In This Issue
Golden Globe Race starts from Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday
Laaksonen Continues Winning Streak in Helsinki
Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week 2019 Online Registration Open
Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Clipper Race 12 Day 1: Whale Obstacle Course Complicates Race Start
Zhik Congratulate Champions Dongfeng Race Team And Team Akzonobel
Launchings
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: Benjamin Franklin
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
Golden Globe Race starts from Les Sables d’Olonne on Sunday
The Golden Globe Race Village in Les Sables d’Olonne is buzzing with activity as 18 skippers and their teams from 13 countries work feverishly to be ready for the Noon start on Sunday.
The skipper with the biggest mountain to climb is Italian Francesco Cappelletti who’s Endurance 35 007 arrived by road only last Friday. She’s been launched and rigged since, but her completion is far from complete and Capelletti has still to make three days of solo sea trials in her.
Fifty years ago fellow Italian Alex Carozo, one of the nine starters in the original Sunday Times Golden Globe Race faced a similar problem with his boat and sat on a mooring in isolation for 5 days after the start deadline, completing his preparations. Carozo, now 86, arrives in town on Thursday and will undoubtedly be rolling up his shirtsleeves to help. But Cappelletti has help aplenty. Six apprentices from the local Tabarly professional boatbuilding college have already volunteered their services and other locals are providing moral support. It is time that is not on Cappelletti’s side. All competitors have until Noon on Friday to pass their safety inspections or they miss Sunday’s start.
Nabil Amra, the Palestinian/American sailing the Biscay 36 Liberty II is also racing against time. He is due to return to Les Sables d’Olonne tomorrow having completed the final part of his solo sailing trials only to return to sea again to do his 5 mile jury rudder trial. The problem he has is that his emergency rudder, which forms part of the self steering gear, is not due to be delivered until Friday morning - just hours before the Noon safety deadline set by the French authorities.
If any fail to make Sunday’s start, then competitors have six days grace to complete their preparations before the start closes permanently at Noon on Saturday 7 July.
Competitors still to pass safety inspections:
Mark Slats (NED) Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick
Are Wiig (DEN) OE 32 Olleanna
Uku Randmaa (EST) Rustler 36 One and All
Tapio Lehtinen (FIN) Gaia 36 Asteria
Igor Zaretskiy (RUS) Endurance 35 Esmeralda
Istvan Kopar (USA) Tradewind 35 Puffin
Loïc Lepage (FRA) Nicholson 32 Laaland
Francesco Cappelletti (ITI) Endurance 35 007
Those to have passed their safety inspections to date are:
Susie Goodall (GBR) Rustler 36 DHL Starlight
Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (FRA) Rustler 36 Matmut
Abhilash Tomy (IND) Suhaili replica Thuriya
Gregor McGuckin (IRE) Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance
Mark Sinclair (AUS) Lello 34 Coconut
Kevin Farebrother (AUS) Tradewind 35 Sagarmatha
Ertan Beskardes (GBR) Rustler 36 Lazy Otter
Philippe Peche (FRA) Rustler 36 PRB
Laaksonen Continues Winning Streak in Helsinki
Helsinki continued to sparkle today as the wind picked up and the sun continued to shine for the second day of the Helsinki Women’s Match.
Finnish skipper Marinella Laaksonen and her L2 Match Racing Team continued their winning ways today, but with one blemish to their near perfect record.
Two teams currently stand between Laaksonen and Courtois in the standing: Trine Palludan’s Danish Team Kattnakken and Johanna Bergqvist’s Swedish Team Bergqvist Match Racing. With only two losses (to Laaksonen and Courtois), Palludan is comfortable at this stage of the event: “It feels quite nice. We are slowly starting to get in to the boats and we are coming better all the time. One of our teammates had some problems with her stomach yesterday, so she was a bit tired today, but she is getting better as well.”
The round robin racing will finish on Thursday. Then the top eight teams from the round robin series will advance to the knockout quarter-finals later on Thursday. The event will conclude on Friday with the semi-finals and finals.
Results in the 2018 Helsinki Women’s Match, the first event of the 2018 WIM Series, after day 2 of the round-robin (skipper, team name, nationality, wins - losses):
1. Marinella Laaksonen, L2 Match Racing Team, FIN, 10 - 1
2. Trine Palludan, Team Kattnakken, DEN, 10 - 2
3. Johanna Bergqvist, Team Bergqvist Match Racing, SWE, 9 - 3
4. Pauline Courtois, Match in Pink by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 8 - 3
5. Antonia Degerlund, Team Sköna Vibbisar, FIN, 8 - 3
6. Celia Willison, NZ Match, NZL, 6 - 4
7. Allie Blecher, Team BAAM!, USA, 5 - 4
8. Margot Vennin, Matchmoiselles by Normandy Elite Team, FRA, 4 - 6
9. Sanna Häger, Stockholm Match Racing Team, SWE, 4 - 7
10. Jassi Skogman, Team Skogman, FIN, 3 - 6
11. Margot Riou, APCC Women Sailing Team, FRA, 2 - 9
12. Hanna Ericksson, Peregrine Racing, SWE, 1 - 9
13. Sanna Mattsson, Swedish Women’s Match Racing Team, SWE, 0 - 11
Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week 2019 Online Registration Open
We are excited to announce that online registration is open for the ‘Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week’ 27 Jan to 1 Feb 2019. Sign up now at Yacht Scoring. With record numbers registering in 2018, preparations are well under way for the coming event.
Grenada has the perfect conditions for racing with cool trade winds and blue seas. Warm up in the calmer waters off Grand Anse Beach on the west coast, before the transition race moves the fleet to more challenging racing with stronger winds and currents along Grenada’s south coast. With a varied range of shorter and longer courses designed to suit the needs of each class, this regatta offers top class racing for top notch racers.
We have made a few changes for the 2019 edition. The event will run from Sunday 27 January to Friday 1 February 2019, starting at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in St George’s, Grenada’s vibrant capital, and finishing at Secret Harbour Marina nestled in the corner of stunning Mount Hartman Bay.
With two host venues, four days of competitive racing and six nights of parties, why not start the regatta season with a bang, shake out those sails and come ‘spice it up’ in Grenada.
NoR is posted on our website www.grenadasailingweek.com
Sign up for our newsletter online, Email: info@grenadasailingweek.com, Facebook: GrenadaSailingWeek, or Twitter @grenadasailweek
Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:
Gus Miller (USA)
‘Gus! Stan’s [Honey] not a Finn sailor yet’ - Jack Caldwell; ‘A giant thank you to a legend’ - Cam Lewis; ‘When Andy Zawieja watched Gus win a Finn Gold Cup race aged 56 he cried, “now we’ll never get him to retire”‘ - Josje Hofland; ‘Hearing Gus is still crawling into a Finn makes me ache’ - Scott MacLeod; ‘Gus is 83 and the Finn is the most physical Olympic boat yet he has never stopped promoting the class, especially in developing countries, without any remuneration for 60 years. “Super Legend” doesn’t touch the sides!!!’ - Peter Harken.
This month's nominees:
Horace!!! (CHN)
Taking it for the team. Much as we’d like to put the whole lot of them up here we had to pick one member of Dongfeng who we feel sums up everything that is special about the winners of the 2017-18 Volvo Race and Chen ‘Horace’ Jinhao feels like a good fit. Dongfeng’s performance in the previous race was remarkable, from complete newbies to almost winning at their first attempt. Now they’ve pulled it off. And what an amazing result this is for the sport
Bouwe Bekking (NED)
Oh, how we were torn. Bouwe is a good friend of us here and watching him step ashore after falling at the last on his 8th attempt was not a nice experience. Does a 9th race beckon, maybe from shore we would guess; but Bekking is one of the best tacticians on the J Class and Superyacht circuit so has plenty else to keep him busy and plenty of opportunities to make the contacts to put something together for next time. Nevertheless...
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
Clipper Race 12 Day 1: Whale Obstacle Course Complicates Race Start
The Clipper Race fleet has officially begun the penultimate race of the 40,000 nautical mile, eleven month circumnavigation - a two week race across the North Atlantic to Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
The Le Mans style start for Race 12 began at 1900 UTC in perfect champagne sailing conditions under bright blue skies off the coast of Long Island. Sanya Serenity Coast was quick off the mark, followed closely by Nasdaq, though it quickly became apparent that it wouldn't be a straight forward start.
GREAT Britain Skipper Dave Hartshorn explains: "10 minutes after the Le Mans start, the point when you are free to choose your own course and point of sail, we could see coming towards a series of blow spouts of whales breaking water to breathe. Then Sanya Serenity Coast, which had got off to a flying start, had to rapidly bear away to avoid hitting a whale. PSP Logistics just to our front then had to do likewise.
"As the fleet charged forward, it was if there were large puffs of smoke from small explosions breaking out across the water between the boats. We had two within a boat length of the GREAT Britain boat and a few hundred meters away, we saw the large tail of an unidentified whale break then smash down on the water."
The North Atlantic will continue to be kind over the coming days with Clipper Race Meteorologist Simon Rowell reporting the high moving east will allow the fleet to remain in a band of good southeast to southwest winds for the next three to four days
Zhik Congratulate Champions Dongfeng Race Team And Team Akzonobel
Zhik are delighted to congratulate Charles Caudrelier and the Dongfeng Race Team for their epic victory in the Volvo Ocean Race last week, and team AkzoNobel for an incredibly hard fought race taking fourth place.
Partnering for the first time with not just one but two Volvo Ocean Race teams as Official Clothing Partner was a big step for the dynamic young company, which has expanded its technical apparel range for the performance yachting and offshore market.
Taking on both projects meant an intense period for Zhik’s design and development team, led by Global Head of Design, Bart Milczarczyk, who quickly understood the teams specific requirements. Even though time was short, they already had some radical new concepts on the design board to put to test, and the Volvo Ocean Race was just the catalyst and opportunity. The feedback from the teams says it all: “Zhik, thanks for your support and all you have done to improve our gear! We all have been impressed!” Charles Caudrelier, Skipper, Dongfeng Race Team.
“Thank you Zhik. Very good job from you and your team. Thanks for your support and for never giving up….” Bruno Dubois, Team Manager, Dongfeng Race Team.
Chris Nicholson, Watch Captain onboard team AkzoNobel comments, “As a pro-sailor I get to wear a lot of sailing gear. The Zhik offshore gear we had was really different from anything I’ve seen or worn before. Brilliant to have one smock that you adapt for the different weather conditions. That saves us weight on board, keeps it simple and the visor on the hood was a god-send.”
Zhik’s Milczarczyk comments, “We are thrilled for the Team and are proud to have played a small part in their success. It’s been an incredible journey for Zhik, and immense amount of work. The beauty of working so closely with both crews meant we could accelerate the design and testing process. We compressed about two years development work into 12 months. And, when it got tough we took inspiration from the teams - we dug in and worked harder; they wanted to win, so did we!”
Key innovations resulting from the race include Zhik’s Isotak X Ocean Smock with a unique ‘adaptive’ zip-on/zip-off hood and collar, clear protective face-visors and various zip-on balaclavas. For the teams this means carrying one versatile smock for different climates and conditions, and reducing weight on board. The Isotak X won a DAME award at METS last November.
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Launchings
British sailing team, Alex Thomson Racing, has announced that it will build a brand new IMOCA 60 race boat in the south of England.
The boat, HUGO BOSS, will be constructed by Carrington Boats. Jason Carrington is one of the most accomplished and highly regarded specialists in the industry.
The project marks a multi-million pound investment by Alex Thomson Racing, together with its long term partner HUGO BOSS, as it looks to make history by becoming the first British team ever to win the Vendee Globe.
The build will take place at Carrington Boats Ltd’s new facility in Hythe, Hampshire. The new boat will replace the team’s current IMOCA 60 with a launch scheduled for June 2019.
Over the next year Carrington Boats will work closely with Alex Thomson Racing’s design and technical team, together with naval architectural firm VPLP, before the boat is unveiled.
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Launch of the Lift 40 ( Class 40 ) "Black Mamba" for the skipper Yoann Richomme before the Route du Rhum 2018 built at Gepeto Composite and designed by Marc Lombard Yacht Design Group, Lorient Keroman Submarine Base, Brittany, France.
Created in 1978, the legendary Route du Rhum takes place every 4 years . On Sunday, November 4, 2018 , nearly 100 solitaires will set off from Saint-Malo - Pointe à Pitre in Guadeloupe - to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event.
n 2017, Yoann is project manager and skipper of Imoca Vivo in Beira (formerly Veolia then Savéol). The skipper oversaw the ship's renovation project in 2016. Although this old-generation Imoca (2004) remains behind some of its modern-day competitors, to whom it can make almost two tons, Yoann has proved that he could stand up to the leaders , especially the Rolex Fastnet Race 2017 offering himself the luxury of beating on his land the British Alex Thompson and his ultra-modern Hugo Boss. Yoann will finish 10th of the Transat Jacques Vabre 2017next to Pierre Lacaze, amateur and owner of the boat. A more than respectable result since Vivo in Beira was the 2nd oldest Imoca of the fleet.
Photo by Christophe Launay. www.sealaunay.com
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Inspired by the new AC75 class, the Briand design studio transfers the concept of the flying monohull to a wider audience. Flyacht is designed to be handled by a two-man crew with the possibility of ‘hiking’
The 2021 edition of the America’s Cup will see the radical AC75 Fly Monohull racing for the first time. The new rules were announced at the end of March, and Emirates Team New Zealand has already unveiled its design in a class that promises to be even faster and more spectacular than the AC50 catamarans.
Philippe Briand and his team are dedicated followers of the America’s Cup, having been main designer in no fewer than six AC campaigns. In fact, he was among the first to start designing an AC75 concept from scratch and has completed a preliminary project.
The flying monohull concept takes advantage of the AC’s objective to “permit technological development to spearhead the development of sailing and maintain the America’s Cup as the world’s premier sailing event.” It marries some of the best features of the multihulls, such as high speed and design innovation, with traditional monohull sailing. But instead of a keel, it has two canting, ballasted T-foils and the ability to self-right the boat in the event of a capsize. Like the catamarans, it will be able tack and gybe on the foils.
The rig consists of a soft wing with slab reefing for easy bag storage and in the interests of safety stability in fly mode would be self-monitored and automated, which is not permitted under the AC75 rules.
Drawing on his extensive experience, Briand is looking to create a low-budget project that could be built in series by a production shipyard. The project is a perfect illustration of Briand’s philosophy of pushing the boundaries of yacht design: “I like to be on the edge as a sailboat designer,” he says. “Our role is to transfer the benefits of innovations from the racing sector to the wider market as reasonable cost. I want to introduce the millennium generation to how much fun and excitement can be had from sailing. And the first step towards that will be watching the AC75 Fly Monohulls in action in 2021!”
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Hylas Yachts is proud to introduce the H57, a bluewater sailing vessel that brings the builder’s core values to accomplished sailors seeking a mix of proven construction, updated technology, and crisp fresh lines.
With an inventive use of technology, the H57 is designed to be handled by a couple. A Solent rig with a 135% genoa on the forestay is matched to a self-tacking jib for upwind legs to make sail-handling easy, even in heavy air. An asymmetrical spinnaker can supplement the reaching sail.
The hull shape is true to Hylas principles offering speed and comfort offshore, with a solid-lead fin keel designed to reduce side slip while stiffening the hull to manage the large 1,636-square-foot (152 m²) sail area. Twin spade rudders are positioned well above the keel plane to optimize upwind performance while providing redundancy in the case of unforeseen damage below the waterline, two qualities appreciated by bluewater sailors. Twin anchor receivers equipped with self-launch rollers also bespeak the boat’s cruising sensibility.
Dedicated trim stations confine the sailing work of the H57 to specific deck areas. Electric winches add fingertip control to furling and tending the sails, while in-mast furling simplifies reefing. The hydraulic backstay and boomvang are controlled from the helm stations as well.
The mainsheet can be managed through an innovative trumpet in the arch that keeps the line vertically oriented and convenient to both helm stations or by German sheeting atop the arch. These are just two choices to work with Bill Dixon’s deck layout, which uses a Hybrid cockpit in conjunction with dual aft helm stations.
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Polish boatbuilder Alu Boats is developing a prototype aluminium catamaran, the Gawot II, that will be adapted to the needs of senior seafarers.
The latest initiative was launched by Henryk Widera, a 90-year-old seafarer, who says he came up with the idea while sailing along the French Mediterranean Sea shore.
"Last October, I had an accident while I was sailing on the Mediterranean Sea. And I thought it would be good to have such a catamaran," Widera told local broadcaster Radio Szczecin.
The catamaran’s design was developed by Zbigniew Zbroja, an engineer from the Western Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, who said that the craft includes a number of safety features for seniors. Among its features, the catamaran will offer improved stability, and an immersion of 30 cm, according to Zbroja.
The price of the catamaran was not disclosed.
Set up by local businessman Mariusz Snarski, Alu Boats operates a facility in Szczecin, in the country’s north-western part. The Polish company specialises in developing aluminium catamarans and house boats, among others, according to data released by Alu Boats.
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2011 Custom Stephens Waring Design - "Isobel". 1,500,000 USD. Located in Boston.
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The Last Word
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. -- Benjamin Franklin
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