In This Issue
Sailing Event changes for Paris 2024
Finn still in with a chance of remaining an Olympic class
Former winner illbruck on start line for Volvo Ocean Legends Race
Atlantic Cup 2018 Starts From Charleston, S.C. in 10 Days
Spirit win the North Sea Race
Watch the Newport Ocean Summit live
Remembering Henry Lupton; sailor of wisdom and inspiration
Letters to the Editor
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word
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
Sailing Event changes for Paris 2024
Affter much debate at World Sailing’s Mid-Year Meeting, a new program of 10 Events have been confirmed. While 7 Events at Tokyo 2020 will continue, there are 3 new Events that at this stage are just words on a paper:
5 Events to remain unchanged from Tokyo 2020:
- Men’s One Person Dinghy - Laser
- Women’s One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial
- Women’s Skiff - 49erFX
- Men’s Skiff - 49er
- Mixed Two Person Multihull - Nacra 17
Note: Equipment for One Person events subject to evaluation
2 Events to evolve from Tokyo 2020:
- Men’s Windsurfer
- Women’s Windsurfer
Note: Equipment and format subject to evaluation
3 new Events for Paris 2024:
- Mixed One-Person Dinghy
- Mixed Two Person Dinghy
- Mixed Kite
Of all the proposals, it was the submission from the Romanian Sailing Federation which was approved. What do we know about these 3 new Events? Not much at this stage.
There are bits of insight in the Romanian submission and the Formula Kite Class, which will be a new form of Sailing to participate in the Olympic Games. Additional statements come from the Finn Class and the 470 Class, which have been used in the Olympic Games since 1952 and 1976, respectively, and hope to retain that status.
The Romanian plan was for the Finn and 470 to remain in use, but all Equipment (ie, boat type) for these Events, or for any other Events for which the Equipment is being evaluated, won’t be decided until the 2018 World Sailing Annual Conference in November.
The challenges ahead are immense. While it is possible to create unique events for the Olympic Games, innovative formats then puts pressure on the Class Organizations which support the selected Equipment. Changes at the Olympic level can be transformative to the wider sport of Sailing. -- Craig Leweck
Finn still in with a chance of remaining an Olympic class
During two days of meetings in London, the World Sailing Council passed Submission M22-18 late on Monday 15 May after extensive rounds of voting to decide the Events that will be used at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
This original Submission M22-18 intended for the Finn to be retained as men’s equipment within a new event, Mixed One-Person Dinghy, however under World Sailing regulations, the actual equipment decisions have been deferred to the November annual conference.
M22-18 allows for two individual singlehanded events and one mixed singlehanded event. An option for the mixed event could pair the Finn with a new or existing class for women.
The Events Committee had previously recommended M36-18 as its preferred option, but this was rejected by Council, which then whittled the 56 submissions down to three: M18-18, M22-18 and M36-18.
You can see all the submissions here
After M36-18 was voted out, on the final vote, M22-18 won by a narrow margin.
The equipment for the five new events will now be decided in November 2018. Submission M22-18 made it clear the intention was to retain the Finn for the Mixed One-Person Dinghy event, but World Sailing Regulations require any new event to have new equipment (the Finn can be this “new” equipment). However, logic dictates that M22-18 was all about maintaining continuity and therefore retaining the Finn.
You can read a fuller explanation of the process and the voting here
The intention of Submission M22-18 allows for most of the existing equipment and events to be continued, to reduce additional costs as much as possible, but with the requirement that the format of some of the Events is changed.
As the Olympics moves to an event based programme rather than a sport-based programme, it is essential that each event has a distinctive format from all other events in that sport. M22-18 also meets the requirements of gender equality, which was considered an essential part of any change to events.
The submission says:
New Mixed One-Person Dinghy Event / Retain Equipment and New Equipment- this event proposal renames the current “Heavyweight Men’s One Person Dinghy” to “Mixed One-Person Dinghy”. The Finn would be retained for the men’s equipment and new equipment would be selected for the women’s event that suits women of around 70kg.*
* This will be changed. The Equipment Committee will define the criteria to decide the equipment in November 2018, with the intention to have a one-person women’s boat to suit a different physique.
While the Finn class realises that this new style of event presents challenges to those who are creating the formats for the 2024 Olympics, it is delighted that Council voted for an event slate where the Finn was potentially included.
Former winner illbruck on start line for Volvo Ocean Legends Race
Former race winner, illbruck will join other V.O.60s SEB, Assa Abloy and Amer Sports One on the startline of the Legends Race this summer. All four boats raced together in Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02.
In total the Legends fleet, which will race from Gothenburg to The Hague, will be around 12 yachts. Illbruck is now named 'Glashäger' and owned by SAILUTION company in Germany.
Illbruck was the first German yacht to secure victory in a leg and in the overall race. She finished in first place on four legs, was second twice and fourth on three occasions. Spectator boats on the Kieler Foerde were so tightly packed for the finish, that it would have been possible to cross the water with dry feet.
Nowadays, illbruck is very well maintained and ready to race. She regularly takes part in major German offshore races and nearly always finishes on the podium. She is still one of the most famous German racing yachts. She will race the Legends with a mixed team of German and Polish sailors. "We are proud to bring the boat to the starting line of the 2018 Legends Race and look forward to joining the rest of the legendary fleet", says Oliver Schmidt-Rybandt, technical director of the SAILUTION company, the new owner of the boat.
Today she is the flagship of a fleet of the three Speedsailing Volvo Ocean 60s, together with SEB from the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02, and also a Legends entry, and Toshiba, from the Whitbread Round the World Race 1997-98.
www.volvooceanrace.com/en/legendsrace.html
Atlantic Cup 2018 Starts From Charleston, S.C. in 10 Days
11 teams representing nine countries will start the 2018 Atlantic Cup at the Charleston Maritime Center, May 26. With over 1,000nm of ocean racing, the Atlantic Cup is the longest offshore race in the Western Atlantic and is also the United States’ only short-handed offshore race dedicated to the Class40. Since its inception, the Atlantic Cup has been the U.S.’ most environmentally responsible sailing race and is the first sports event in the U.S. to be ISO 20121 compliant. In addition, 1200+ school children are scheduled to visit the boats, meet the teams and learn about ocean health during the three stop-overs.
The 2018 Atlantic Cup will start in Charleston, S.C., May 26, stop in New York City (teams will be based at Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey) May 29 -June 2 and culminate in Portland, Maine, June 4-10.
Spirit win the North Sea Race
Teams representing Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands entered the 2018 North Sea Race, which was won overall, after IRC time correction, by the corinthian team racing British Sigma 38 Spirit. Spirit is skippered by Paul Scott and the team race regularly with the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association. Paul Scott is a member of the RORC, West Mersea YC, and Haven Ports YC.
Spirit crew for the 2018 North Sea Race: Paul Scott - Owner and Skipper,Rosemary Nunn, Geoff Lynch, Clive Wintle, David Leech, Patrick Campbell, Ian Burberry, Tony Webb and Jane Davies.
The race was mostly upwind and reaching, with very few teams getting their spinnakers out of the bag.” commented RORC Racing Manager, Chris Stone. “Conditions conspired to favour the smaller yachts, as the faster boats did not get the breeze that arrived later in the race. Over the course of the season, favourable conditions will average out through the fleet. Well done to the teams that did well, even when the conditions are right for your team, you still have to put in a top performance to win your class, and have a chance of the overall win.”
The top three teams overall, were all racing in IRC Four, Spirit was the winner, second was Robert Leggett's X-332 Ape-x, and third was Michel Dorsman's Dutch X-362 Extra Djinn.
Ker 46 Lady Mariposa, skippered by Daniel Hardy took line honours and the win in IRC Zero. Dutch Ker 46 Van Uden skippered by Rogier Van Overveld was second. In IRC Two, Astrid De Vin's Dutch Grand Soleil 43 Il Corvo, racing Two-Handed was the winner, Chris Schram's Corby 38 Double Edge was second, and Mark Emerson's British A13 Phosphorus II was third. In IRC Two, Michael Mollmann's Danish X37 Hansen was the winner, ahead of Frans & Carla Rodenburg's Dutch First 40 Elke. Roy Heiner's Dutch Maxfun 35 Team Heiner III was third. Willem de Jonge van Ellemeet's Dutch Dufour 40 Flying Dolphin took line honours in IRC Three and the win after time correction. Robert Jockin's Dutch Dehler 39 Griel was second, just ahead of Gabriel Krier's Belgian A35 Amaris 2.
In the IRC Two Handed Class, Richard Palmer's British JPK 10.10 Jangada was the winner, opening up a substantial lead in the class for the RORC Season's Points Championship. Robin Verhoef & John Van Der Starre's Dutch J/122e Ajeto! Was second, and Wim van Slooten's Dutch J/109 Firestorm was third.
The RORC Season's Points Championship continues Saturday 26 May, 2018 with the start of the Myth of Malham Race, over the Bank Holiday Weekend, the race is approximately 256 nautical miles from Cowes to the Eddystone Lighthouse, and back for a Solent finish.
Watch the Newport Ocean Summit live
For the first time ever the Volvo Ocean Race Ocean Summit, during the Newport stopover, will be streamed live at volvooceanrace.com on Friday 18 May.
The summits - which will take place in seven Host Cities around the planet during the 2017-18 edition - offer a platform to showcase innovative solutions to the global crisis of plastic polluting our oceans.
The whole event will be streamed on the website from 0830 local time (1230 UTC) and part of the summit will be broadcast live on our Facebook channels from 0900 local time (1300 UTC), so if you're not in Newport, don't worry - you can still catch this exciting and innovative event.
A range of speakers including politicians, United Nations Environment and Volvo Ocean Race skippers Charlie Enright and Dee Caffari will be giving their own unique and insightful perspectives into the issues and solutions to this global problem. -- Robin Clegg
To find out who’s speaking at the Newport Ocean Summit, please click here
Remembering Henry Lupton; sailor of wisdom and inspiration
If you sought a multi-faceted example of contemporary Galway and the way the city and its surrounding area interact both with the sea and the most modern research industries, then the late Henry Lupton would be an eloquent example. He has been taken far too young from among his many sailing and other friends at the age of just 52 after a long and gallant battle with cancer, and Galway and Ireland is much the poorer for his passing.
His first interest in boats was in rowing, and at NUI Galway he was a very successful captain of the rowing club, while his personal achievements were such that he was the Galway Sports Star of the Year in 1987. And although his interest in sailing gradually took over as he built his pioneering medical and surgical business with Bribant, he continued as a mentor to rising rowing stars, and played a key role in Gavan Hennigan’s solo Transatlantic rowing achievement, completed on February 1st 2017.
But Henry’s interest in helping others get afloat whatever their particular interest went much further than this, and he and Marina (nee Furey), his wife of 26 years, were in the forefront of the very active branch of Accessible Sailing in Galway.
As for his cruising interests, where others might have seen a weekend of poor sailing weather developing, Henry and Marina always felt sure that it would relent at some time or other. Almost invariably, when that flash of unexpected sunshine came through on the Sunday afternoon, it would illuminate the spinnaker of their last cruiser, an Ovni 485 - also called Beoga - breezing back up Galway Bay, having succeeded in getting to the Aran Islands for the weekend against all the odds, and now returning with glorious sailing in a fair wind. That is how Henry Lupton will be remembered, and our heartfelt condolences are with Marina and their many friends and shipmates. -- WM Nixon
Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
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* From Euan Ross: Pushing the Boat Out
With their latest deliberations, World Sailing has slipped into an alternate reality; the organisation has lost the plot. It has no reason to exist; we might as well subcontract the basic function to FIFA, where a new-graduate could cover the essential remit from a spare broom-cupboard. The less WS does do the better. And if they don’t feel any obligation to take their job seriously, why should we? After months of disparaging the many versions of the ‘perfect slate’ proposed by earnest if deluded commentators (did they really think anyone was listening?), perhaps its now time to push the boat out with a radical option? Sailing struggles as a spectator sport. I would bet that most sailors prefer to watch athletics or tennis or football or virtually anything other than white sail, round-the-cans yachting - no matter how splashy the weapon of choice. Neither is dinghy sailing for decades in obscurity defensible as a career choice for our best and brightest.
Two classes will do - a two-handed boat and a single-hander; both mixed gender. New designs can be created for each Olympics and made available a couple of weeks before the regatta in kit form to tap into the legions of television viewers who enjoy the competitive creativity and ham-fisted chaos of Bake-off, MasterChef and suchlike. Complete rigs can be supplied to keep the essential anti-trust violations ticking along.
Precision-milled ply components and a big pot of resin will give you a boat in a few days - the quicker the build, the more practice time. Around the World, hearts would go out to the plucky single-handers struggling to meet the deadline. The build-phase would also emphasise the value of practical skills in our seamen, skills second only to those involved in making a boat go fast if they are to continue as professionals in big boats. Most kids these days can’t hold a hammer properly, let alone drive in a nail.
The rapid build process can be televised, with a boatbuilder like Adrian Morgan on hand to give advice and deliver gratuitous criticism, as demanded by the merciless nature of the genre. The reality TV audience will be hoodwinked into following their favourite carpenter when the racing actually starts - at least for the first couple of days. And sailors would have that all-important opportunity to compete for a second medal via a ‘Contours d’elegance’. As for the selection of the national teams; with this model, it makes sense to simply vote them in, via a nautical ‘Jeux Sans Frontiers’ to ensure that charismatic, celebrity sailors get the nod. What’s not to like?
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The Last Word
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