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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, 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
ARC Race Fleet Start 27 yachts from the RORC Racing Division were joined on the startline by seven cruising boats and several other ARC boats who will take the Tuesday start went out to watch the spectacle. * ARC 2012 Cruising Division boats still in Las Palmas will start on Tuesday 27th November. The first start at 1045 will be for multihulls and Invitation Cruising Division boats, with all other Cruising Division boats starting at 1100. For the first time the fleet will start within the busy harbour, with the outer breakwaters forming the two ends of the line. There will be restrictions on the times that boats can leave the marina due to shipping movements. Full details, including maps of the start area and timings will be emailed to all boats and taken around the pontoons later this afternoon. A radio message has been made on VHF Ch 11. * Only 34 yachts in the ARC started the transatlantic event as normal yesterday after organisers offered the option of a second start on Tuesday to avoid bad weather forecast on Sunday and Monday. Some 194 yachts and crews still in Las Palmas sitting it out for the later start. "For only the second time in the ARC's history we have made the difficult decision to revise the start," explains Andrew Bishop, managing director of World Cruising Club. "We decided that there will be a start on Tuesday for the open cruising and multihull divisions. All divisions had a start on [Sunday 25th] for those wishing to take the start, such as those racing, and any others that felt like they might like to start then." The decision to have two separate starts was taken after watching an area of low pressure forming within a trough to the north of the Canary Islands. Forecasts predicted that this will bring strong headwinds and big seas for 36 hours and would have given family crews an unpleasant battering. -- Elaine Bunting Ben Ainslie Finally Calls Time on his Olympic Career The British sailor, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said that he had waited for the recent International Sailing Federation conference in Dublin to see which race classes would be on the Olympic programme for 2016 in Brazil, as despite initial suggestions that he would not return, he had had second thoughts. Ainslie, who carried the GB flag at this year's closing ceremony and who is on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist, freely admits that his back is giving him problems and to race in the Finn class would have been problematic for him in 2016, however if the Star two-handed dinghy had been reinstated he said he might have considered entering that with a partner. Garmin Hamble Winter Series
Crews faced some logistical nightmares in making the start via a flooded and storm-battered country, which was reflected in slightly lower entries this week. A deceptively light 10 knot breeze wafted boats to the start line, before a line squall heralded the arrival of 20-28 knots of Southwesterly wind - and frequent showers of icy rain, which persisted throughout the day. Out on the water, IRC 0 was first away, and was led by Andrew Howard's Grand Soleil 46, Belladonna, ahead of Mark Lloyd's Mills 43, Chaos. In IRC 1, Reflex 38 Visit Malta Puma finished a minute ahead of 2nd-placed Mitchellson Interceptor to continue her run of firsts. Mike Bridges' Elaine dominated IRC 2 with a fine display of heavy weather sailing, finishing 11 minutes ahead of the fleet on corrected time. Of the two J/111s on the water, Cornel Riklin's Jitterbug finished first. In the J/109s, Paul Griffiths' Jagerbomb was first of the two J/109s that completed the race. Peter Dessent's Archambault A31 ImaDjinn won the IRC 3 class ahead of the J/92S Blackjack. In the Sigma 38s, Kevin Sussmilch's Mefisto finished first, ahead of Nick Gale's Zanzara in second and Chris and Vanessa Choules on With Alacrity in third. In IRC 4, an over-eager start saw three boats called OCS, including Quarter-tonner Menace, who sailed her way through the fleet to win the class ahead of Polly, also OCS, in 2nd. World Yacht Racing Forum This year's programme includes a session on the new Volvo One Design with speakers from a number of the companies involved in the project including Marcel Muller - Green Marine, Pat Shaughnessy - Farr Design and Yann Perfornis - Multiplast. Other sessions include an update on CFD developments; a look at how high performance super yachts can balance performance, speed, safety and comfort; a discussion on the ideal project plan process for high performance race boats; Race boat reliability vs risk management and also a discussion on some of the design features on the AV72's. Be part of the discussions and enjoy the opportunity to network with leading figures from both the technical and commercial worlds of yacht racing by confirming your delegate place today. Register Today for a Conference Delegate Pass at only 250 Euros + VAT First Vendee Ice Gate Moved In approximately three days time the front-runners will enter the Roaring Forties, strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, in the region of the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. The journey into the roaring forties will be tricky, the weather models are predicting a high pressure on the edge Saint Helena high and a depression forming off the coast of Argentina. The skippers will have to negotiate a careful course to ensure they are not over, or underpowered in these fickle conditions. Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) have elected for a more southerly course, which has positioned them to the west of the competing boats. On Vendee Globe LIVE today Mike Golding (Gamesa) discussed the situation, "It's not that they are going more west but more that they are trying to get south and of course, you have to weigh that up against what you have to do along the course. It doesn't look too bad. I ran the routing this morning and it looks like it's moving quite nicely but I need to have a closer look at it. It looks fairly straight forward as we head to the first gate." Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire) said, "The conditions keep changing, the night hasn't been easy, I was shaken a lot and not really fast. But there's still a long way to go, and finding the right route in the next few days will be very important for the rest of the race. There are a lot of possible strategies for the skippers behind us and I'm keeping an eye on what everybody is doing. The gaps between us aren't too big, considering how long the race is. The next few days will be complicated for us all, we need to stay safe too." Dragon Hong Kong Championship
On the overall results, Chris Hunt (GBR208) came first, Tam Nguyen (HKG55) second (and takes the HK Champion title for the second year in a row), Phyllis Chang (HKG50) third and Karl Grebstad (HKG51) fourth. There was also another big competition going on within the 12 Corinthians - boats with no professionals on board. It started quite tight between Thomas Olrog (SWE364) and Lowell Chang (HKG46). But Thomas broke his mast on the third race on Saturday and had to miss two races out of the 7. This left Lowell Chang (HK46) with a convincing Corinthian win ahead of Marc Castagnet (HKG1) and Simon Chan (HKG8). Transatlantic Superyacht & Maxi Regatta 2012 Underway Racing got underway today in 26 to 28 knots of north/north-westerly winds. Only the superyacht Shenandoah of Sarkchose to head south of the island of Tenerife, while the rest of the fleet left the island to port. The race start, set against the backdrop of the Santiago de Calatrava Auditorium and the island's volcanic peak Pico de La Teide, was a sight to behold thanks to the dimensions of some of the competing yachts - such as the 55-metre Shenandoah of Sark, a beautiful triple-masted gaff schooner, and the two supermaxis Sojana and Nilaya, respectively a 35-metre Farr 115 and a 32-metre Reichel/Pugh 112. Nilaya was also first to the weather mark. The fleet also includes two maxi racer/cruisers (Cape Arrow, a Southern Wind 100, and the 92-foot Med Spirit). Rounding off the lineup is the maxi racer Farr 100 Ran Leopard. Trophies will be awarded at the prize giving ceremony scheduled to take place at the latest on December 12 in Virgin Gorda. The YCCS Virgin Gorda Clubhouse was officially inaugurated last January, while the purpose-built YCCS Marina has been operational since March 2011. Live tracking on www.yccs.com and www.internationalmaxiassociation.com Fine Art Classic Boat Prints Each edition within the Classic Boat range is limited to 100 numbered prints, individually produced using the Giclee fine art printing system. This matches high quality archival standard inks with selected 300gsm fine art photo rag textured paper to produce outstanding black & white and colour images. Limited edition prints are supplied unframed and deliverd in art tubes. We also offer a mounting and framing service, but due to the irregular size of many of these prints, prices have to be quoted individually and orders can ony be taken over the telephone or via e-mail. Subjects include - America's Cup Available from 10x8 to 60x40 ins. Contact: Phone (UK) 44 (0)1243 555561 Order online: pictures.classicboat.co.uk Sir Peter Blake's Legacy Lives On At Torbay Regatta Held off Waiake Beach, Torbay since 2002, this regatta has grown to be a major event on the small boat sailing calendar and around 400 sailors are expected to participate in the 2012 edition this coming weekend. Highlights for this year's regatta will be the appearance of 2012 Olympic gold medallists Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie and silver medallists Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Both Jo (in 2004) and Peter (in 2005) are previous winners of the Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding youth sailor at the regatta. Burling and Tuke will bring their Olympic silver medal winning 49er skiff to Waiake Beach for visitors to see and will take one lucky young Optimist Green Fleet (young learner) sailor out for a blast in their silver medal winning high performance skiff on the Saturday morning. Sir Peter's 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race winning maxi ketch Steinlager 2 will be anchored off Waiake Beach on Saturday afternoon and the New Zealand Sailing Trust will be offering the opportunity for regatta participants to board and look over the legendary Kiwi yacht. 18ft Skiffs AEG 3-Buoys Challenge, Race 6
Always near the lead from the start, Asko Appliances established a big lead at the first windward mark and totally dominated throughout the four-lap course to win by 3m8s. In an extremely tight finish for second place, James Dorron's Mojo Wine defeated Simon Nearn's De'Longhi-Rabbitohs by just 9s. Series Leader Pure Blonde (Tom Clout) was fourth, followed by Fisher & Paykel (Andrew Chapman) and Yandoo (John Winning). With just two races left in the Challenge series, and most boats already carrying a maximum points discard, Pure Blonde heads the points table on 23 points. Mojo Wine's consistency has the team in second place overall on 25 with Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) and Fisher & Paykel equal third on 27. After the strong winds which battered the fleet last Sunday, today's race was sailed in a breeze which was constantly light from the ENE. Race 7 of the AEG 3-Buoys Challenge will be sailed next Sunday with the Spectator Ferry leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2.15pm. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League www.18footers.com.au The Ocean50 Class at the Paris Boat Show
Michel Desjoyeaux and the OCEAN50 class representatives will be at the International Paris Boat Show from the 7th to the 16th December at the Nautic Cafe (Hall 1 - Stand K110). At the CDK boatyard, the improvements to the Ocean50 deck are being implemented at a pace. The innovations devised by the design office are becoming a reality, with only the hull and daggerboards as the remaining components from the original design. The deck layout has been completely updated to bring together ergonomics, performance and hospitality on board: helmsman protection, cockpit extension. The Ocean50 has been fully reworked by Michel Desjoyeaux and the Mer Forte design office: new rigging, new rudder system, new keel. The Finot-Conq design office is the designer of the one-design monohull. The first Mer Agitee Ocean50 will be launched in 2013. Featured Brokerage Shoal draft version of this popular cruiser from the Beneteau stable. 3 double cabin version with white hull, solid wood cockpit floor and cabin heating to extend your sailing season and increase comfort aboard. Shaft drive Yanmar 3YM30 diesel engine,electronic navigation aids including autopilot and electric windlass.Commissioned in the Spring of 2010 she spent two seasons here on Lake Windermere before departing to Conwy Marina in North Wales. Brokerage through Maiden Marine: www.yachtworld.com/maidenmarine/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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Scuttlebutt Europe #2726 - 27 November
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