In This Issue
Rambler 88 Takes Line Honors in Newport Bermuda Race
Vestas 11th Hour Racing win Gothenburg In-Port Race, MAPFRE claim In-Port Series title
Standing Fast
IRC European champion decided
Celtic Team wins the 14th Commodores' Cup
Hall Spars launches its new website
J/70 European Championships: Dramatic win for Enfant Terrible
Golden Globe Race Village opens in Les Sables d'Olonne
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: The Doctor
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
Rambler 88 Takes Line Honors in Newport Bermuda Race
Leaving most of the fleet far behind in light winds, George David's Rambler 88 crossed the finish line off St. David's Lighthouse at 5:51:51 Eastern daylight time on Sunday evening. Earning line honors among the 169 boats racing in the 51st Newport Bermuda Race, the big gray boat's elapsed time over the 635-mile course was 50 hours, 31 minutes, 51 seconds.
The custom 88-foot Juan K design ran into some slow patches with light winds early in the race, but after sailing through the Gulf Stream on Saturday, maintained double-digit speeds the rest of the way and left the next-placed boats several hours behind. The winds weren't strong during the race, but the seas were relatively smooth.
"It was a pretty benign race," said tactician Brad Butterworth, while he and the rest of the crew enjoyed a traditional Goslings Rum Dark 'N' Stormy after landing at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club dock. "There was no water on the deck—at least not back where we were," he added. "Stan Honey gave us the right direction to head," he added, "and we pushed it hard."
As of 11pm, the close competition between the two Volvo Ocean Race 70s, Warrior and Wizard, placed the former, owned by Steve Murray, Jr., and Stephen Murray, Sr., nearly five miles ahead of the latter, owned by Peter and David Askew, with only about 20 to go. George Sakellaris' Proteus lay in fourth with 50 miles to cover, and in fifth was the first boat in the Multihull Division, Jason Carroll's Elvis.
Meantime, most of the rest of the fleet was sailing in very light winds in the middle of a high-pressure area. Only Steve Benjamin's Spookie appeared to have sailed into better winds and was making 11 knots, nearly 30 miles in front of the next boat, Privateer.
Follow the fleet with the Pantaenius tracker.
Vestas 11th Hour Racing win Gothenburg In-Port Race, MAPFRE claim In-Port Series title
Charlie Enright's Vestas 11th Hour Racing showed great patience and sailed a clean race for a victory in the Gothenburg In-Port Race on Sunday.
But it was Xabi Fernandez's MAPFRE team who rode a third place finish on Sunday to a win the overall In-Port Race Series, sailing 11 points clear of their closest pursuers, Dongfeng Race Team.
With one In-Port Race left in The Hague, MAPFRE can now not be overtaken on the leaderboard.
Conditions were ideal for racing on Sunday, with winds in the 14 to 17 knot range, the southerly direction producing a reaching race course at the start. A wind shift turned the course into a true upwind/downwind for the last third of the race.
On Thursday June 21 the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Gothenburg to The Hague will start at 1400 local time (1200 UTC) with the top three teams on the leaderboard in a dead heat.
The race for the title is between MAPFRE, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team. Whoever among them finishes the leg to The Hague ahead of the others, will win the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18.
It marks the closest finish in the 45-year history of the race.
Current Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Points Table
1. MAPFRE - 61 points - winner of the In-Port Race Series
2. Dongfeng Race Team - 50 points
3. team AkzoNobel - 45 points
4. Team Brunel - 43 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing - 33 points
6. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag - 24 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic - 21 points
Volvo Ocean Race Overall Points Leaderboard 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
Standing Fast
I think it's true to say that we all experience some stress in our daily lives. It comes with being an adult. Yet I wonder if the stress that Team Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking has been under recently is a little more than necessary. This is his ninth lap of the planet, presumably his last, and the will to win this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race must have been the driving force behind his amazing come-from-behind win of Leg 10 into Gothenburg, Sweden.
Halfway through the leg, while sailing off the coast of Ireland, Team Brunel was in last place and their hopes of finishing on the podium in the overall standing looked to be in jeopardy. But Bekking and his navigator Andrew Cape kept a cool head and their eye on the prize, and it paid off. In a dramatic throw-caution-to-the-wind move Bekking kept Team Brunel fully loaded carrying all the sail power that they could throw up and powered through the fleet in the dead of night off the Hebrides Islands. There is dramatic video footage of them roaring past leg leader Mapfre and grabbing a stranglehold on the top spot. It was yacht racing at it's finest and I am sure more than a little stressful for the captain and his crew. They might have been in the lead but it looked like Xabi Fernandez and his crew on Mapfre were attached by some invisible bungee cord as they alternately closed the gap on the leader only to have Team Brunel pull further ahead once more. It was a wicked dance all the way to a dramatic finish off the coast of Sweden where Brunel held on to take the leg victory.
Currently three boats stand atop the leaderboard with one more leg left to complete. Team Brunel, Mapfre and the Chinese entry Dongfeng Race Team. What is going to set them apart on the final sprint to The Hague in Holland? I think that I know the answer. The one item that will give Bekking and Team Brunel an advantage are their Dubarry Crosshaven boots engineered and crafted to give them the edge no matter the stress they are under.
IRC European champion decided
The immaculately sailed J Lance 12 has been crowned IRC European champion for 2018. The French J/112e skippered by Didier le Moal seemed never to put a foot wrong in the latter stages of this week-long regatta run from Cowes by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
Winning today's first windward-leeward race, held in 15-20 knot winds, was the French team's sixth bullet out of ten races. For the final big breeze, double points scoring, round the cans race, the French didn't have the class win secured, so played it safe. "The wind was increasing a bit so we preferred to sail safely because we had a big lead. We just needed to finish, not last, but fifth or sixth to win," explained J Lance 12's navigator and team secret weapon Nicolas Lunven, the reigning Solitaire du Figaro champion. With the wind gusting into the 30s they avoided gybing the spinnaker, to avoid breakage.
In addition to Lunven, le Moal and Frederic Bouvier, who are respectively President and Sales Manager of J Composites, European builder of the J/Boats range of yachts, the J Lance 12 crew of Christophe and Cyrille Cremades, Jean Francois Nevo, Jean-Michel Roux and Cyrille Teston are all friends who have sailed with le Moal for years.
Today's final race in IRC Three was won by Ed Fishwick's Redshift Reloaded with Shaitan second, after an impressive conclusion to her regatta rolling J Lance 12 within metres of the line. Nonetheless Shaitan finished second overall on 50 points to J Lance 12's 20.5.
As in IRC Three, so in IRC One South African Mike Bartholomew's GP42 Tokoloshe won today's first race and held a commanding lead going into the finale. But in this she was less conservative than her French counterpart. "It was very lively and variable - a difficult day," said Bartholomew. In the last race, Tokoloshe blew out the tack of her jib and then couldn't unfurl the Code 0 on one of the reaching legs. This allowed James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX to overtake them, but ultimately this landed Andy Williams' Ker 40 Keronimo her first bullet of the IRC Europeans.
While IRC One and Three were all but decided going into today's final race, this was not the case in IRC Two. The day started with five boats within eight points of first. Winning yesterday's final race, Frans and Carla Rodenburg's First 40 Elke had pulled up to fourth place in IRC Two. On a roll, the Dutch followed this up with another bullet in today's first windward-leeward. At this point sistership Adventurer should have had IRC Two sewn up, but she suffered a deep result in the last race in which Tom Kneen's JPK 1180 Sunrise picked up her second bullet of the regatta.
Full results: www.rorc.org/racing/race-results/2018-results
Celtic Team wins the 14th Commodores' Cup
Keronimo being top scoring IRC One boat today made up for the mixed-results from her Celtic Team team mates - Jean-Eudes Renier's JPK 1080 Shaitan and the First 40 Adventurer, chartered this week to Scottish adventurer Jock Wishart. They scored 12-4 and 4-22 respectively in today's races. This confirmed Commodores' Cup victory for the Celtic Team, who have led the RORC's biennial race for three boat teams with Corinthian crews (this year running in conjunction with the IRC Europeans). However this was with the lower margin than yesterday - 140.5 points to second placed GBR-RORC's 170, the British having had an outstanding day, with La Reponse scoring 2-8, Sunrise 5-2 and Redshift Reloaded 3-2.
Celtic Team leader Jock Wishart, who sailed this week on Adventurer, was emotional upon having his long-sought Commodores' Cup victory confirmed. "All the hard work has paid off, although I would have liked to have won IRC Two as well.
Final results:
1. Celtic Team, 140.5 team points
2. GBR - RORC, 170
3. Team Orange, 207.50
4. Brex-In, 221.5
5. Kings High, 221.5
6. Haribo, 242
www.rorc.org/raceresults/2018/rccovos.html
Hall Spars launches its new website
Hall Spars is pleased to announce that our new website has been launched and is now live.
In this updated version you will find all of the relevant information on our proven performance products, suited to your cruising, multihull and racing needs. As well as the contact details of our expert team so that you can get in touch with the right person. Whilst in our dedicated projects section you will find an extensive selection of some of our most notable projects.
On our website you can also sign up for our monthly newsletter, to stay informed with our latest news and updates.
Take a look for yourself now at www.hallspars.com
J/70 European Championships: Dramatic win for Enfant Terrible
After five days of spectacular racing in the stunning Ria de Vigo, the final race of 13 high-octane battles produced a fitting climax to a sensational event. The J/70 European Championship Trophy will be returning to Italy, to the same town, and the same house but with a new name inscribed on it.
The 2018 J/70 European Championship was decided in the final downwind leg of Race 13. Tied on points going into the last race, Alberto Rossi's "Enfant Terrible" (ITA) crossed the line just ahead of reigning J/70 World Champion, Peter Duncan's "Relative Obscurity" (USA). Enfant Terrible won the open championship by a single point, coming back from a disqualification in Race 8. Claudia Rossi, Alberto's daughter has won the trophy for the last two years, presented it to her father, the Rossi family are heading back to Ancona Italy for major party. Claudia was the top woman helm for the championship.
Luis Bugallo's "Marnatura" (ESP) is the 2018 J/70 European Corinthian champion. Bugallo's team representing the host club, Real Club Nautico de Vigo was third in the Open Class. Luis is just 22 years old and is born and bred in Vigo.
Final top five
1. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, ITA
2. Relative Obscurity, Peter Duncan, USA
3. Marnatura, Luis Bugallo Arriola, ESP
4. Enjoy 1.0, Umberto De Luca, ITA
5. Fermax, Gustavo Martinez Doreste, ESP
Golden Globe Race Village opens in Les Sables d'Olonne
The Golden Globe Race Village was officially opened to the public today, ahead of the first GGR skippers arriving in the port at the finish of the SITRaN Challenge Race from Falmouth UK..
Cutting the ribbon with local and regional officials, Yannick Moreau, President of the Les Sables d'Olonne Agglomeration said: "This is an historic race that follows in the wake of Bernard Moitessier's famous yacht Joshua and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili. The 2018 GGR marks the start of a very special adventure with 2-weeks of public festivities in the Race Village. Everything is ready to welcome the world to the seven towns that make up Les Sables d'Olonne Agglomeration"
Don McIntyre, Chairman of the Golden Globe Race added: "We were here 9-months ago to announce the Race, and in another 9-months, these solo skippers will be returning from a great adventure around the world with an unknown outcome. What we do know is that the 18 skippers are due to arrive here over the next 24 hours starting later today with Dutch sailor Mark Slatts (Ophen) and local sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (Matmut) currently leading the race from Falmouth"`. He added: "The local community has already embraced this race by taking this 50th Anniversary event to their hearts. It is wonderful to have so many volunteers assisting the skippers and race organisers. This is going to be a momentous event."
GGR Programme in Les Sables d'Olonne June 16 - July 1st
The GGR Race Village will open each day from 10:00am to 8:00pm and until 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays
Visitors will find the GGR yachts and skippers on the Vendee Globe pontoons, and admire the historic solo yachts - Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili, Bernard Moitessier's Joshua and Sir Francis Chichester's Gipsy Moth IV, together with Eric Tabarly's Pen Duick III and Pen Duick VI. There is something for all ages: Learn to navigate with the stars and instruments of the past, attend conferences, interviews and demonstrations, participate in workshops and boat baptisms, and the conviviality of the Bar Guinguette during evening concerts
The Race Village is open to the public from June 16 to 30, and is free of charge. Activities are planned each day and entertainment specifically for children will take place on:
Wednesdays 10:00 to 12:00 and 15:00 to 17:00
Saturday 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:30 to 17:30
Sundays 16:00 to 17:00
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The Last Word
Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person. -- The Doctor
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