In This Issue
Golden Globe Race: Code Red alert update
2018 West Marine J/70 World Championships
Charter for the St. Thomas International Regatta - March 22-24, 2019
Quantum Racing 52 SUPER SERIES Champions for 2018, Luna Rossa Win Valencia Title
Maltese Falcon And Silencio Triumph In Seventh Edition Of Perini Navi Cup
Not bad - Topsy-turvy in Cascais
Vintage Yachting Games
Keelboat Endeavour Trophy Postponed
Farr 40 class celebrates two decades
Letters to the Editor
Featured Brokerage
The Last Word: Arnold H. Glasow
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 [AT] scuttlebutteurope [DOT] com
Golden Globe Race: Code Red alert update
A multinational search operation is now under way to rescue injured Indian solo sailor Abhilash Tomy from his dismasted yacht in the Southern Ocean some 1,900 miles SW of Perth at the extreme limit of immediate rescue range.
The 39 year old yachtsman was lying in 3rd place in the Golden Globe Race when he and fellow competitor, Irishman Gregor McGuckin were overtaken by a 70knot storm and 15 metre seas on Friday. Tomy's ketch rigged yacht Thuriya, was rolled through 360° and dismasted and the skipper suffered a back injury that has left him immobile.
Tomy's latest communication sent at 08:26 UTC today: LUGGED CANS OF ICE TEA. HAVING THAT.VOMITTING CONTINUINGLY. CHEST BURNING Position: 39′ 33.512 S 077′ 41.608 E
McGuckin's yacht Hanley Energy Endurance, was also dismasted 90 miles to the SW of Thuriya, is the nearest vessel. The Irishman, who suffered only minor injuries, has since set up a jury rig and is making 3 knots towards Tomy's position aided by continuous navigation updates from Race HQ in Les Sables d'Olonne. He is expected to reach the Indian's position at first light on Monday. Weather permitting, he may be asked by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Canberra to abandon his own yacht and board Thuriya to provide immediate assistance to the injured yachtsman. Telemedicine doctors MSOS in the UK would then be able to speak directly to Abhilash via Gregor's satellite phone and suggest appropriate first aid as well as advise JRCC of his condition to help forward planning.
The French fisheries patrol vessel Osiris, which carries medical support, is making her way from a position 123NM SSW, but experiencing adverse seas and making only 4.1knots. She is not now expected to reach the area before 1000UTC on Monday
Overnight Saturday, an Indian P8 Orion military plane out of Mauritius overflew Thuriya to assess the yacht's condition. Photographs taken by the crew show the yacht dismasted with her rig still attached to the hull acting as a sea anchor, and slowing her drift westwards.
Abhilash Tomy, who has reported severe back injuries, is unable to move from his bunk, but heard the plane fly overhead and acknowledged this by turning his emergency beacon off and on.
Two further planes, one outbound from Perth, and an Australian Defence Force P8 Orion operating from Reunion Island also overflew the two yachts a few hours later and managed to communicate directly with McGuckin. JRCC in Canberra, which is organising this multinational rescue with Indian and French authorities, can now position aircraft overhead during any rescue operations on the water.
The Australian authorities have also despatched the Anzac class frigate HMAS Ballerat from Fremantle overnight. She is due to take 4-5 days to reach the area. The Indian Navy has also diverted the frigate INS Satpura, and tanker INS Jyoti Mission from exercises off South Africa to assist in the rescue.
2018 West Marine J/70 World Championships
Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, USA: Teams from 18 different nations have gathered at the Eastern Yacht Club for the 2018 West Marine J/70 World Championships. Ninety-One J/70s will be racing, representing the largest J/70 fleet ever assembled in North America.
Three American skippers have won the open championship and all of them will be racing in Marblehead: Tim Healy (Sail Newport), Joel Ronning (Wayzata YC), and the defending J/70 Open World Champion, Peter Duncan (American Yacht Club). Crew for the Open J/70 World Championship include Olympic Gold Medalists and World Champions. Over 30 teams will be competing for the Corinthian J/70 World Championship.
After four days of measurement and inspection, action gets under way on Monday (September 24) with the practice race, followed by the Opening Ceremony held on the lawn of the Eastern Yacht Club. Racing for the West Marine J/70 World Championships will be held September 25-29, with 14 windward leeward races scheduled.
For live updates from the race course go to: www.facebook.com/j70worlds
For daily news, pictures and videos: www.j70worlds2018.com
Charter for the St. Thomas International Regatta - March 22-24, 2019
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Let's get a one-design J/122 class going too! The class-winning J/122, El Ocaso, is available from www.caribbeanyachtracing.com There's also the very-fast, well-equipped J/122 Noisy Oyster for charter (www.J122experience.com).
The J/120, J-aguar, is available by the yacht or crew spot from www.caribbeanraces.com. Ditto, OnDeck Sailing (www.ondecksailing.com) is chartering its Beneteau 40.7 (Ortac) and Farr 65 (Spirit of Juno) also by yacht or crew spot. Bring your friends and charter the Farr 70 Volvo Ocean Racer, Ocean Breeze (www.oceanbreeze.eu), fresh from a full refit and with new Elvstrom sails.
Or, take your pick of the Marc Lombard 46, Pata Negra; GP42, Phan; Swan 46, Milanto; Corby 45, Incisor; a J/122 or First 40 from LV Yachting, formerly Performance Yacht Charter (www.performanceyachtcharter.com).
There's something for everyone ashore tool! Nightly parties, live music, food and drink. World-class racing, the chance to trade tacks with America's Cup, Volvo Ocean and Olympic crews on the water and off is what earns STIR its motto, 'We Love It Here' You will too.
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stthomasinternationalregatta.com
Quantum Racing 52 SUPER SERIES Champions for 2018, Luna Rossa Win Valencia Title
Quantum Racing may have won the 2018 52 SUPER SERIES championship title, but unsailable light winds on the last day of the 52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week denied them the chance to pitch for their fourth regatta win of the season. Luna Rossa, the Italian America's Cup challengers of record, lift the Valencia regatta title, which they add to the Zadar Royal Cup, which they won in Croatia in June.
And there was no deciding race to unlock the tie for second place on the 52 SUPER SERIES circuit podium for 2018. Harm Müller-Spreer's Platoon and the Roemmers family's Azzurra finish on exactly the same points aggregate after the 42 races and five regattas of this season. But the German-flagged team, which draws on an afterguard comprising John Kostecki and Jordi Calafat, both winners of successive America's Cups on these waters, are credited with second on tie break. The deciding factor being which team finishes in front of the other in the last regatta of the season.
Harm Müller-Spreer, the German owner-helm wins the owner-driver prize for the regatta and for the season, finishing runners up for the year as he and his Platoon team did in 2017 behind Azzurra.
52 SUPER SERIES Valencia Sailing Week Final Standings
1. Luna Rossa, Patrizio Bertelli, ITA, 31 points
2. Quantum Racing, Doug DeVos, USA, 32
3. Platoon, Harm Muller-Spreer, GER, 33
4. Azzurra, Alberto Roemmers, ARG/ITA, 38
5. Alegre, Andres Soriano, USA/GBR, 46
6. Onda, Eduardo de Souza Ramos, BRA, 48
7. Sled, Takashi Okura, USA, 48
8. Provezza, Ergin Imre, TUR, 54
9. Phoenix, Hasso/Tina Plattner, RSA, 68
10. Gladiator, Tony Langley, GBR, 69
11. Paprec, Jean Luc Petithuguenin, FRA, 76
2018 52 SUPER SERIES Overall Standings
1. Quantum Racing, Doug DeVos, USA, 160 points
2. Platoon, Harm Muller-Spreer, GER, 197
3. Azzurra, Alberto and Pablo Roemmers, ARG/ITA, 197
4. Luna Rossa, Patrizio Bertelli, ITA, 203
5. Sled, Takashi Okura, USA, 211
6. Alegre, Andres Soriano, USA/GBR, 230
7. Phoenix, Hasso/Tina Plattner, RSA, 239
8. Provezza, Ergin Imre, TUR, 261
9. Onda, Eduardo de Souza Ramos, BRA, 290
10. Gladiator, Tony Langley, GBR, 344
Maltese Falcon And Silencio Triumph In Seventh Edition Of Perini Navi Cup
Porto Cervo, Italy: After three days of racing, the seventh edition of the Perini Navi Cup drew to a close today. The event, organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, had gathered 21 yachts from the Perini Navi fleet in Porto Cervo. Overall leader in the Cruiser Racer division was the 50-metre Silencio, while The Maltese Falcon triumphed among the Corinthians Spirit yachts and overall.
The final day of the Perini Navi Cup saw the fleet face a coastal course of approximately 14 miles, accompanied initially by a breeze of 12 - 14 knots from the west. The Perini ships headed south to circumnavigate the islands of Mortorio and Soffi before returning north to a buoy off the coast of Porto Cervo and the finish line of a course that was shortened due to strengthening winds, reaching speeds of 27 knots.
Seahawk, the last boat to start in the Cruiser Racer division under the staggered start formula (which sees individual departures every 3 minutes), immediately accelerated today, leaving her rivals behind after rounding Soffi, and crossing the finish line with twenty minutes to spare, thereby clinching the victory of the day. Despite this excellent performance Seahawk placed second overall, while consistency was rewarded for the 50-metre Silencio - second in today's race - who with two wins out of three races run, was the overall winner in the Cruiser Racer class. Third place of the day and third place in the overall classification went to the 43-metre Victoria A.
In the Corinthians Spirit class The Maltese Falcon, the 88-metre flagship of the fleet, took pole position in the overall standings with three wins out of three, seven points ahead of Tamsen, in fifth place today but second overall. The battle on the water was for the second place of the day: Blush managed to outdistance Spirit of C's to finish second, but didn't manage to claim a podium place as Spirit of C's went on to take third place overall.
Not bad - Topsy-turvy in Cascais
No doubt about it, this year's Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais was a real test of men and machine, certainly the final two days in 25kt+ conditions. All nine races were broadcast live; a mix of images from cameras onboard the TP52s, drones and RIBs brought the action live to computers all over the world and was widely watched with peak views of near 5,000 and total views of near 400,000.
In itself this is small fry compared with other sports but as the images are also picked up for broadcast by well-known channels like CNN MainSail, Euro News, the World Sailing Show and the Nautical Channel a potentially massive audience saw and will see one or more reports on the event. Coupled with that all 52 Super Series outings on Facebook, Twitter and the 52 Super Series website are measured and this 'audit' tells us that these have been displayed or viewed 2.8 million times in July 2018 alone. That cannot be just family watching their beloved…
In the end the winning display of sailing skill was produced by Quantum Racing and its battle-hardened team directed by Terry Hutchinson. Dean Barker on the helm is not a bad asset in these conditions, as was the boat and sails staying in one piece throughout all nine high-octane races.
Full article in the October issue of Seahorse
Vintage Yachting Games
Copenhagen, Denmark: Unfortunately, the weather in Hellerup, near Copenhagen for the past two days has not been suitable for racing in small dinghies. However, event PRO Peter Stephensen Lubeck (DEN) was wise enough to predict this scenario, and doubled up the number of races on Thursday, and in so doing he achieved 6 good races of 8 race series for the 12 Foot Dinghies.
As predicted by some 12 Foot Dinghy buffs, one or other of the two Bleeker brothers from Holland was likely to rise to the top of this event which takes place every four years. After six good races it was Wim Bleeker (who was Dutch 12 Foot Dinghy champion of 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) who won the Vintage Yachting Games 2018, in the largest class competing.
The other classes competing in this year's Vintage Yachting Games were the Soling and O-Jolle or Olympiajolle which was a singlehander used for the 1936 Olympic games in Kiel, and still popular in Germany and Holland.
The venue for the games in four year's time has yet to be decided.
Top ten, 12 foot dinghy:
1. Wm. Bleeker, NED
2. Jurri Rooyackers, NED
3. Hans Reyers, NED
4. Sipke Schuurmans, NED
5. Bert Hamminga, NED
6. Pieter Bleeker, NED
7. Lambertus Hamminga, NED
8. Mark Delany, IRL
9. Nicky Arnoldus, CAN
10. Rifat Edin, TUR
www.vintageyachtinggames.org/2018/
Keelboat Endeavour Trophy Postponed
Royal Corinthian YC, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex: With the wind projected to gust more than 40 kts on Sunday, the race committee at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch, has made the sensible decision to postpone the Keelboat Endeavour Trophy writes Sue Pelling.
This inaugural event to determine the UK keelboat champions of champions was scheduled to take place this weekend (22-23 September) but with series of low-pressure systems sweeping across the UK and forecast to continue until the weekend, the chances of completing a full two-day race series looked slim. Edwin Buckley - the Event Director - said he and his committee felt it was prudent to make an early call.
Although the new date for the inaugural Keelboat Endeavour has yet to be confirmed there are two dates the committee has in mind, either 23-24 March or 6-7 April 2019. Buckley continued: "As soon as we have a firm date we will let everyone know. Those who missed this wonderful opportunity can request an application form from info [AT] royalcorinthian [DOT] co [DOT] uk."
The spring Keelboat Endeavour using up to six of the RCYC's fleet of 707s will be run in a British Keelboat League-style knock-out format with 25 plus races over two days with RYA on-the-water umpires keeping an eye on proceedings.
The event is open to all keelboat champions including J/109, J/111, Fast40s as well as a large contingent of champions from classes like the Squib, Flying 15 and local one-designs that run a national championship and have exceptionally high quality competition.
In the meantime the annual and long-running Endeavour Trophy for dinghy champions is scheduled to take place this autumn on 12-14 October 2018. With 30 entries already signed up, this end-of-season dinghy Champion of Champions' event is as popular now than it has ever been with many dinghy sailors regarding it as the ultimate prize on the UK dinghy racing circuit.
Farr 40 class celebrates two decades
On the opening weekend of the 2018-19 Farr 40 season, a gala ball brought past and present class champions and current one design crews together in Sydney to mark two decades of Australian racing.
Lang Walker, a two-time national champion and long-time class contributor; Martin Hill, international class president 2011-2017, national president and dual Australian champion; Richard Perini, world champion and triple national champion and Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, a six-time Australian champion, world champion and former class president, were all granted Australian Farr 40 class life membership.
"The Farr 40 class influenced international sailing by successfully blending professionals and amateur sailors and moving them around the world, like the Kenwood Cup and Admiral's Cup once did," Matt Allen told the audience. "The class also developed a lot of sailors into professionals and amateurs into better sailors, and brought a lot of women into the sport."
Born from the drawing board of Farr Yacht Design, the high performance 40-footer took the benefits of modern materials into an economic platform for short course racing that was demanding, exciting and not beyond the capabilities of Corinthian teams and sailors of all ages. The owner/driver rule influenced the boat's design and added to its perennial nature and a well organised international class has kept the class active and very relevant 21 years after the first boat was launched at Newport Rhode Island, USA.
Farr 40 racing in Australia commenced in 2000 with vitamin baron Marcus Blackmore and the Hooligan crew taking out the first-ever national title. John Calvert-Jones, Perini and Blackmore were top of the leader board for many years until 2007 when Sydney developer Lang Walker won his first national championship.
The same year the Australian class was established, John Calvert-Jones proved the southerners' mettle on the world stage, becoming the first Aussie skipper to win a world championship on foreign waters. In 2013 the annual national series was named in honour of the Australian Farr 40 founding-father, becoming the Farr 40 National Championship: John Calvert-Jones Trophy.
The 2018-2019 season runs from September 22-23, 2018 to April 2019 and follows the same east coast challenge formula - a combination of pointscore and social regattas stretching between Sydney and Port Stephens culminating in the NSW and Australian titles in March and April next year, respectively. -- Lisa Ratcliff
Letters To The Editor - editor [AT] scuttlebutteurope [DOT] com
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Dale Adams, Wellington, New Zealand:
I read with interest the article about finding James Cook ship Endeavour and that "The ship holds a special place in the imaginations of Americans, Australians and the British". Once again New Zealand has been completely disregarded. Cook visited New Zealand long before Australia and America and circumnavigated New Zealand on his first voyage in 1769 with such accuracy that his map is very close to today's maps. All throughout New Zealand there are areas and coastal landmarks named after him and his crew such as Cook Strait, Mt Cook, Banks Peninsular along with New Zealand's fifty cent coin which has the Endeavour on one side of it. Cook returned in to New Zealand in 1773 and 1777 and has left a lasting legacy with the people of New Zealand. Perhaps in future the American media could be more thorough with their research.
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The Last Word
Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance. -- Arnold H. Glasow
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