the West Coast and beyond - and the newest generation record-breakers, such as Jim Clark's 100-footer Comanche. Both were out at the start today, Lee with some of his original 1977 crew, such as Jack Halterman who like Lee is an integral part of Santa Cruz racing history.

On board Merlin at the helm at the start is a current-generation pro sailor at the prime of his game, Morgan Larson, another product of the Santa Cruz scene.

Larson driving Merlin nailed the start at the pin end, well away from Commanche being driven by Ken Read who opted to start closer to Warrior, the LAYC starting vessel, among a crowd of ULDB Sleds which were dwarfed by the size of the big red and black all-carbon rocket ship. Until the advent of the TP 52 design over a decade ago - another design innovation born here on the West Coast - the ULDB sleds and their turbo-charged offspring set the first to finish standards for this race.

Now Comanche is hopeful to have the weather patterns needed to break the existing monohull course record for boats using stored power of 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds, set in 2009 by Neville Crichton's Reichel/Pugh 90 Alfa Romeo II. Navigator Stan Honey, a multiple Transpac winner himself, reckons the odds are 50-50

2017.transpacyc.com

One-race Day at ORC Worlds Trieste 2017
Trieste, Italy: In another light air day of flat water and breeze never exceeding 8 knots, inshore racing resumed for the second day at the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017. Only one race was held due to the light air, and yesterday's series leaders continued to show their prowess in these conditions and no net change in leadership at the top of Classes A, B and C.

In Class A the top three teams are all Italian, with Vincenzo Onorato's Cookson 50 Mascalzone Latino earning their first win of the series to grab the runner-up position in the standings. Yet Maurizio Poser's Swan 42 Sheraa Yacht Club Hannibal is still dominating the class in corrected time with a 3rd today and a 9 point lead ahead of the pack of 17 boats in this class. On having finished 4th today, Sandro Paniccia's Scuderia 50 Altair 3 remains in third overall one point behind Onerato.

In Class B, Nube, Diego Zanco's X-41 from Croatia remains firmly in the lead, but Renzo Grottesi's Swan 42 Bewild has reached second place and leaves behind their sistership Swan 42 Selene Alifax skippered by Massimo De Campo thanks to their first race win today.

Among the Class C contenders, Alessio Querin's Farr 30 Mummy One Lab Met is still at the head of the standings, but behind then is Giacomo and Franco Loro Piana's fellow Farr 30 Sease, with Aivar Tuulberg's Arcona 340 Katariina II having come up on the lowest step of the podium. On the water, the easiest starts are in Class A, with 17 boats on the line, but in Class B it took three tries to tame the fleet of 49 boats on the line.

Even for Class C, the Race Committee had to endure four attempts to finally make the start of a 50-strong fleet of boats from which Cesare Bressan's Melges 32 Airis was the winner for the second consecutive race.

Friday is expected to be another day of light air and for this reason the Committee decided to postpone the start at 1:00 PM, trusting in the more reliable afternoon winds.

www.orcworlds2017.com

Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:

Guillaume Verdier (FRA)
If there's one thing Verdier works harder at than drawing the best ocean racers of the current era it is dodging public recognition. Well, mon ami, we got you this time - as did the readers who voted for you. For those who quietly marvelled at the superiority of Team New Zealand's foil solutions and the way that one team had committed so confidently to the wind conditions expected for the final Match look no further than the Kiwi's secret weapon. How many Cup fans even knew the Frenchman wore an All Blacks shirt?

This month's nominees:

Sean Regan (NZL)
Capsize your boat (brutally) one day and win the next (OK, the day after but the boat was ready). The head of Emirates Team New Zealand shore operations, Regan led his team in a typically calm and quiet but still monumental rebuild of the team's single ACC raceboat following their pitchpole racing Ben Ainslie in the qualifying rounds. In fact, the broken carbon was not the biggest problem; try soaking the most complex (and effective) control systems in the fleet

Andrea Mura (ITA)
The Italian sailmaker worked his bits off to build a new Verdier/VPLP Imoca 60 for the Vendée Globe; in fact, his Persico boat may well have been the best-built in the fleet. However, Mura ran out of money, failed to find a sponsor and had to watch as his potential race-winner was dragged around at the back of the fleet by a skipper who admitted he didn't want to be there. But Mura did just win a storm-tossed Transat in his trusty old 50-footer Vento di Sardegna...

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Henri Lloyd, Harken McLube & Dubarry. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!

Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month/vote-for-sailor-of-the-month

To subscribe to Seahorse Digital £30 for one year with discount promo code SB2 click www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/digital

176 Bound for St Malo
Start: Friday 7th July. First Warning Signal: 0950, RYS Cowes, to the West.
Cowes - Casquets - Les Hanois - St Malo. Approximately 151 miles.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Societe Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo, Junior Offshore Group (JOG) and the Royal Yacht Squadron.

In excess of 1500 sailors, from all over the world, will be competing in the 2017 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race. The largest RORC fleet since the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race, comprising of 176 yachts will be taking part, with 164 racing under the IRC Rating Rule for the magnificent King Edward VII Cup. With a wind direction expected in the westerly quadrant, combined with midsummer air temperature, a glorious downwind race is the likely outcome.

IRC Zero
George David's American Maxi Rambler 88 will be racing with one eye on the clock hoping to better the race record set by Mike Slade's Leopard 3 in 2015 (11 hours 57 minutes and 53 seconds). Rambler 88 is one of ten yachts competing in a highly competitive IRC Zero Class.

IRC One
James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX, will be hoping to emulate their overall win in the 2017 Myth of Malham. Whilst Edward Broadway's Ker 40 Hooligan VII, and Giles Redpath's Lombard IRC 46 Pata Negra, have the opportunity to take the class lead for the season.

IRC Two
Nick & Suzi Jones's First 44.7 Lisa, skippered by RORC Commodore Michael Boyd, lead the class for the season, and won the Morgan Cup overall in their last race. However, Gilles Fournier's J/133 Pintia is within striking distance of overtaking Lisa, for both the class and overall lead for the RORC Season's Points Championship.

IRC Three
44 yachts are entered, with the vast majority running asymmetric spinnakers, ideal for the predicted reaching conditions. The majority of the 22 Two-Handed teams will be racing in IRC Three/

IRC Four
With 51 entries IRC Four will form an impressive line up as the first to start on the Royal Yacht Squadron Line. The largest class racing to St Malo includes Noel Racine's JPK 10.10 Foggy Dew; class leader for the season and defending class champion for the St Malo Race.

The 176 yacht fleet will be divided into four starts, with the first warning signal at 09:50 BST from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line. -- Louay Habib

Tracking: yb.tl/stmalo2017

www.rorc.org

Premier's Gosport Marina selected to host the Volvo Ocean Race this summer
Photo by Billie Weiss / Volvo Ocean Race. Click on image to enlarge.

Premier Gosport Marina and its specialist boatyard Endeavour Quay have been selected to host the fleet of eight Volvo Ocean Race yachts in the build up to the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Gosport has been chosen as the host venue for a week of preparation prior to the race start due to its first class facilities, easy access to the Solent and deep water basin. The teams can also take advantage of the onshore technical facilities available to them at the marina's specialist boatyard, Endeavour Quay.

Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard Logistics Manager, Abby Ehler said: "The Rolex Fastnet Race will be the first time the Teams line up against each other, so it was important to accommodate the fleet together in the build up to the race. Gosport Marina was our first choice, with its deep water, shoreside facilities and experience with hosting race yachts and events, and not least the historical significance of the harbour and the Whitbread Race, it's the traditional home of ocean racing."

From the 31st July to 6th August the eight teams competing in the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race will be moored at Gosport Marina's events basin which has in recent years hosted the RC44 Portsmouth Cup and The Clipper Round the World Race fleet.

Tim Newell, Manager at Premier Marinas Endeavour Quay commented: "In the past we've often supported the Volvo teams individually here at the boatyard, but it's great now to team up with Gosport Marina and offer the same great service to the entire fleet - it really cements Gosport's reputation as THE town to come to for big boat events."

www.endeavourquay.co.uk

J/80 World Championship
The 16th edition of the J/80 World Championship, is proudly hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club. 47 teams from Australia, France, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain will be competing. 14 races are scheduled to take place in The Solent, providing four days of top class racing for a truly world class fleet.

Spain has been the dominate nation in the J/80 World Championships with eight wins, and Rayco Tabares Alvarez has won the title an unprecedented three times, including the last two years. Rayco is no stranger to the Royal Southern Yacht Club, he was tactician for Jose Maria Torcida's J/70, which was runner up for the J/70 Europeans, hosted by the Royal Southern last month. Alavrez's team is one of four Spanish teams competing. Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg won the J/80 Worlds in 2012 and an Olympic Gold Medal for Spain, in the Finn Class in 1992. Pepequin Orbaneja has placed third and fourth in the last two J/80 World Championships, and Javier Chacártegui Cirerol was fifth in 2016.

25 teams from Great Britain will be competing, and hoping to emulate Great Britain's only J/80 World Champion, Ruairidh Scott in 2005.

13 teams from France will be competing including; Eric Brezellec, a former French J/80 National Champion and runner up at the 2016 Worlds.

For live updates from the 2017 J/80 World Championship, including video and pictures from the race course: www.facebook.com/J80Worlds2017

www.royal-southern.co.uk

Dunkirk Beckons Again for 40th Tour Voile
Click on image to enlarge.

Dunkirk is where the famous Tour de France a la Voile started back on 1st July 1978. Appropriately it is from France’s history steeped North Sea port, just 10km from the Belgian border, that the historic 40th edition of the annual crewed race starts Friday July 7th.

Twenty nine teams are set to compete over 9 Acts culminating in the 2017 Super Final in Nice on 29th July.

The entry of 29 crews from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Spain, Switzerland and Oman represents a record level of participation since the modernisation of the event, stepping in 2015 from the M34 monohull into the Diam 24 one design trimarans.

The change to the strict one design multihull ushered in a revolution in terms of the racing format and objectives. Now each stop city, or Act, comprises one coastal race of around 40 nautical miles complemented by stadium style fleet racing. The fleet is split into two Qualifying Groups, each racing up to six 15 minute qualifying races. The top four teams from each division face off in one Final race, the winner gaining 50 points, second 49 points and the third 48 point.

After Dunkirk (7-9th July) this year’s Tour de France a la Voile travels to Fécamp (10-11th July) Jullouville (13-14th July) Arzon Port du Crouesty (15-16th July), Les Sables d’Olonne (17-18th July), Roses in the north of Spain’s Costa Brava (21-22nd July), Le Grau du Roi Port Camargue (23-24th July), Marseille (26-27th July) and Nice (28-30th July).

The dominant crew last year was Team Lorina Limonade-Golfe du Morbihan, co-skippered by Quentin Delapierre and Matthieu Salomon.

www.tourvoile.fr/fr

Nice Ultimed
Nice will host a major sailing event from 28 April to 6 May 2018 - the most grandiose and ambitious such event the capital of the French Riviera has ever hosted: NICE ULTIMED. The XXL boat race will bring the best skippers in the world to the Mediterranean to command the largest racing boats in the world. Ultimate-class trimarans are true giants of the seas, designed to smash records across the oceans.

The idea is to unleash the full potential of these ultra-fast trimarans in these waters while staying as close to the public as possible, so NICE ULTIMED will feature a combined format known as "Off-shore Sprint", a hybrid of off-shore racing and nautical stadium racing. In between the start and the finish of the race in Baie des Anges, the amazing course will put the spotlight on some of the most well-known Mediterranean landmarks.

NICE ULTIMED will be part of Collectif Ultim's calendar and feature the defending champion of the Vendee Globe, Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire XI), as well as single-handed around the world sailing record holder Thomas Coville (Sodebo) and Yves Le Blevec (Actual), third in the last Transat bakerly. The fourth member of Collectif Ultim, François Gabart (MACIF) will decide whether to take part after his single-handed around the world sailing record attempt, scheduled for next winter, and the subsequent repairs to his trimaran. Other giant trimarans will be on the start list, ensuring a star-studded field which will include Francis Joyon (IDEC Sport), the holder of the Jules Verne Trophy, the around the world record with no restrictions on crew size.

www.niceultimed.com

* From George Morris:

As an avid watcher of sailing on my laptop may I observe that the best days of the AC and its precursors from a televisual point of view were the heavy weather ones - Artemis falling apart and charging out of control off the pitch, ETNZ capsizing etc. The final of the WMRT at Marstrand last year was brilliant. The start of the Cape Town leg of the Volvo last time round and Day three (?) of the JJ Giltinan ditto. So many 'extreme' events are sailed in light winds and while they have a certain fascination, 'extreme' they are not. The worst conditions from a televisual point of view are steady winds of 12 knots or so which produce neither spectacle nor surprises. ETNZ ought to be able to find some wind somewhere shouldn't they?

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The Last Word
Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

In This Issue
Eivind Melleby and Joshua Revkin, 2017 Star World Champions | Robertson defends his title at GKSS Match Cup Sweden | 100 Days to The Nations Trophy | Mascalzone Latino, Be Wild and Airis New ORC World Champions | Too much to digest | Soak Racing crowned J/70 UK National Champions | Your Fastnet Race starts here. Book for the Pre-race party | French America's Cup team refused to help Team New Zealand | ...And that's just ONE of the reasons why ETNZ tossed the Louis Vuitton Bags | Audi J/70 World Championship: 173 Teams Registered | Featured Brokerage

Eivind Melleby and Joshua Revkin, 2017 Star World Champions
The final race was held in a 8 to 16 knot Westerly under sunny skies. The showdown between Eivind Melleby and Lars Grael materialized as Grael took the early lead and Melleby struggled to stay in the top 10.

Hubert Merkelbach, Diego Negri, Reinhard Schmidt and Johannes Polgar all over took Grael while Melleby moved up to 8th. In the end the math worked in favor of the 45 year old Norwegian and his 27 year old crew Josh Revkin of the USA. They are the new Gold Star winners. The also won the newly awarded Paul Elvstrom trophy for the team that won had the best score without a discard.

Trine Elvstrom, daughter and Olympic crew in Los Angeles in the Tornado class, presented the trophy. Paul Elvstrom won his second Star World Championship 50 years ago in Copenhagen.

Danny and I had a decent race finishing 31st. Our combined weight (390lbs) is just too light to be competitive. There is a reason there is a maximum weight limit (about 440lbs) in the Star Class. Weight is fast! We were slow upwind and that is especially tough on the first leg of the course right after the start. Danny had us going very fast downwind but not enough to compensate. Our goals for the week were to sail together, have fun and get Danny some big fleet Star racing experience... in that order. We did all that. We spent a bit more money on masts than we hoped to, but that's racing! I think Danny truly likes sailing the Star and will be racing for years. I think I may have done my last race as a Star crew. Putting it politely, my body is a little bit sore. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

Final top ten:
1. Eivind Melleby Joshua Revkin, NOR, 28 points
2. Lars Grael / Samuel Goncalves, BRA, 34
3. Reinhard Schmidt / Paul Sradnick, GER, 31
4. Diego Negri / Sergio Lambertenghi, ITA, 29
5. Hubert Merkelbach / Brian Fatih, GER, 47
6. Facundo Olezza Bazan / Juan Pablo Engelhard, ARG, 45
7. Augie Diaz / Bruno Prada, USA, 41
8. Johannes Polgar / Markus Koy, GER, 53
9. Jack Jennings Frithjof Kleen, USA, 58
10. Thomas Allart Kilian Weise, NED, 86

www.starworlds2017.com

Robertson defends his title at GKSS Match Cup Sweden
Marstrand, Sweden: After beating Pieter-Jan Postma's Sailing Team NL in this morning's semifinals, Phil Robertson and his CHINAone NINGBO crew went on win the final of GKSS Match Cup Sweden, dispatching Taylor Canfield's US One Sailing Team. This repeated the Kiwi team's victory on the Marstrand Arena in 2016, against the same opponent, but this time with a more emphatic 3-0 scoreline.

Racing took place with the wind building into the mid-teens, causing the nimble M32 catamarans to light up. More stable conditions compared to yesterday resulted in more boundary-to-boundary racing, while picking the right marks to round was vital to ensure sailing in the best pressure.

In today's final, Robertson's starting seemed in a different league. "We have trained in tight starting and it probably played into our hands a little bit. We were getting off the line pretty well and managed to keep our lead. But was close and tough - Taylor did a good job."

Canfield and his US One Sailing Team had overcome Ian Williams and GAC Pindar team 3-1 in the semifinals to gain their berth in the final (while Williams went on to win the Petit Final against Postma). This he had achieved in such surgical fashion that many had him as favourite for winning overall.

The M32s are now staying in Marstrand ready for next week's World Championship fleet racing when 17 of the one design catamarans will be competing on Marstrand Fjord.

www.wmrt.com

Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!
Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

Mascalzone Latino, Be Wild and Airis New ORC World Champions
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.

Trieste, Italy: In an exciting finale to a week of mostly light air sailing, overall class winners were not decided until the last race in all classes today at the ORC Worlds Trieste 2017. And the new World Champions in each class were surprises as well, none having been at the top of the leaderboard all week during the 6-day format of inshore and offshore racing.

Race managers led by PRO Giancarlo Crevatin made a bold decision to hold as many races as the light air conditions would allow today, which was two on one course area and only one on another. This meant Classes A and C had two races to determine the podium finishers, while Class B had only one race...at least this would get to the seven needed to trigger a discard.

On the strength of one race win and consistency with no finish worse that 4th place, Vincenzo Onerato and his Mascalzone Latino team racing his Cookson 50 have won the ORC World Championship for Class A, with last year's winner - Vadim Yakimenko's Russo-French team on Freccia Rossa - earning Silver medals.

In Class B the leader through most of the week was Diego Zanco's Croatian team on his X-41 Nube, and a discard of their 16th place in the second offshore race looked like it would keep them on top with a reasonable result in the last race. But disaster struck: a 17th place in the race made them keep their 16th and take them out of contention for a podium finish.

Meanwhile a team that had never been in the top ranks due to a 38th place in the second offshore race but had been quietly collecting excellent scores of 2-1-1-2 in the inshore races, and a final 1st place in the last race, was now vaulted to the top with the discard. Renzo Grotessi's Swan 42 Be Wild and his CSQ2 Sailing Team are the new ORC World Champions in Class B.

Class C was similar to Class A, with many contenders, some large point discards and two races to determine the ultimate champions. At the beginning of the week in the offshore races some perennial and proven favorites at past ORC championship events looked strong, but as the inshore racing progressed other teams started rising to the top, and with some heavy point discards waiting until Race 7, these teams were poised to pounce today.

And the team that not only rose quickly to the top but also eliminated any doubt by winning both of today's races was Cesare Bressan's modified Melges 32 Airis, the new ORC World Champions in Class C. This team has been on the podium at previous World Championships, namely being Bronze medal winners in 2012 in Helsinki sailing their GP 42 of the same name, but this is the first time they have been able to claim the top prize.

www.orcworlds2017.com

Too much to digest
There's been a lot going on at Volvo Towers in Alicante. James Boyd catches up with round the world race supremo Mark Turner

Wholescale change is afoot in the Volvo Ocean Race following Mark Turner's appointment as CEO almost a year ago. The new measures, set to be implemented for the race after next are colossal, way, way more than merely adopting a new boat.

The latest initiatives for 'Volvo Ocean Race - the next decade' are intended to increase the value of the event to all its stakeholders: sailors purely focussed on winning, team owners, sponsors and partners, host cities, as well of course as the race's owners, Volvo Group and the Volvo Car Group.

Following debate about whether the replacement for the one-design VO65 would be monohull or multihull, the former was finally confirmed. After a lengthy tender process French naval architect Guillaume Verdier, one half of the partnership responsible for the last two Vendee Globe winners, won the contract to design the new boat. Yet to be named, this will be a foil-assisted, partially flying, canting-keel monohull. Likely to have more keel, more rig and more structure than an Imoca 60, the new boat's design is aimed purely at the Volvo Ocean Race.

However... by coincidence Turner says the platform has ended up being much the same size as an Imoca: 'Given how foiling technology is evolving, bigger is no longer necessarily better.'

So they decided to make it possible to transform the new boat into a Vendee Globe-compliant Imoca 60 if required. But Turner stresses this was decidedly a secondary feature - the brief was 'the right boat for the Volvo Ocean Race'.

Full article in the July issue of Seahorse: www.seahorsemagazine.com

Soak Racing crowned J/70 UK National Champions
Ian Wilson's Soak Racing (RSrnYC) are the 2017 J/70 UK National Champions, after a nerve racking final day of racing in The Solent.

Race 8 started in a light southwesterly breeze with a Spring tide running against the air flow. Soak Racing got a bad start, and were at best mid-fleet at the first top mark. Soak Racing gybed early to get into the full strength of the tide, and looked to take advantage of a big wind shift to the south. However, as the wind veered, it weakened and by the time the fleet got to the first bottom mark, it became evident that the race could not be deemed fair, and PRO Simon van der Byl, called for an abandonment of not only the race but an end to the regatta.

Soak Racing were the victors by eight points from last year's winners, Calascione & Ripard's Harlequin (RYS). Martin Dent's Jelvis was third and winner of the Mixed Crew fleet. The top Corinthian team was Patrick Liardet's Cosmic (RSrnYC), and Jack Davies' Yeti (RSYC) was the top youth team. Soak Racing were also the Masters Champions.

Top ten final results:
1. Soak Racing, Ian Wilson, GBR, Royal Southern YC, 15 points
2. Harlequin, Calascione Ripard, GBR, Royal Yacht Squadron, 23
3. Jelvis, Martin Dent , GBR, 26
4. Cosmic, Patrick Liardet, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 34
5. Phan Jeremy Thorp, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 37
6. Darcey Clive Bush, Chichester Yacht Club, GBR, 46
7. Brutus Charles Thompson, Royal Southern YC, GBR, 49
8. Yeti Jack Davies, Royal Solent Yacht Club, GBR, 49
9. Baby J Antony Esse, RTYC, GBR, 51
10. F'in Majic 2 Simon Childs, Hayling Island SC, GBR, 53

www.rys.org.uk/regattas/j70-nationals/

Flying in from Antigua for this special event is RORC's favourite singer songwriter Asher Otto and her band, Itchyfeet.

The party starts at 2000hrs with rum punches on arrival, followed by music and dance in the marquees and on the deck.

- Wednesday 2nd August from 2000hrs
- Antigua's hottest singer songwriter and Caribbean band
- Only 800 spaces available
- Welcome drinks on arrival
- Book your tickets now £10 cowes@rorc.org

To secure your exclusive tickets to this event, please email cowes@rorc.org

French America's Cup team refused to help Team New Zealand
The French turned their backs on Team New Zealand hours after the dramatic capsize, then tried to charge $468,500 for any help, before abruptly withdrawing the offer altogether, claims Team NZ's billionaire backer.

In an exclusive interview with the Weekend Herald this week, Emirates Team New Zealand principal, Matteo de Nora revealed what he says was Groupama Team France's response to ETNZ's request for help after the pitch-pole that left the Kiwi boat in tatters moments before the start of race two in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series.

Within two hours of Aotearoa being lifted out of the water, CEO Grant Dalton asked the French for equipment and spare parts to get the boat fixed in time for the next day's race.

Team France had already been eliminated from the challenger semifinals and were therefore out of the America's Cup.

De Nora says the French refused almost immediately. Then came a request for a payment of 300,000 Euros ($468,500) if the French were to consider helping.

Before TNZ had time to consider the payment, and search for funding, the offer was abruptly withdrawn. De Nora wonders if Oracle heard about the deal and intervened.

Neither Groupama nor Oracle responded to requests for comment.

In hindsight, de Nora said, the rejection made Team New Zealand stronger.

"After the French said 'no', the team was united. I can tell you the secretaries were using hair dryers to dry the boat, the cooks, security, everybody was working round the clock."

The more people who turned up to help, the stronger the determination became.

www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11885899

...And that's just ONE of the reasons why ETNZ tossed the Louis Vuitton Bags
Remember this?

...In the most Kiwi bloke display ever, our Team New Zealand boys have tossed their $3000 prize Louis Vuitton bags into a crowd of eager fans.

After winning the America's Cup, the team were presented with limited edition Louis Vuitton Sac Polochon bags, that appeared to be full of Louis Vuitton goodies.

Before the sponsors' photo could even be taken, members of the team began hurling their bags into the crowd, who grappled for the pricey pieces of history...

www.nzherald.co.nz

... Our friend Laszlo Toth in Bermuda reveals that while all other teams were given full invitations to the Louis Vuitton Ball, Team New Zealand only got one ticket for a single team member plus a partner. That, and the French refusal to help as noted above, put anything French as unwanted in the Kiwi camp.

Audi J/70 World Championship: 173 Teams Registered
Porto Cervo, Italy: Registration has closed with a record breaking fleet of 173 teams from 25 different nations for the upcoming J/70 World Championship that will be organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of Title Sponsor Audi and Official Event Sailmaker Quantum Sails.

The chance of competing in one of the world's most famous areas for yachting has been a contributing factor in the even-better-than-expected turnout for this popular One Design event. J/70s are increasingly popular thanks to the J/70 builder's promotion and to the constant efforts on the part of the J/70 International Class Association and the single national J/70 associations.

Amongst the many names present the current World Champion, Joel Ronning owner/helmsman of Catapult. Another name to watch is that of the current European Champion, the 24-year-old Claudia Rossi who will be helming her Petite Terrible.

A record fleet will be racing in Porto Cervo from September 12th to 16th Porto Cervo, July 6, 2017.

www.yccs.it/en/home.html

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The Last Word
Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. -- Will Rogers

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

J/80 World Championship
Hamble, UK: The 16th edition of the J/80 World Championship got off to a flying start with two spectacular championship races for the 48 boat fleet. A southwesterly wind of 12 knots built during the afternoon, piping up to over 20 knots in the gusts. With wind over tide shortly after the start, the combat zone boiled up with the J/80s powering upwind, then surfing downwind, in a full on foam up. Rayco Tavares (ESP) leads the championship, Kevin Sproul (GBR) is second and Luke Patience (GBR) third.

PRO Stuart Childerley held a practice race In the morning, and after a big wind shift, moved the course to the east. "It can be a devil of a race area but we got two good races in today, helped by the competitors who settled into the tidal conditions very well at the start, but I expect that from this fleet, which is full of talented sailors." commented Stuart Childerley.

The battle of the day was won by reigning J/80 World Champion, Rayco Tavares, who is top of the leaderboard after the first day, but the Spaniard did not have it all his own way. Reigning UK National Champion, Kevin Sproul won Race One but Rayco scored a 2-1 to Kevin's 1-4. The battle is due to continue all week. -- Louay Habib

Top five after two races:
1. Hotel Princesa Yaiza (Corinthian), Rayco Tabares, ESP, 3.0 points
2. J.A.T., Kevin Sproul / Phil Taylor, GBR, 5.0
3. Ryoko Meka, Luke Patience, GBR, 8.0
4. HM Hotels (Corinthian), Javier Chacartegui Cirerol, ESP, 10.0
5. ArMen Habitat, Moriceau Simon, FRA, 17.0

Full results on YachtScoring

www.facebook.com/J80Worlds2017
www.royal-southern.co.uk

470 World Championships
Thessaloniki, Greece: A two-hour postponement ashore waiting for the thermal breeze converted to 8-10 knots for the first race, building to 15-16 knots, under a clear blue sky.

The day saw racing for the one hundred and thirty-three teams from 32 nations get underway around soon after 1400 hours across the two race tracks. All fleets are split into yellow and blue fleets for the 5 race qualification series, and will be reseeded overnight for the final 2 qualification races on Tuesday.

From Wednesday's day 3 of racing, the fleets will contest six final series races, before the top ten men and women teams advance to the Medal Races on Saturday.

470 Men
Anton Dahlberg/Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE) claimed a 1,2,1 to lead the 470 men at the end of the opening day, and sit on a 3 point advantage over Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS) in second. Third to Turkey's Deniz Cinar/Ates Cinar.

Carrying the world #1 ranking on their bow are Greece's Panagiotis Mantis/Pavlos Kagialis. The Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallists have every ability to mount a credible bid for the World Championship and most recently won the Sailing World Cup Final in Santander. Their opening scorecard was a 10,4,2 and 5th overall.

470 Men Top Five - Provisional Results after 3 Races
1. Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergstrom, SWE, 2
2. Mathew Belcher / Will Ryan, AUS, 5
3. Deniz Cinar / Ates Cinar, TUR, 5
4. Stuart Mcnay / David Hughes, USA, 6
5. Panagiotis Mantis / Pavlos Kagialis, GRE, 6

470 Women
A standout performance from Hannah Mills/Eilidh McIntyre (GBR), who knocked out three wins in the blue fleet. Mills, the Rio 2016 Olympic medallist has transitioned straight back into the groove, despite stepping out of the 470 this year to race a skiff. After the discard kicked in with race 3, a 3,1,1 scorecard from Slovenia's Tina Mrak/Veronika Macarol (SLO) puts them on tiebreak in second.

It's all the experienced campaigners up front, as Amy Seabright/Anna Carpenter (GBR) place in third overall, also on tiebreak over two-time Olympian Xiaoli Wang from China who is racing her 10th World Championships, and is in fourth overall with crew Haiyang Gao.

470 Women Top Five - Provisional Results after 3 Races
1. Hannah Mills / Eilidh Mcintyre, GBR, 2
2. Tina Mrak / Veronika Macarol, SLO, 2
3. Amy Seabright / Anna Carpenter, GBR, 4
4. Xiaoli Wang / Haiyang Gao, CHN, 4
5. Agnieszka Skrzypulec / Irmina Mrozek Gliszczynska, POL, 6

2017worlds.470.org

Monaco Solar & Electric Boat Challenge in the Starting Blocks
Revive the spirit of the first international powerboat meetings launched in Monaco in 1904, while supporting development of clean energy is the task of the Monaco Solar & Electric Boat Challenge (13-15 July).

Organised in partnership with the International Powerboat Federation (UIM) and Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation by the Yacht Club de Monaco, the event is unique in the Mediterranean. It is also the only contest to bring together on the open sea solar boats and, for the first time, boats whose batteries can be recharged by different sources of electricity.

It's a chance for engineering students to give free reign to their imaginations in designing and building boats to compete, the aim being to raise awareness of the potential of solar and electricity in the fight against global warming.

22 teams (8 nations) have already signed up. An endurance fleet race, timed slalom course and one-on-one duels are on the programme. Last year, Dutch team Clafis Victron Energy Solar Boat Team and Dutch Solar Boat won the event for the third year in a row in their respective classes (Open and Challenge A), and Gerhard van der Schaar (Clafis Victron Energy Solar Boat Team) set a new speed record at 49.10 km/h.

New this year is the Monaco Offshore Solar & Electric Race, a first, which will see three boats line up for a 25nm Monaco-Nice-Monaco race to set a reference time. The boats can take three people and meet YCM Offshore Class specifications. The YCM's goal is to foster partnerships between universities and respected shipyards.

www.yacht-club-monaco.mc/en/home-en/

Mighty Merloe and Comanche on race record pace in 2017 Transpac
Honolulu, Hawaii: One week after the first wave of starters and four days after the last wave, the bulk of the 55 entries in this year's 49th edition of the Transpac are at about their halfway points to the finish at Diamond Head in Honolulu. On the 2225-mile course less than a dozen are still to reach the half-way points in their projected tracks in the race.

Unlike the last two editions of this classic biennial ocean race, the weather has been favorable for a "normal" passage to Hawaii, with the boats heading southwest after passing the West End of Catalina Island, then arching towards the west and now north of west as they get into the easterly tradewinds near the southern latitudes of the Hawaiian archipelago. The fleet's southerly arch away from the rhumb line has been intentional to stay away from the light winds in the Pacific High, but in the next few days some may extend west rather then south to cut down the distance if they're confident there is enough wind pressure to justify this move.

The conditions of relatively steady 10-20 knot winds with few holes has been perfect for the fleet leaders, who have been speeding along at over 20 knots of boat speed and are quickly consuming the remaining miles left to Diamond Head. At 0900 Hawaii Time today the three leading multihulls - H.L. Enloe's ORMA 60 Mighty Merloe, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70 Phaedo and Giovanni Soldini's MOD 70 Maserati - have been locked in battle, with Merloe in the lead ahead of Phaedo by 57 miles with only 168 miles to go on their final approach to Oahu.

At current speeds, Merloe's finish time tonight will not only break the multihull race record set in 1997 by Bruno Peyron's Commodore Explorer of 5 days 9 hours 18 min and 26 sec, but possibly smash it by more than a day. The other two MOD 70's also likely to beat the previous mark by coming in only a few hours later.

At 1130 HST Jim Clarke's 100-foot monohull Comanche is comparatively close, only 482 miles out and also going fast: 20.2 knots. After having set a new 24 hour position report record (0800 Friday - 0800 Saturday) of 484 miles, she is also on track for breaking the monohull race record set in 2009 of 5 days 14 hours 36 min 20 sec set in 2009 by Neville Crichton's R/P 90 Alfa Romeo II. Comanche has to cross the finish line at Diamond Head tomorrow night before 12:36:20 AM HST on Wednesday morning to set a new record time.

In corrected time standings based on current positions and rates of speed, leaders in each division include: Mighty Merloe in Division 0, Frank Slootman's Pac 52 Invisible Hand in Division 1, Roy Pat Disney's Andrews 68 Peywacket in Division 2, Tim Fuller's J/125 Resolute in Division 3, John Shulze's SC 50 Horizon in Division 4, Larry Andrews's Summit 40 Locomotive in Division 5, Chris Lemke and Brad Lawson's Hobie 33 Dark Star in Division 6, and Rod Pimental's Cal 40 Azure in Division 7.

2017.transpacyc.com

Imperiet overall winner AF Offshore Race
Imperiet II is total winner of AF Offshore Race - round Gotland 2017. Early Wednesday morning it was clear that none of the boats behind should be able to catch up.

The boat from Stockholm with skipper Paul Nord and crew arrived in Sandhamn early Tuesday evening, 52 hours and 43 minutes after their start in Stockholm. There was a long wait for the final result.

For the crew on board the winning boat, sailing is about three things: Boat speed, boat handling and a little bit of luck. With partly new crew with among others some from the old Imperiet gang and some from the boat Boxer finally there was victory.

Total second was Furiosa from Estonian, a Cookson 50 from the Big Boat class. Third was Absolute Blue, Swedish, First 40,7 in SRS A.

www.ksss.se

Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:

This month's nominees:

Andrea Mura (ITA)
The Italian sailmaker worked his bits off to build a new Verdier/VPLP Imoca 60 for the Vendee Globe; in fact, his Persico boat may well have been the best-built in the fleet. However, Mura ran out of money, failed to find a sponsor and had to watch as his potential race-winner was dragged around at the back of the fleet by a skipper who admitted he didn't want to be there. But Mura did just win a storm-tossed Transat in his trusty old 50-footer Vento di Sardegna...

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Henri Lloyd, Harken McLube & Dubarry. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!

Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month/vote-for-sailor-of-the-month

To subscribe to Seahorse Digital £30 for one year with discount promo code SB2 click www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/digital

Home Boats Make 2017 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta a Local Success
Photo by David Branigan, www.oceansport.ie. Click on image for photo gallery.

Dublin, Ireland: Ireland's biggest sailing event, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, came to a gentle close this afternoon after an exciting four days of racing in Dublin Bay with over 475 boats and almost 2,500 sailors competing.

A light sea breeze of six knots allowed organisers to complete nearly all 290 scheduled races with many class titles hanging on the outcome of today's final race.

In a fitting tribute to the harbour's bicentenary year, racing for the coastal classes finished inside the harbour, a nod to a long-standing Dun Laoghaire yachting tradition.

Dublin Yacht Club's shared the bulk of the overall prizes, awarded this afternoon at the official prize giving at the Royal St. George Yacht Club, winning 23 of the 35 classes including the coveted 'Boat of the Week' Trophy.

John Maybury's J109 Joker II from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was named top boat after leading an extremely competitive IRC class one 28-boat fleet from start to finish.

The 31-boat offshore prize was won by Howth's Beneteau 34.7, Flashback skippered by Paddy Gregory. Gregory also lifted the Royal Dee Offshore Championship Trophy that was raced as part of the regatta.

Ten classes included the regatta as part of their championship calendar in 2017: GP14s, 420s and Mermaid dinghies raced for Leinster honours. The J24s, SB20s and Squibs decided regional titles and the Sigma 33s, Beneteau 21s and the Wayfarers raced for national trophies.

The biennial event is being hailed an enormous success both afloat and ashore for a combined fleet of 475 boats, the biggest on the Irish Sea. Over 290 races on five different courses were staged in a range of light to medium conditions since racing began last Thursday.

Although 180 visiting boats made up nearly half the fleet, yachts from outside the bay area took away only seven trophies. The bulk of the silverware has stayed on Dun Laoghaire's waterfront.

Trophies were awarded in each of the 35 competing classes this afternoon, bringing the curtain down on one of the most successful stagings of Ireland's biggest sailing event.

Scotland's Clyde Cruising Club took a win in the Sigma 33 Irish open Championships. Howth Yacht Club had six wins in IRC two and three, the Howth 17s, J24s and non-spinnaer divisions but outside of that there was only single wins for Belfast Lough in the RS Elite, Rush Sailing Club in the Laser Radial, Sutton Dinghy Club in the IDRA 14s and Greystones Sailing Club won the Wayfarers.

In Dun Laoghaire, the Royal Irish Yacht Club topped the leaderboard winning six classes from IRC keelboats to Water Wag dinghies.The Royal St. George had five wins in one design classes. The National Yacht Club had three victories and the DMYC had two.

Full results are available on www.dlregatta.org

* From Adrienne Cahalan:

re Mr David Witt's take on women offshore in his interview:

Women of the world we are indeed fortunate. We will not be required to be in the team skippered by one of God's most intriguing social experiments: Mr David Witt. I wonder who the lucky six chaps are that will accompany him in the trenches? Hats off to those brave soldiers.....!

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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

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See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Though I know I’ll never lose affection / For people and things that went before / I know I’ll often stop and think about them / In my life I love you more. -- The Beatles, Rubber Soul, 1965

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

Tour Voile: Beijaflore Win Act 2 Super Final, Team SFS Extend
Back for a second challenge on the Tour de France a la Voile after their debut in 2015, Beijaflore Sailing Team collect maximum points today as winners of the Stage 2's Stade Nautique Final in Fecamp on France's Côte d'Albâtre, just east of Le Havre.

With 2012 ISAF Youth 420 World Champion and 470 Junior World Champion Guillaume Pirouelle, from nearby Le Havre on the helm, Kiwi double Olympian Jason Saunders on tactics and skipper Valentin Bellet, Beijaflore overhauled the early leaders of the eight boat Super Final, Coastal Race winners Lorina Mojito-Golfe de Morbihan at the top of the second beat and held on to win.

After brisk 12-14kts SW'ly winds for five sparkling qualifying rounds, the breeze faded to 7-9kts for the Super Final, making the strong tidal flow a key factor in each decision. For Beijaflore, making sure they had set up perfectly for the lighter airs was an important component in their winning mix.

The super consistent overall leaders of the Tour Sofian Bouvet's Team SFS Voile extend their margin to 13pts. They finished third today and now have sailed 1,1,2,3, never off the podium as the circus train moves Julloville where racing starts again on Thursday 13th July. Second overall are Fondation FDJ - Des Pieds et Des Mains (Damien Seguin and Damien Iehl) and third are Teva Plichart's Tresors de Tahiti.

Top three overall rankings:
1. Team SFS, 197 points
2. Fondation FDJ - Des Pieds et des Mains, 184
3. Tresors de Tahiti, 180

Top three Youth rankings:
1. Team Lorina Mojito - Golfe du Morbihan, 174
2. Helvetia Blue by Normandy Elite Team, 142
3. Ville de Geneve - CER 2, 141

Top three Amateur rankings:
1. Installux Aluminium, 148
2. Homkia - Les Sables d'Olonne Agglomeration, 148
3. Dunkerque Voile, 129

www.tourvoile.fr/en/

Plenty Wins The Farr 40 Pre-Worlds
Porto Cervo, Italy: Today there were three hard fought races in southwesterly breezes between 12 and 15 knots. It was the final day of two days of racing in the waters off Porto Cervo in the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

After a total of six races in two days, victory went to Alex Roepers and his yacht, Plenty. Tactician Terry Hutchinson certainly contributed to today's first and second place finishes. Trailing Plenty were Enfant Terrible owned by Alberto Rossi, with tactician Vasco Vascotto. After winning today's first race, this team finished five points behind the leader.

Plenty and Enfant Terrible have fought it out for the duration of the Pre-Worlds with spectacularly close duels from pre start to finish. The last downwind leg in today's second race saw the two teams battle to the very end in a tight and thrilling match race.

Third place for Asterisk, the Turkish team headed by Hasip Gencer, with the Brit Nick Rogers as tactician. This team looks fast and competitive as does the team aboard the Australian Gordon Ketelbey's Zen. This team has David Chapman as tactician and won the Corinthian Division.

Tomorrow is registration day and the briefing will be followed by a welcome cocktail on the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's terrace, reserved for the teams competing in the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship that will begin on Thursday July 13th.

farr40worlds.com

Fastnet Checklist
Only four weeks to go until the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Rolex Fastnet Race gets underway on Sunday 6th August at Cowes, so it's time to be going through the list of the 40 safety items that you need to have on board to meet Cat 2 offshore special Regulations and RORC prescriptions. Click here to get the free list of equipment from Ocean Safety, and what's more, we stock every single one of those items.

Understanding the equipment you are carrying is vitally important so you can act quickly in emergencies. The biggest and possibly the most important item you will need if all else fails is the liferaft. Knowing what's in it and how to use it is helpful - you've got drinking water, torches and flares and other equipment but plan ahead for what else to take that you can pack into your grab bag. The RORC Notice of Race lists everything. Ocean Safety can help with supply and our team will also be happy to give you advice on the most suitable choices of products like torches and first aid kits.

Contact www.oceansafety.com

Snakes and Ladders
Reigning J/80 World Champion, Rayco Tabares (ESP), stamped his authority on the 2017 J/80 World Championship, with two bullets and a second to open up a commanding lead for the regatta, but it was a game of snakes and ladders for the rest of the fleet.

Simon Moriceau (FRA) has climbed to second place after an 8-3-1 today, and Luke Patience (GBR) put into two great races, but slipped up in the last race to remain in third place. J/80 UK National Champion, Kevin Sproul (GBR), had a shocker dropping eight places after a 19-24-13. 2012 J/80 World Champion, Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg (ESP) had a good day, scoring a 5-2-5 to move up to fourth. Whilst last year's runner up, Eric Brezellec (FRA), was called OCS in Race Four, and slips down to fourteenth.

Top ten after 5 races:

1. Hotel Princesa Yaiza, Rayco Tabares, ESP, 7.0
2. ArMen Habitat, Moriceau Simon, FRA, 29.0
3. Ryoko Meka, Luke Patience, GBR, 30.0
4. HM Hotels (Corinthian), Javier ChacArtegui Cirerol, ESP, 35.0
5. APCC Equipe Jeune (Corinthian), Bertheau Simon, FRA, 36.0
6. Gan'Ja (Corinthian), Luc Nadal, FRA, 42.0
7. Cenyt Hospital Marbella Team (Corinthian), Pepequin Orbaneja, ESP, 46.0
8. Ecole Navale (Corinthian), Patrick Bot, FRA, 56.0
9. VSA Comunicacion, Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg, ESP, 57.0
10. J.A.T. , Kevin Sproul / Phil Taylor, GBR, 60.0

Full results on YachtScoring.com

www.facebook.com/J80Worlds2017
www.royal-southern.co.uk

Team France commenting on a New Zealand Herald article published recently
(French America's Cup team refused to help Team New Zealand)
The French challenger informed a journalist from the New Zealand Herald that the answers to his questions would be provided at the beginning of the present week (Monday, July 10th or Tuesday, July 11st.). Despite our reply, an article was published without giving us the occasion of sharing our part of the story.

Relevant facts:

- Team New-Zealand capsized in Bermuda on June 6th during the semifinals opposing them to the candidate in contention.
- Following that event, the French challenger, who was by that time eliminated, has been contacted to help Team New-Zealand.

Our answer to Team New Zealand was as follows:
The official request was made by Kevin Shoebridge not Grant Dalton, as stated in the article, our answer was negative.
Two reasons mainly explain our decision:

1) We were still sailing after being eliminated to pursue our training and fulfill sponsoring opportunities for the 36th America's cup. Therefore, having no spare parts on site, this would have compromised our plans.

2) By agreement with our sponsor, who owns our material and our boat, we did not want to favor Team New Zealand over Land Rover BAR in the semifinals. Team New Zealand expressed their opposition to the other team's vision for a certain stability towards AC36. Team France being 100% commercially funded and without private investors, this strategy was vital in order to protect the potential future of the team.

For your information Team France never requested any financial compensation.

Finally, regarding the allegations of interference from defender Oracle Team USA, we wish to clarify that it is of course false and unfounded. We are disappointed that such information has been released without checking with the concerned teams first.

Our team continues to work on the future and is looking forward to reading the 36th Americas Cup Protocol.

Press Contact TEAM FRANCE : media@teamfrance.co

Faster and Faster: Mylius 65
The new 65-footer from Mylius is just the latest example of a type of boat that would once have been considered inconceivable

Following experience gained from the Mylius 19E95 (the name means 19 metres and 95 centimetres, a little over 65ft), the Mylius 65 is the latest model from this Italian brand - an all-new design from masthead to keel-tip compared with its successful predecessor.

Built in carbon, this pretty yacht offers an owner the opportunity to dip a toe into the world of maxi yachts with style, quality and performance… but without needing dozens of expensive crew to go racing. The Mylius 65 is available in a flush-deck version, seen here, or with a raised saloon version - like the second example now under construction. The third boat in the yard will be another flush-deck!

The new Mylius 65 features a better sail area/displacement ratio and slightly more waterline length in comparison with its predecessor. The hull is also significantly beamier, especially in the aft sections, with more form stability, offering improved downwind pace and better directional stability when sailing at high speeds.

The increased form stability was a key goal with the new design, not only while racing with a crew on the rail but, maybe even more important, in cruising mode when a more 'relaxed' smaller crew can benefit from the comfort of less heel.

Full article in the July issue of Seahorse:
www.seahorsemagazine.com

Industry News
Quantum Sails today announced that it has completed an agreement with Hood Sailmakers in Newport, RI to acquire the company's sailmaking rights and manufacturing assets. The acquisition, which includes occupancy of Hood's world headquarters in RI, will increase Quantum's global sailmaking capacity and provide a new home base for Quantum's sales and service operations in the northeastern region of the US.

"This acquisition provides much needed capacity for our growing share of the Grand Prix racing market," said Ed Reynolds, President of Quantum Sails, who cites the TP52s, C&C 30s, RC44s and other offshore classes as areas of strong growth for the company. Quantum is also gaining share in the big boat market, explained Reynolds, which will also benefit from the location and capabilities of the larger facility.

"The Hood and Quantum brands are synonymous with performance and quality," said Hood CEO Rob MacMillan. "In addition to becoming a leader in the Grand Prix and Superyacht markets, Quantum is very strong in the markets served by Hood Sails; our customers will have access to the customer service and support offered by the Quantum Sails network."

Reynolds said Quantum will uphold the terms of warranties held by owners of Hood sails. "We value the long-term relationships Hood has with its customers and will continue the legacy of service and support for which Hood is known. We look forward to introducing Hood customers to the Quantum brand as well."

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World Sailing is pleased to announce the appointment of Carlos de Beltran Gutierrez as Director of Technical and Offshore.

De Beltran Gutierrez joins World Sailing, the International Federation of the sport, after 2.5 years working at the America's Cup World Series events, the Challenger Series and the 35th America's Cup Match as a measurer within the Measurement Committee.

Holding an M Sc. In Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and a Masters in Product Design, the Spanish national also served as Chief Measurer for the M32 and RC44 Class Associations alongside his 35th America's Cup commitments.

In advance of his appointment to the 35th America's Cup, de Beltran Gutierrez also served on the Measurement Committee for the 34th, 33rd and 32nd America's Cup. Furthermore, he was the Equipment Inspector for the 2008-2009, 2011-12 and 2014-15 editions of the Volvo Ocean Race.

He has also worked in research and development for the Spanish Olympic Sailing and Canoeing teams at the Canal de Experiencias Hidrodinamicas de El Pardo (CEHIPAR).

De Beltran Gutierrez will join World Sailing full-time in September 2017.

sailing.org

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Further bolstering The Offshore Academy's family of partners and sponsors, today The Academy is proud to announce the extension of support from Marlow Ropes - Official Rope Supplier and Elliot Brown Watches - Official Timekeepers to The Offshore Academy.

As a founding partner, Marlow's support to The Academy's sailors often extends to Academy alumni sailors too - who go on to join professional yacht racing teams such as Team Phaedo and Land Rover BAR Academy.

Elliot Brown's renewal commitment coincides with the launch of the Official Timing Partners new female watch the 'Kimmeridge' going on sale later this month.

www.theoffshoreacademy.org

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With four months still to go before the start of the 56th Barcelona International Boat Show, around 75% of exhibitor space is already booked

More than 260 exhibitors are expected to attend the 56th Barcelona International Boat Show this year, which runs from October 11-15 in downtown Port Vell.

The show will take over Moll d'Espanya and Moll de la Fusta in the Port Vell marina where the floating exhibition will be held, showcasing boats up to 8m in length as well as a land-based exhibition area featuring the latest nautical products and services such as engines, electronics, paints, sails, trailers and more.

There will also be a range of themed areas where numerous activities will be taking place for sector professionals and the general public, including the Espai del Mar conferences and seminars, and traditional sailing workshops.

The Barcelona International Boat Show is organised by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with Spanish marine industry association ANEN.

plus.ibinews.com

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While the latest agreements for the next Volvo Ocean Race are underway, Alberto Bolzan, already World Champion in a plurality of sailing Classes and only Italian participant to the 2014/2015 edition of the VOR, further strengthened its relationship with Garmine Marine Italy, officially becoming Ambassador of the well-known brand of nautical technology.

The agreement has been concluded at the end of a meeting between Alberto Bolzan, already Watch Captain from Team Alvimedica and helmsman of Esimit Europa 2, and Andrea D'Amato, Sales and Marketing manager from Garmin Marine Italy.

While negotiations are underway for the next VOR, Alberto Bolzan gets ready for the next appointments of the season, among which the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship hosted in Porto Cervo, where he will be racing aboard Enfant Terrible-Adria Ferries of the Italian owner Alberto Rossi.

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The conference programme and speakers list for this year's Yacht Racing Forum are taking shape, whilst new partners and exhibitors have joined us. The 10th edition of the event will undoubtedly be memorable.

New Speakers Just Confirmed:
- Thierry Bouvard, sponsorship manager, Banque Populaire
- Marcus Baur, managing director, SailTracks, on behalf of SAP
- Sarah Allan, lawyer, Bentleys, Stokes and Lowles
- Ian Walker, (future) Director of Racing, Royal Yachting Association, UK
- Nick Moloney, sailor and businessman
- Tony Bishop, Founder of Bart's Bash
- David Raison, SEAir, sailor and naval architect

Other speakers include:
- Kim Andersen, President, World Sailing
- Yann Penfornis, CEO, Multiplast Carboman
- Phil Jenkins, Award winning social media expert
- Gary Jobson, Vice President, World Sailing
- Ben Remocker, Manager 49er Class Association and International Nacra 17 Association
- Hasso Hoffmeister, Senior Principal Engineer; Special & Light Craft, IWV and EC, DNVGL
- James Hall, Marketing & Sales Manager, Spinlock
- Philippe Guigne, CEO, Virtual Regatta
- Andy Hunt, CEO, World Sailing
- Keith Lovett, Senior Underwriter, MS Amlin
- Alistair Watkins, Managing Director Influence Sports
- Remi Finiel, Forward WIP

www.yachtracingforum.com

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The European Boating Industry has held its Assembly General and Council meetings in Brussels, Belgium. The Assembly General elected the new Council which will act as the governing body of the association for the next two years.

Robert Marx (BVWW-Germany), Jean-Pierre Goudant (FIN-France), Piotr Jasionowski (POLBOAT-Poland) and Piero Formenti (UCINA-Italy) were re-elected as Council members. Carlos Sanlorenzo (ANEN-Spain) replaces Olda Straka (APL-Czech Republic), who has retired from the Czech association. All the Council received the full support of the members.

The Council unanimously appointed Piero Formenti as the president for his second mandate, recognising his efforts in strengthening the association, while Jean-Pierre Goudant and Piotr Jasionowski were re-appointed vice-presidents. In addition, Goudant will continue acting as treasurer.

plus.ibinews.com

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The call for papers has launched for the next edition of CompIC ME (Composites in Construction Middle East), an international conference taking place 14th- 15th February 2018 at the Movenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, UAE.

The conference is being held amongst the composite flooded Dubai skyline, and will introduce and educate visitors on the current and future use of fibre reinforced composites in construction, detailing innovations and trends in the industry, potential for weight saving on large span structures, economic advantages, whole life cost, architectural freedom and diversity and challenging traditional architectural design.

Abstracts are now being sought from potential speakers on subjects relating to the use of FRP composites in construction to include, but not limited to;

- Materials and Design
- Reinforcement and Strengthening
- Biocomposites in Construction
- Thermoplastics in Construction
- Manufacturing
- Testing
- Standards, Codes and Procedures
- Case Studies
- Opportunities for New Applications

Abstracts can be submitted via the CompIC ME website at www.mecompositesin.construction and the closing date for papers is 29th September 2017.

* From Jonty Sherwill:

The feature on the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta caught my eye. 475 entries is a big success for any regatta so well done to the organisers. With a little help from Google I deduced that the pretty dayboat in the photo was a Colleen but while most classes were mentioned in the report the classic keelboats were not. This varied class of nineteen boats will have included some irreplaceable beauties and with wonderful names, 'Peggy Bawn' and 'Myfanwy' amongst them. The essence of local regattas is the traditional boats from where all our racing developed, so let's see them honoured, and their custodians who lovingly maintain them. All would be most welcome to join us in September for the Hamble Classics.

* From Mark Chisnell:

Nicely said, Adrienne, perhaps Mr Witt would care to make the same offer as Dalts did a few races back? I believe it involved a pineapple?

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2001 Nautor Swan 80 'Alpina'. 1,490,000 EUR. Located in Antibes, France.

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1997 Maxi 79' Racer - 'OURDREAM'. Price on request. Located in Ravenna, Italy.

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The Last Word
The better an organization is at fulfilling its purpose, the more it attractgs people who see the organization as an opportunity to advance themselves. -- Robert Shea

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

In This Issue
Francis Joyon Has Smashed The Solo North Atlantic Record | Mighty Merloe and Comanche Set New Transpac Race Records | The Nations Trophy - Swan One-Design Racing at its best | Smallest winner crowned IRC European Champion | Rolex Farr 40 Worlds Gets Underway in Porto Cervo | Dragon Edinburgh Cup | Rambler 88 wins the King Edward VII Cup | Corfu Challenge - Final racing day | Featured Brokerage

Francis Joyon Has Smashed The Solo North Atlantic Record
French sailor Francis Joyon crossed the longitude of the Lizard at 0137 hrs UTC this morning (Wednesday 12th July 2017). This marks the finish line for the North Atlantic crossing from Ambrose Light off New-York.

With a race time of 5 days, 2 hours and 7 minutes, at the helm of his maxi-trimaran IDEC SPORT, he has beaten his own North Atlantic record.

At the helm of his previous Idec, Francis Joyon completed the voyage in June 2013 after 5 days 2 hours 56 minutes and 10s shattering the record time set by Thomas Coville (Sodebo). He has therefore improved on his own record today by 49 minutes.

Joyon set sail from New York at 2330hrs UTC last Thursday on his first solo trip aboard IDEC SPORT without any of the usual preparation, as his goal was simply to beat the cruise liner Queen Mary 2, which is now expected to arrive in Southampton on Thursday morning.*

www.idecsport-sailing.com

* Editor: Note this... Joyon didn't wait for ideal conditions. He simply started at the same time as the Queen Mary 2 and sailed to a new record, solo aboard a maxi multihull. The French have regarded the North Atlantic as their personal backyard pond for decades. What a great way to head into Bastille Day. Bravo!

Mighty Merloe and Comanche Set New Transpac Race Records
Honolulu, Hawaii: Due to wind conditions veteran navigator Stan Honey described as a "surprisingly strong breeze," both the multihull and the monohull first-to-finish race records have fallen in the 2017 Transpac. Over a 2225-mile course that starts from Pt Fermin in Los Angeles and ends at Diamond Head in Honolulu, H.L. Enroe's ORMA 60 trimaran Mighty Merloe crossed the finish line first at 5:02:30 PM Hawaii Standard Time (HST) for an elapsed time of 4 days 6 hours 32 min 30 sec, a full 26.5 hours faster than the previous mark set in 1997 by Bruno Peyron and his team on Commodore Explorer.

Racing with Enroe was a highly-seasoned crew of offshore sailors, including Steve Calder, Jay Davis, Artie Means, Loic Peyron, Franck Priffit, Will Suto and Jacques Vincent.

In crossing the finish 3 and 6 hours later, respectively, even the next two boats to finish, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70 Phaedo and Giovanni Soldini's MOD 70 Maserati, also broke this record.

The next boat to come over the eastern horizon into the Molakai Channel towards the finish was Jim Clark's 100-footer Comanche, and at 11:55:26 local time, they too decisively established a new course record for monhulls with an elapsed time of 5 days 1 hour 55 min 26 sec. This new record is half a day faster than the previous mark set in 2009 by Neville Crichton's R/P 90 Alfa Romeo II.

In addition to Read and Honey, racing on Comanche was Nicholas Burridge, Richard Clarke, Justin Clougher, Julien Cressant, Shannon Falcone, Warwick Fleury, Ryan Godfrey, Kelvin Harrap, Anthony Mutter, Louis Sinclair, Casey Smith, Peter van Niekerk, and John Von Schwarz.

2017.transpacyc.com

The Nations Trophy - Swan One-Design Racing at its best
The first edition of The Nations Trophy will be held from 10 - 14 October 2017 in Palma de Mallorca hosted by the Real Club Nautico Palma and is open to three Swan One-Design classes: ClubSwan 50 and ClubSwan 42, which will also be competing for their European Championship; and, Swan 45, which will also be contesting its World Championship.

The Nations Trophy is reminiscent of events popular during one of the golden ages of international yacht racing. The Admiral's Cup, launched in by the RORC in 1957, was the catalyst for number of nation versus nation team events including the Sardinia Cup in Italy (first held in 1978) and the Clipper Cup (later Kenwood Cup) in Hawaii (first held in 1978). Other events include the Southern Cross Cup (Australia, 1967) and even the Onion Patch Trophy (USA, 1986). While a number of these events have fallen by the wayside as trends in yacht racing have changed, the sentiment that nation versus nation competition should be a strong part of the sailing world has never wavered. The Nations Trophy is a small step towards reinvigorating this element of the sport.

Enter while you can. Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!

Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

Smallest winner crowned IRC European Champion
The second ever IRC European Championship took place in the south of France over four days last week for an international fleet of 53 boats.

While last year the inaugural event was incorporated into Volvo Cork Week, this year's IRC European Championship was a stand-alone affair, held off Marseille, the 2017 European Capital of Sport and the potential 2024 Olympic sailing venue, should Paris win its bid. It was run by the Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL), in conjunction with the three Marseille clubs, Centre Nautique et Touristique du Lacydon (CNTL), Societe Nautique de Marseille (SNM) and Union Nautique Marseillaise (UNM) - the first time they had organised a major international regatta together.

The Marseille 2017 IRC European Championship title was open to boats with an IRC TCC of 0.900 -1.400. In practice entries ranged from 31 footers to TP52s, with IRC, the rating rule of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and UNCL, creating a level playing field for all. Racing was held on windward-leewards and longer courses around Marseille's off-lying Frioul islands in conditions ranging from light on the first two days, building over the weekend into the high teens.

IRC Zero for the fastest boats, featured four TP52s and the Italian Cookson 50, Endless Game, helmed by Spanish double Olympic medallist Luis Doreste Blanco. The longest boats were the Swan 601, Lorina 1895 and the Wally 60, Wallyño, which, despite the grand prix competition, led IRC Zero after day two.

However ultimately crowned 2017 IRC European Champion was one of the smallest boats: the JPK 10.10, Expresso 2 in IRC Four. Owner Guy Claeys regularly races shorthanded, but on this occasion Expresso 2 was sailed with a full crew including Olympic Soling sailor turned sailmaker, Sylvian Chtounder.

The 1994 vintage Alice, originally owned by Vendee Globe skipper Mike Golding, was the sole British entry in this year's IRC Europeans and impressively counted no points worse than a second.

Surprisingly in IRC Three, the top three boats were all Farr 36s, Alice and Frantz Philippe's second-placed Farr 36 Absolutely, recent winner of the inshore racing at Rolex Giraglia Cup, both IRC-optimised by designer Mark Mills. They and Week End Millionaire all overcame race favourite, Gilles Pages' Sun Fast 3600 Tip, present leader of the UNCL's 2017 Mediterranean IRC Championship. -- James Boyd

Overall results by class (including discard)
IRC Zero
1. Team Vision Future - Jean-Jacques Chaubard (FRA) - 18
2. Phoenix - Hasso Plattner (USA) - 19
3. Arobas2 - Gerard Logel (FRA) - 22

IRC One
1. Tonnerre de Glen - Dominique Tian (FRA) - 7
2. Imagine - Jean-Claude Andre (FRA) - 16
3. Cippalippa Rossa - Paolo Guido Gamucci (ITA) - 17

IRC Two
1. Geranium Killer - Pascal Fravalo (FRA) - 8
2. Jivaro - Yves Grosjean (FRA) - 15
3. Adrenaline - Michel Gendron (FRA) - 15

IRC Three
1. Alice - Simon Henning (GB) - 8
2.Absolutely - Philippe Frantz (FRA) - 20
2.Week-end Millionnaire - Yves Ginoux (FRA) - 23

IRC Four
1. Expresso 2 - Guy Claeys (FRA) - 7
2. Fioupelan - Frederic Forestier (FRA) - 28
3. Old Fox - Paolo Colangelo (ITA) - 28

rorc.org

Rolex Farr 40 Worlds Gets Underway in Porto Cervo
Porto Cervo, Italy: The twentieth edition of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, organised by Yacht Club Costa Smeralda with the support of Title Sponsor Rolex, will be held from Thursday July 13th to Sunday July 16th and will be raced in the waters off Porto Cervo. This is the third time that Yacht Club Costa Smeralda has organised this event in Porto Cervo, after the 2003 and 2009 editions.

The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship officially gets underway today, Wednesday July 12th tactician's briefing where some of the world's top sailors will be present. Count on seeing Italians Vasco Vascotto, Matteo Ivaldi and Michele Regolo, the American Terry Hutchinson, the New Zealander Hamish Pepper, and the Brit Nick Rogers, twice an Olympic silver medallist in the 470 Class. As per tradition, the briefing will be followed by a Welcome Cocktail on the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's poolside terrace.

Racing on the first day of this event is scheduled to start Thursday July 13th at noon. Up to three windward/leeward courses will be raced each day for a maximum total of 11 races. The forecast calls for north-westerly Mistral breezes that should shift towards the north-east during the weekend.

www.yccs.it/en/home.html
farr40worlds.com

Dragon Edinburgh Cup
Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK: What a difference a day makes! After the opening day's torrential rain and strong winds, day two of the Dragon Edinburgh Cup 2017, sponsored by Oliver Morgan Architects and Stoneham Construction Ltd and hosted by the Island Sailing Club, Cowes, produced light airs, brightening skies and a complete reversal of fortune for a number of the competitors.

By the time Race Officer Gill Smith had the fleet under starters order for the third race of the series, the wind was predominantly circa 10 knots but with gusts up to around 17, lulls down to 6 and big shifts around a mean of nor-nor-east. The wind continued to fluctuate throughout the day and there was the added bonus of an exceptionally big spring tide turning between races, so the committee did particularly well to achieve two excellent courses.

Going into the day Andy Beadsworth, Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen and Martin Payne were in a three way tie for the lead on six points apiece. All three are world class sailors, but on paper Beadsworth, as recently crowned Dragon World Champion, should have had the upper hand. But even the best in the world can have an off day and that was certainly the case for Beadsworth today.

In the overall standings, the single discard will not come into play until after tomorrow's fifth race has been completed. As a result, Payne now leads the fleet by five points from Hoj-Jensen with Goikhberg third and Beadsworth fifth. But Payne is realistic and knows that had the discard come into play today Hoj-Jensen would actually be leading the regatta with Beadworth second and himself third. Payne summed up the complexity of today's sailing perfectly saying, "It's like a chess game, you have to think three or four moves ahead, and even then it could still be wrong. It's going to be a tough regatta." -- Fiona Brown

Top ten after four races:

1. Full Speed, Martin Payne Gillian Hamilton, Chris Bittain, GBR
2. Danish Blue, Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, Hamish McKay, Paul Blowers, GBR
3. Murka, Igor Goikhberg, Dmitry Berezkin, Roman Sadchikov, RUS
4. Provezza Dragon, Andy Beadsworth, Simon Fry, Ali Tezdiker, TUR
5. Badger, Tom Vernon, Oliver Spensley-Corfield, Adam Bowers, GBR
6. Ecstatic, James Eric Williams, Rory Paton, Katie Cole, GBR
7. C Aimee, Graham Bailey, Julia Bailey, Will Heritage, Will Bedford, GBR
8. Harry, Mike Budd, Mark Greaves, Mark Mansfield, GBR
9. Jerboa, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Mark Hart, Andrew Norden, GBR
10. Jaguar Martin Byrne Connor, Byrne, Pedro Andrade, IRL

Full results

edinburghcup.org

Rambler 88 wins the King Edward VII Cup
2017 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race
Course: Cowes - Casquets - Les Hanois - St Malo. Approximately 151 miles.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Societe Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo, Junior Offshore Group (JOG) and the Royal Yacht Squadron.

George David's American Canting Keel Maxi, Rambler 88 has won the 2017 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, and the King Edward VII Cup dating back to 1906. Rambler 88 took Line Honours in the 151 nautical mile race, and after IRC time correction, is the overall winner out of 176 entries. James Neville's British HH42 Ino XXX is second overall, and first in IRC One. Dutch Ker 46 Van Uden, skippered by Rogier Van Overveld, is third overall.

The Cowes Dinard St Malo Race is the ninth race of the RORC Season's Points Championship. The 14 race series attracts an international and varied fleet. For the serious offshore sailor, trying to win the Season's Points Championship is a real challenge. The defending champion, Nick & Suzi Jones' Beneteau First 44.7 Lisa, sailed by RORC Commodore Michael Boyd, leads the series for 2017. Rob Craigie's Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, racing Two Handed with Deb Fish is second, and Gilles Fournier & Corinne Migraine J/133 Pintia is third, less than a point ahead of Thomas Kneen's JPK 10.80 Sunrise.

The 2017 RORC Season's Points Championship continues with The Channel Race on Saturday 22 July.

www.rorc.org

Corfu Challenge - Final Racing Day
Corfu, Greece: Congratulations to George Sakellaris and Team Proteus, the 2017 Corfu Challenge winners! One final race was held on Saturday, and spectators were delighted to watch the exciting prestart match racing that played out. Conditions started out lighter than previous days, 12-16 knots from the north west. When asked about the team's prestart plan, Proteus strategist Tommaso Chieffi explained, "Initially we decided to match race MOMO, we knew if we didn't they would come after us. There was a lot of action because aside from us, Cannonball was going after Bella Mente to race for third." He expanded on the exciting start, "The great thing about this boat is they are so maneuverable and light, and with the large number of crew you can pretty much do anything." The race seven winner was Hap Fauth and team Bella Mente followed by MOMO, Proteus, Evniki and Cannonball. Rolex, the Official Timepiece, congratulates all teams for completing the first ever Maxi 72 regatta in Greece.

The event was exceptional for many reasons, but perhaps the most standout was the journey of Evniki. It was the first-time a group of young sailors, under the guidance of veteran professionals, have raced in a world class Maxi 72 event. Over the course of the week, the team was immersed in the daily grind amongst some of the highest-level sailors, surely an unforgettable experience.

Awards were given at the Museum of Asian art at the beautiful Palace of St. Michael and St. George in the heart of Corfu. Along with the hand crafted first-place trophy, a perpetual trophy was introduced in honor of George Coumantaros. This year it was given to all Corfu Challenge Maxi 72 owners to signify the high level international racing showcased throughout the week.

www.corfuchallenge.com

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2017 Libertist 850 PRICE Located in

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K36 - Samurai

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The Last Word
Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers. -- Buckminster Fuller

Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

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

In This Issue
Rio 100 Wins Barn Door Trophy | Rolex Farr 40 World Championship: Racing Is Called Off Due To Strong Winds | The Nations Trophy - Swan One-Design Racing at its best | Dragon Edinburgh Cup | Glandore Classic Boats | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | Steele and Postma duel for first day bragging rights at M32 World Championship | Letters to the Editor | Featured Brokerage

Rio 100 Wins Barn Door Trophy
Invisible Hand. Photo by Sharon Green/Ultimate Sailing. Click on image to enlarge.

Honolulu, Hawaii: In the pre-dawn hours this morning, Manouch Moshayedi's Bakewell-White-designed Rio 100 crossed the finish line at Diamond Head to be the first-to-finish monohull without powered assistance, and thereby winner of the historic Barn Door Trophy in the 2017 Transpac.

With an elapsed time of 6 days 17 hours 9 min and 9 sec, Rio 100 once again joins a long and storied list of classic ocean racing yachts that have won this trophy every other year since it was first awarded to H.H. Sinclair on Lurline in the very first Transpac race in 1906. it may be interesting to note Lurline's time was nearly twice that of Rio's.

Next in line at Diamond Head several hours later with an elapsed time of 7:01:20:10 was Invisible Hand, the latest-generation Pac 52 whose design heritage started here with this race. Unlike the current-generation TP 52 class yachts competing in the 52 SuperSeries events in Europe, these boats have higher freeboards for livability below decks and less water on deck, and are built to meet Category 1 offshore safety regulations.

On board with Slootman was one of the Pac 52 Class originators Gavin Brady, who came up from his native New Zealand to compete in this year's race.

Reflecting on the race, one of several Transpacs he's done (last year with Rio 100), Brady said "This is a great race, and the boat was great too. This new generation of Pac 52's are getting back to the original offshore/inshore design concept. We were fast, but I told the guys we had another 10 miles a day we could squeeze out of the performance if we were more aggressive on gybing on shifts."

Right now Invisible Hand enjoys a 5 hour corrected time lead over their fellow Pac 52, Tom Holtus's Bad Pak, who in turn is currently fighting to preserve their slim 3-mile lead over the ex-Invisible Hand, Steve Maheen's R/P 63 Aszhou. Both boats are flying into the Molokai Channel now at 15+ knots, so 3 miles whizzes past in only 12 minutes. No doubt both crews will be pushing to the edge to their finish here mid-afternoon Hawaii time.

And in the next 12 hours we expect the following additional finishers: Des Murphy's Jeanneau 50 trimaran LoeReal, Chris Hemans's Rogers 46 Varuna, and Naomichi Ando's R/P 45 Lady Kanon VI from Japan.

2017.transpacyc.com

Rolex Farr 40 World Championship: Racing Is Called Off Due To Strong Winds
Porto Cervo, Italy: The Mistral breezes that were forecast for the first day of racing at the 20th edition of the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship kicked in as expected in Porto Cervo with gusts at over 30 knots.

Today, ARCORA Lifestyle Race Day, saw the Farr 40 One Design fleet wait in port while the AP flag was hoisted at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, organizer of the event in collaboration with the Farr 40 Class Association and the Title Sponsor Rolex.

The Race Committee, headed by Peter "Luigi" Reggio, checked out the sea state and decided to commence starting procedures. The Farr 40 fleet headed out hoping to get at least one race under their belts today. But seeing how the Mistral kept building, Reggio called off racing for the day.

Tomorrow should see the first day of racing in this event. Edoardo Recchi, Sports Director at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, had these words: "When I went out this morning on the Committee Boat the breezes were at about 18 to 20 knots which would have been fine for racing. But by noon, when racing was scheduled to start, the breezes had built to 27 knots and were predicted to get even stronger. We sent the fleet back to port for safety's sake at 1:00 PM when there were gusts at up to 32 knots. So we abandoned for the day, but are looking forward to tomorrow when conditions should be better."

Racing should get underway tomorrow, Friday July 14th, at noon in Mistral breezes that are predicted to be lighter than today's.

farr40worlds.com
www.yccs.com

Enter while you can. Charter yachts are available, but you need to be quick!

Contact clubswan@nautorswan.com for charter information or enter online at: thenationstrophy.com

Dragon Edinburgh Cup
Cowes, UK: The penultimate day of the Dragon Edinburgh Cup 2017 sponsored by Oliver Morgan Architects and Stoneham Construction Ltd in Cowes, produced one truly extraordinary race which shook the leader board up and leaves four boats in close contention going into the final race.

As they set off for the race area, the competitors found that the forecast north-westerly was instead an extremely shifty south-easterly of around 10-12 knots. Even seasoned locals famed for their ability to read the Solent's vagaries with ease have found themselves struggling to make sense of the apparently random shifts this week and today was no different.

Recently crowned Dragon World Champion and Solent local Andy Beadsworth summed the situation up with a wry smile saying, "It's a little bit harder to win here that it was [at the Worlds] in Cascais! It's home waters and I thought I knew what was going on in the Solent, so I thought I knew how to go the right way, but we're getting it wrong with monotonous regularity."

On the final beat, Byrne took a comfortable victory from Bailey with Tom Vernon in GBR810 Badger crewed by Oliver Spensley-Corfield and Adam Bowers third. Beadsworth had made his way up to fourth, Dmitry Bondarenko in Hauschreckeand with Vadim Statsenko and Alexander Shalagin was fifth, Hoj-Jensen sixth and Goikhberg seventh, but Payne unable to do better than 20th, which he immediately discarded.

So the showdown in tomorrow's remaining race is going to be a humdinger. Bailey tops the leader board with 12 points, Hoj-Jensen is on 14, Beadsworth 15 and Payne 16. The forecast for that final race is 12 gusting 20 knots from the north-west, but we're beginning to learn that what is forecast and what we get are not necessarily related this week

Tomorrow's final race is programmed to get underway at 11.00 and the regatta will conclude with the Edinburgh Cup 2017 Prize Giving Dinner Dance at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club. -- Fiona Brown

Top ten:
1. C Aimee, Graham Bailey, Julia Bailey, Will Heritage, Will Bedford, GBR
2. Danish Blue, Poul Richard Hoj-Jensen, Hamish McKay, Paul Blowers, GBR
3. Provezza Dragon, Andy Beadsworth, Simon Fry, Ali Tezdiker, TUR
4. Full Speed, Martin Payne, Gillian Hamilton, Chris Bittain, GBR
5. Badger, Tom Vernon, Oliver Spensley-Corfield, Adam Bowers, GBR
6. Murka, Igor Goikhberg, Dmitry Berezkin, Roman Sadchikov, RUS
7. Jaguar, Martin Byrne, Connor Byrne, Pedro Andrade, IRL
8. Harry, Mike Budd, Mark Greaves, Mark Mansfield, GBR
9. Ecstatic James, Eric Williams, Rory Paton, Katie Cole, GBR
10. Jerboa, Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Mark Hart, Andrew Norden, GBR

Full results: edinburghcup.org/results/

www.britishdragons.org
www.edinburghcup.org

Glandore Classic Boats
The handsome McGruer ketch Cuilaun - whose CV includes a Transatlantic Race Class Win – is headed for the Glandore Classic Regatta 2017 from July 23rd to July 28th. Click on image to enlarge.

With just twelve days to go to the start of the 25th Anniversary Glandore Classic Boat Regatta 2017 from July 23rd to July 28th, Glandore Harbour Yacht Club are swinging all systems into action with the extra muscle provided by sponsorship writes W M Nixon. As ever, the theme will be variety, with the pace in sheer style being set by elegant craft such as the 1970-vintage all-varnish 55ft McGruer ketch Cuilaun (Brian Smullen & Michael O'Flaherty).

She's a fine ship which, in her day, has won her class in a Transatlantic Race to Cork. But then at the other end of the spectrum in terms of size and detail, there will be a host of boats representing the strong Traditional Boat theme which is central to West Cork sailing and rowing.

And this time round, there'll be an unprecedented level of input from the Shannon Estuary, including the Theo Rye-designed CityOne dinghies from Limerick.

Internationally, the late naval architect and maritime historian Theo Rye was noted as the ultimate authority in everything to do with real classics right up to such giants as the Fife 23 Metre Cambria. But he was a man of many and inventive talents, and when his friend Gary MacMahon of the Ilen Boat-Building School in Limerick requested some ideas for an easy-to-build sailing dinghy whose construction would fit neatly into the school's curriculum, Theo came up with the CityOne concept.

Full article by W M Nixon in Afloat: afloat.ie/sail/historic-boats

Seahorse July 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Paul Cayard
Now this one just became very interesting...

IRC - Less than obvious
Or why a one-design can be easier to draw

Design - A (very) different task
Stephane Leveel has travelled a long way during a successful international career in yacht design. His current task is (literally) the biggest

Special rates for Scuttlebutt Europe subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code SB2

1yr Print Sub: €77 - £48 - $71 / Rest of the World: £65 www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/

1yr Digital Sub for £30: www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/digital

Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.

Steele and Postma duel for first day bragging rights at M32 World Championship
With 15 high-speed catamarans firing out of a reaching start, day one of the M32 World Championship was a big, fun learning curve for everyone in Marstrand, Sweden.

Getting ahead of the pack was a key skill on such a busy start line, and one sailor who seems to have learned the knack quickly is Olympic Finn sailing veteran, Pieter-Jan Postma who steered Sailing Team NL to scores of 2,2,1,3. The Flying Dutchman was the only skipper to keep all his scores inside the top three, although he's tied on points with young Kiwi Chris Steele and CFA Sport Racing who scored 1,2,4,1.

Postma hasn't long been racing the M32 catamaran but has got to grips with the high-performance demands of the boat very fast. "Today was a very awesome day, an amazing situation in Marstrand with 15 boats on the start line. It was very tight, very exciting and we had a good day. The reaching start is great. I see starting as an art, you hit the pace at the right moment, with the team all synced and the hull flying, it's a fantastic experience."

Fellow New Zealander Hayden Goodrick is sailing with Chris Steele and is one of the most experienced M32 sailors around. Today though, was new territory for everyone.

The 2008 Olympic Champion in the 49er skiff, Jonas Warrer, is also doing well in third overall, and the Danish skipper was the other race winner today. However the Corinthian owner-drivers are also faring well against the Olympic medallists and America's Cup sailors in the fleet.

Leading the Corinthian battle is Don Wilson and Convexity in fourth overall, while Richard Davies and Section 16 are in sixth overal

Friday promises more exhilarating conditions for day 2 of the M32 World Championship. -- Andy Rice

1. CFA Sport Racing, NZL, Chris Steele, 8 points
2. Sailing Team Nl, NED, Pieter-Jan Postma, 8
3. Warrer Racing, DEN, Jonas Warrer, 13
4. Convexity, USA, Don Wilson, 19
5. Chinaone Ningbo, NZL, Phil Robertson, 19
6. Section 16, SUI, Richard Davies, 27
7. Redline Racing, AUS, Matt Jerwood, 30
8. KSSS, SWE, Rasmus Rosengren, 33
9. Grave Digger, USA, James Prendergast, 38
10. Flux Team, SWE, Johnie Berntsson, 39
11. Gazprom Team Russia, RUS, Victor Serezhkin, 43
12. Gac Pindar, GBR, Ian Williams, 45
13. Essiq Racing Team, SWE, Nicklas Dackhammar, 48
14. Cape Crow Vikings, SWE, HAkan Svensson, 52
15. Magenta Robline, GBR, Olivia Mackay, 59

m32world.com

* From David Evans:

The hard line approach that the Belgian authorities have been adopting in relation to yachts having red diesel in their tanks has been ratcheted up to levels that effectively preclude any UK yachts visiting Belgium or even transiting inside their 12 mile territorial waters, they have even stopped transiting yachts at sea to test their tanks. The Belgian interpretation of the EU rules is that red diesel is prohibited for any leisure use, the UK Government interpretation of these Rules is different as they just require red diesel to have duty paid where the red diesel is used for propulsion, red diesel used for heating being duty exempt.

Over the last couple of months many yachts that have adopted the RYA recommended measures ( keeping receipts ensuring these state in typed text on the receipt that UK fuel duty has been paid; ensuring receipt is less than 12 months old; keeping a fuel usage/motoring hours log; not having red diesel in standby cannisters, keeping the letter from the EU - available on the RYA web-site) have been completely ignored by the Belgian authorities. Interestingly in the UK we actually pay a higher rate of Duty on red diesel used for propulsion than the Belgians pay on their white diesel! The yacht most recently fined to my knowledge was Zero Gravitas, an SJ320 fined last weekend (8/9 July 17), in Ostende whilst competing in the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association's Triangle series of races.

Fines for having more than 0.07% red traces in a fuel tank seem to be ranging between 500 - 750 Euros.

(Note 0.07% is 7 parts in 10,000 of the contents of of a yachts tank!)

Also being fined are any non-EU yachts, US and Norwegian in particular. Plus I have heard that Belgian, Dutch, German and French yachts that have fuelled-up in the UK and have some traces of red diesel in their tanks are being fined as well (even though it is not possible to fuel-up with white!)

In the UK it is almost impossible to source white diesel for one's yacht, even purchasing road diesel (not ideal for yachts due to its very short tank life - 3 months I am told) is not really possible as garages limit the amount that can be put into containers to circa 10 litres. This means that Belgium and its waters are now off-limits to most visiting yachts. It does make one wonder how the Belgian marinas, restaurants, bars etc etc feel about the loss of tourist revenue!

As an active campaigner of a half-tonner, it is mooted that the 2018 Half Ton Classics Cup is likely to be held in Nieuwport Belgium, we will either need reassurances from the Belgian authorities or we must reconsider where this event should be held.

For the benefit of non-UK yachts I understand that white diesel can be purchased at Ramsgate Marina, but I believe that this is the only marina on the south and east coats having this available, but for a UK yacht one wonders how many times a tank needs to be flushed and filters changed to get down to less than 0.07%.

At a political level the UK Government, the EU and the Belgian Government clearly need their heads banging together, but until that happens, CAUTION IS THE WORD!

Scuttlebutt Europe #3863 - 20 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3864 - 21 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3865 - 22 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3866 - 23 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3867 - 26 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3868 - 27 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3869 - 28 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3870 - 29 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3871 - 30 June

Scuttlebutt Europe #3872 - 3 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3873 - 4 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3874 - 5 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3875 - 6 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3876 - 7 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3877 - 10 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3878 - 11 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3879 - 12 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3880 - 13 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3881 - 14 July

Scuttlebutt Europe #3882 - 17 July