In This Issue
Team Brunel complete comeback to win Leg 10 - now equal first on leaderboard
Newport Bermuda Race Starts Friday
Big breeze, big tide, big thrills Isle of Wight lap
Extreme Sailing Series Barcelona opener
Rolex Giraglia Line Honours to Wally 100 Tango
Suhaili Parade of Sail
A Truly Golden Experience
Portsmouth Regatta
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: William Wallace, Braveheart
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
Team Brunel complete comeback to win Leg 10 - now equal first on leaderboard
Team Brunel has completed one of the great comebacks in sailing, setting up an epic final leg to The Hague next week in what will be the closest Volvo Ocean Race in history.
Three teams - MAPFRE, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team - will start the final leg in a dead heat at the top of the table, with the overall title on the line. It's an unprecedented scenario in the 45-year history of the race.
On a rainy, blustery Thursday evening in Gothenburg, skipper Bouwe Bekking led his Team Brunel to a come-from-behind win in Leg 10 over Xabi Fernández's MAPFRE squad, who claimed second place, less than two-minutes behind after nearly 1,500 nautical miles of bow to bow racing.
Bekking has led his team on an incredible comeback pace, following a dismal opening half to the race. At the conclusion of Leg 6 into Auckland, the team was mired in sixth place, on just 20 points. In comparison, MAPFRE, the race leader at the time, had already won 39 points.
But since then, Team Brunel has been on fire, posting a 1-2-1-1 scoreline over the past four legs, to bully its way to equal first at the top of the leaderboard, after collecting 45 out of a possible 47 points, an incredible scoring ratio.
The Leg 10 results mean MAPFRE and Team Brunel sit equal at the top of the leaderboard with 65 points. MAPFRE will be ranked in first place by virtue of leading the In-Port Race Series, which is the tie-break mechanism for the Volvo Ocean Race.
Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team, who was the leader at the beginning of Leg 10, had a fourth place finish into Gothenburg, putting Dongfeng on 64 points (although the team is in pole position to earn an additional bonus point for best elapsed time which will be added after the Leg 11 finish).
This means the top three boats in the Volvo Ocean Race will start the final sprint into The Hague on June 21 in a dead heat, with the overall title on the line.
Volvo Ocean Race Leg 10 -- Results
1. Team Brunel - Finished - 4 days, 5 hours, 12 minutes, 1 second
2. MAPFRE - Finished - 4 days, 5 hours, 13 minutes, 56 seconds
3. team AkzoNobel - 4 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, 53 seconds
4. Dongfeng Race Team - 4 days, 5 hours, 45 minutes, 52 seconds
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic - 4 days, 6 hours, 02 minutes, 00 seconds
6. Vestas 11th Hour Racing - 4 days, 6 hours, 26 minutes, 40 seconds
7. SHK / Scallywag - Racing - 4 days, 8 hours, 25 minutes, 03 seconds
Volvo Ocean Race Points Table after Leg 10
1. MAPFRE - 65 points
2. Team Brunel - 65 points
3. Dongfeng Race Team - 64 points *
4. team AkzoNobel - 53 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing - 38 points
6. SHK / Scallywag - 30 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic - 29 points
* One additional point will be awarded to the team with the best elapsed time at the conclusion of the race in The Hague. Currently, Dongfeng would win this point.
** Should there be a tie on the overall race leaderboard at the end of the offshore legs, the In-Port Race Series standings will be used to break the tie.
Newport Bermuda Race Starts Friday
When the first gun is heard on Friday, June 15, 2018, at 1:00 pm, a diverse fleet of 170 boats with sailors representing 24 nations and 35 out of the 50 United States will be underway to Bermuda.
There are three colleges represented in the fleet, the US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, N.Y.), the US Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.) and Webb Institute (Glen Cove, N.Y.), along with roughly 10 other youth teams from across New England and New York. Other teams travel from much farther afield.
Sean McCarter, a native of Donegal, Ireland, currently living in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, is a crew on one of the more technologically advanced boats in the fleet, Maverick, which will easily stand out on the water with her Union Jack sails.
"Maverick is a stripped-out race boat, with no comforts whatsoever. Basically, we built this boat two years ago and the brief was to design the fastest 46-foot yacht in the world and they achieved that very well. We keep up with boats twice our size, which is almost unheard of, thanks to the side foils which give us a huge amount of righting moment while allowing us to remain very lightweight... sort of skimming across the water."
Maverick will sail in the Open Division, for boats with experimental designs or equipment. Also at the upper end of the spectrum is Warrior, a Volvo Open 70, sailing in the Gibbs Hill Division, which includes elite professionals and cutting-edge technology. Aboard Warrior will be Annapolis native Ryan Breymaier, who currently resides in Antibes, France. Breymaier, who is doing the race for the fifth time, last sailed from Newport to Bermuda in 2015—a non-race year—breaking a course record on the maxi-trimaran Lending Club 2.
See BermudaRace.com for news updates on the race. Fans of the race may follow the progress of each boat via the Pantaenius Tracker.
The Newport Bermuda Race is organized by the Bermuda Race Organizing Committee, a joint working group organized by the Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Seven divisions sail the race.
Big breeze, big tide, big thrills Isle of Wight lap
Despite a scary-looking forecast and prolonged periods punching foul tide, today's rescheduled race around the Isle of Wight, during the Royal Ocean Racing Club-organised IRC Europeans and Commodores' Cup, proved a great success. This replaced the scheduled 24-36 hour long offshore, but all competitors nonetheless returned feeling severely tested to a summery Cowes, very different to the rain, near gale force gusts, four knot foul tide and reduced visibility of this morning's 0936 start.
Having the best time of it were the FAST 40+s. They split in the western Solent, James Neville's Ino XXX choosing to avoid the tide by hugging the island shore, while Mike Bartholomew's Tokoloshe II took the mainland side.
Having survived lumpy seas at South West Shingles buoy, the two then split again, with Ino XXX heading further inshore and it was on this leg to St Catherine's Point that Tokoloshe passed her, remaining there to the finish.
Tokoloshe won IRC One, nine minutes ahead of Ino XXX under IRC - useful as this race has a 1.5x co-efficient and is non-discardable.
A welcome sight today was Andy Williams' Ker 40 Keronimo, following her severe grounding on Egypt Point yesterday. The worst damage was to her rudder and steering system but these were repaired, working through the night.
In IRC Two there is a new player in town in Tom Kneen's fresh out of the box JPK 1180 Sunrise. Sunrise shone, sailing inshore on the leg down to St Catherine's Point, passing the King 40s Nifty and Cobra, a position she then consolidated. She won by more than five and a half minutes from Rod Stuart and Bill Ram's Corby 37 Aurora.
Overall, Aurora now leads IRC Two but the top six boats lie within 8.5 points of her. There is a very different case in IRC Three where Didier Le Moal's J/112e J Lance 12 completely dominates. Winning today's race leaves her on 9.5 points to Jean-Eudes Renier's second placed Shaitan's 24.
Today's performance by the IRC Three leaders Shaitan and J Lance 12 was especially impressive, finishing among the IRC Two frontrunners, as did Ed Fishwick's Sun Fast 3600 Redshift Reloaded. It was insanely close too: Redshift Reloaded was first across the line, but finished fourth under IRC, the top four boats separated by just three and a half minutes with J Lance 12 winning by just 11 seconds on corrected time from Shaitan.
With all three of their boats performing well today - Shaitan 2nd, Keronimo 3rd and Adventure 4th - so the Celtic Team has pulled out a strong lead in the Commodores' Cup. Team leader Jock Wishart was delighted as his team is now on 68.5 points to second placed GBR - RORC on 110, with both Kings High and Team Orange poised a whisker astern, both on 113.5.
Provisional Results for the IRC European Championship can be found at:
www.rorc.org/racing/race-results/2018-results
Commodores' Cup: www.rorc.org/raceresults/2018/rccovos.html
Extreme Sailing Series Barcelona opener
The first day of the 2018 Extreme Sailing Series Act 3, Barcelona did not disappoint, with big breeze propelling the high-speed GC32 catamarans around the course from the word go.
Incredible wind and boat speed throughout the day saw the teams fly towards each mark, using clever tactics to push past their competitors at each busy rounding. Foiling at full-pelt, hitting speeds of up to 26.2kts, these boys meant business.
Austrian challenger, Red Bull Sailing Team, shot straight into the limelight. Charging through the ranks, the crew demonstrated exemplary boat handling, clocking five podium finishes over the course of the day.
Snapping at the heels of Red Bull Sailing Team, last year's Barcelona Act winners Oman Air also showed fighting form. Their GC32 foiled with finesse but a few poor decisions forced extra manoeuvres, wasting time and costing them several places in the rankings.
Local boys Spanish Impulse showed sheer determination, scoring a string of fourth place finishes in three of the six races.
Extreme Sailing Series 2018 Act 3, Barcelona standings after Day 1, 6 races (14.06.18)
Position / Team / Points
1st, Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Chris Taylor, Ed Powys, Neil Hunter, Dan Morris, Rhys Mara: 62 pts
2nd, SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Rasmus Køstner, Morgan Larson, Julius Hallström, Pierluigi de Felice, Richard Mason: 59 pts
3rd, Alinghi (SUI) Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Timothe Lapauw, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey: 57 points
4th, Oman Air (OMA) Phil Robertson, Pete Greenhalgh, James Wierzbowski, Stewart Dodson, Nasser Al Mashari: 57 pts
5th, INEOS Rebels UK (GBR) Will Alloway, Leigh McMillan, Oli Greber, Adam Kay, Mark Spearman: 54 pts
6th, Spanish Impulse (ESP) Diego Botín, Joan Cardona, Luís Brito, Kevin Cabrera, Florian Trittel: 47 pts
7th, Team Mexico (MEX) Erik Brockmann, Tom Buggy, Alex Higby, James Peters, Danel Belausteguigoitia Fierro: 42 pts
Rolex Giraglia Line Honours to Wally 100 Tango
The Wally 100 Tango at 13:19 this afternoon took line honours in the 66thedition of the Rolex Giraglia with a real-time of 23h48m55s.
Thanks to the tactical talent of a French-led crew, with Marc Pajot and Thierry Peponnet taking turns at the helm of the black Maxi. It's still difficult to get an idea of the classification in compensated time with the fleet still very stretched out between Corsica and Genoa
'I think it's a race that will last about 24 hours' Thierry Peponnet, the French champion and tactician of the Wally 100 Tango had said before the race, and his estimate was barely 12 minutes out. But he certainly hadn't expected to win with an overall time of 23h48m55s and a pretty demanding race.
'I'm not a great fan of offshore races, said Marc Pajot, a veteran of the America's Cup and helmsman on board the very fast Maxi designed by Mark Mills, 'but the Giraglia is always special. I've sailed a lot of them, but it's the first time I've won'.
Behind Tango, a sprint finish for Galateia in front of Magic Carpet who sail the race that sometimes brought to mind the three-way fight at the end of the Sergio Leone's The good, the bad and the ugly. They sailed the final miles in sight of each other, and the failing wind shuffled the pack, giving the final sprint to Tango.
The first three positions in real-time were a private affair among the three Wally 100s.
Currently the fleet is well stretched out over the 80 miles from the Giraglia to Genoa. Several yachts, especially the smaller ones, should round the rock tonight with most expected to arrive from early Friday morning.
The Rolex Giraglia 2018 is live on www.rolexgiraglia.com
Suhaili Parade of Sail
Fifty years to the day after Sir Robin Knox-Johnston set out from Falmouth UK in his rugged 32ft yacht Suhaili to become the first man to sail solo non-stop around the Globe, the British master mariner returned to lead a celebratory parade of sail around the harbour. Watched by visitors on every headland, the 200-strong armada of sail criss-crossed between Falmouth and St Mawes before Sir Robin set up a start line between Suhaili and Sir Francis Chichester's equally famous yacht Gipsy Moth IV and fired the canon to set the 17-strong fleet of 2018 Golden Globe Race yachts on their way to Les Sables d'Olonne for the start of this 50th anniversary solo circumnavigation on Sunday July 1st.
The Suhaili Parade of Sail was the culmination of a 3-day festival involving Suhaili, Gipsy Moth IV, the replica fleet of Golden Globe Race yachts and vessels from around the UK and Europe which had gathered in Falmouth to honour Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's achievement in the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race back in 1968/69.
The Mayor of Falmouth, Cllr Grenville Chappell said: "It's amazing to think it was 50 years ago - it seems only yesterday - that Falmouth welcomed Sir Robin Knox-Johnston back into port after his incredible and historic sailing achievement, one that captured the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. His exploits then and subsequent, have inspired many across the UK and beyond to get out on the water, take up sailing or indeed undertake their own adventures. It certainly made an indelible mark on Falmouth's community and we are thrilled to see Sir Robin and his legendary yacht Suhaili back in town. We're delighted to be the host port for the Suhaili 50 Falmouth Parade of Sail jamboree. Our community has come together so well to assist, so a particular thank you to Falmouth Town Council, Falmouth BID, Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, St Mawes Sailing Club and St Austell Brewery for their support."
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said: "It is wonderful to be back in Falmouth and to receive such a warm welcome. Everyone has been very kind. This week's celebrations have brought back so many memories."
One of those memories is of a barometer, 'borrowed' off a pub wall before Sir Robin set out on his solo first which he used to monitor the changing weather conditions during his 312 day voyage. The original was later stolen from his yacht but Sir Robin returned with a replica of that faithful 'A Lovely day for a Guinness' branded barometer to present to the Chain Locker Pub where he stayed 50 years ago before his departure and on his return.
And to mark his return to this famous harbour-side hostelry, staff served Sir Robin with the same meal of steak and chips followed by lemon meringue pie he had ordered when he first returned to Falmouth on 22nd April 1969.
First of the 2018 Golden Globe Race yachts to cross the line at the start of the SITRaN Challenge race to Les Sables d'Olonne was Tapio Lehtinen's Finnish yacht Asterisk closely followed by 72-year old Jean-Luc Van Den Heede's French entry Matmut and the two bright orange painted entrants Mark Sinclair's Australian yacht Coconut and Istvan Koper's USA/Hungarian entry Puffin.
Palestinian skipper Nabil Amra, who has still to complete his 1,000 mile solo proving trial, set out later in the day and must sail a further 300 solo distance once he arrives at the French port in order to qualify for the Race.
The first boats are expected to finish in Les Sables d'Olonne, France late on Saturday.
A Truly Golden Experience
Ainslie / Simmer and Scott racing Etchells in the Solent.
One of the great things about sailing is the old adage that you get to play on the same course as Tiger Woods. It's an idea which most of us are aware of, the dream of getting on the course with the best. But unlike golf, in sailing it it really is true, as the Solent Etchells fleet will find out on June 23rd and 24th when one of the greatest collections of gold medals and Americas cup wins in history will settle themselves in an Etchells and do battle with the weekend warriors for the Royal Yacht Squadron's Sir Kenneth Preston trophy.
Among the fleet there have been a fair few boats called The Trio based on the fact that it was traditionally a three-man boat (now sailed by a lot of smaller crews 4-up) but it is hard to imagine a more successful trio than Ben Ainslie, Giles Scott and Grant Simmer who will make up this trio. Between them they have five Olympic Gold medals, one Silver, five Americas cup wins as either sailor or design coordinator and an astonishing eight Finn World Championships
The Trio will line up in perhaps the Solent's most competitive one-design class, although it should be noted that Ainslie and Simmer have both finished on the podium at previous Etchells world Championships so it's not exactly all new to them.
For details on how to join the fleet or for charter options for Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy contact David Franks davidfranks80@gmail.com +44 7768 063868
Portsmouth Regatta
As far back as the 1830s Portsmouth Regatta was a major event in the City's calendar. In 2014 with the Victory Class and the Portsmouth Sailing Club it was reborn to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Yacht Club. Since then it has grown in size and significance and this year on 9/10 June it was certainly the year's most prestigious sailing event in the Eastern Solent.
A mix of sun and cloud with varying wind strengths produced challenging conditions for all classes but particularly the black group consisting of Solent IRC Series, Club Class J109s and Sunsail Fast 40 fleet. The white group, Victorys, Squibs and Tempests managed four excellent races on day one and therefore were content with two races on day two. Racing ended at midday on Sunday with wind dropping to force 1.
With support boats there were almost 90 vessels on the water, making it the largest sailing event in these waters for many years. A social event on the Saturday evening in the Royal Naval Club&Royal Albert Yacht Club attracted 130, many of whom enjoyed free beer from sponsors Fullers.
200 attended the prizegiving at Hornet Services Sailing Club where, in bright sunshine, excellent prizes were made possible by principal sponsors Sunsail, together with Wight Link, Hyde Sails, Camber Wines and RS Divers.
Overall winner Jon Modral-Gibbons sailing Tempest Born Slippy, received not only the Portsmouth Regatta Cup but the Tempest National awards, decided at the Regatta.
Miles Linington, Regatta Chairman, thanked the team for their hard work throughout the last year making the event possible. In particular he mentioned Russell Peace, Sailing Secretary and Adrian Saunders, Regatta Director, whose untiring energy had made a good regatta into a great one. Preparations are already in hand for the 2019 event to be held on 8/9 June. Very many of this year's entrants have pledged to return and at least one additional class is expected.
Sunsail UK Marketing Manager James Foot raised a cheer when he announced that all participants will qualify for a 15% discount on Sunsail holidays and charters.
The official Regatta charity, the Andrew Simson Foundation, the Sailing Charity, held a raffle, which was very well supported.
For full results and further information about Portsmouth Regatta 2019 please go to www.portsmouthregatta.org
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The Last Word
We all end up dead, it's just a question of how and why. -- William Wallace, Braveheart
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