In This Issue
• Antigua Sailing Week: Spirited Youth - KPMG Y2K Race Day 4
• Regional racing at its best with Spinlock IRC
• Harken Tech Team on Duty at 2019 PalmaVela Regatta
• European Snipe Master Championship
• Perth Lasers beam in "Classic Hyeres"
• Day Two of HM King Juan Carlos Trophy 2019 in Cascais
• Open Letter to World Sailing from OK Dinghy Class
• Launchings
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Arksen 70
• • Swan 46-418 'Storm'
• • Abromowitz Sharp & Associates Brokerage
• The Last Word: Arthur C. Clarke
Brought to you by Seahorse magazine and YachtScoring.com EuroSail News 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] eurosailnews [DOT] com
Antigua Sailing Week: Spirited Youth - KPMG Y2K Race Day 4
Big breeze and huge Caribbean surf spiced up the action for KPMG Y2K (Youth to Keelboat) Race Day, the penultimate day of racing at Antigua Sailing Week. Y2K is all about getting young Antiguan sailors into the yachting industry. Aptly two youth teams showed tremendous camaraderie and quick thinking in the face of adversity. The dismasted NSA Valiant gave their rudder to replace the broken one on NSA Spirit, keeping the young National Sailing Academy (NSA) team in with a chance of lifting the Lord Nelson Trophy. NSA Spirit is one of several teams still in contention for the overall win at the 52nd edition of Antigua Sailing Week.
Two races were held for most classes with the CSA Racing fleet starting off Rendezvous Bay. The big boat class and the multihulls enjoyed one long race to the west coast of Antigua. The Bareboat Classes had two technical windward leeward races off Windward Beach. The Double-Handed and Club Classes had one long race offshore, tasting full-on ocean conditions.
Robert Szustkowski's Polish HH66 R-SIX is unbeaten in the Multihull Class and thoroughly enjoying Antigua Sailing Week. "The courses have been great, we have raced around the windward and leeward coasts and plenty of short technical legs on the south coast. Today was just spectacular racing. Even though R-SIX has a full interior, we were flying a hull in over 20 knots of amazing conditions, it just doesn't get better than that," smiled Szustkowski.
In CSA 1, Sir Peter Harrison's British superyacht Sojana continued their impressive form racking up two bullets today.
In CSA 2, Ker 46 Lady Mariposa, skippered by Dane Jesper Bank, scored another brace of bullets today to take a commanding lead in the class and challenge for a first Lord Nelson Trophy win
In CSA 3, Adrian Lee's Irish Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners II secured the class win today having score two bullets and are a contender for the Lord Nelson Trophy.
In CSA 4, Ross Applebey's British Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster won both races but had to come back from a bad hoist in Race 6 which saw their red spinnaker ending up in the water. In arguably the most competitive class,
In CSA 5, Sir Richard Matthews' British ST37 Holding Pattern won the first race of the day by less than a minute.
In CSA 6, octogenarian Geoffrey Pidduck competing in his 50th Antigua Sailing Week had a stellar day racing his modified Antiguan Six Metre Biwi Magic, winning Race 6 and coming runner-up in Race 7.
In the Double-Handed Class, Henry Rourke racing Open 40 Raucous with Freddie Mills scored his first win at Antigua Sailing Week.
Racing at the 52nd edition Antigua Sailing Week will come to a conclusion tomorrow, Friday 3rd of May with Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Race Day 5.
Regional racing at its best with Spinlock IRC
Spinlock are well established as sponsors of IRC and continue their support of the annual IRC Championships around the UK and Channel Islands.
Competitors can enjoy great racing and social programmes while keeping their eye on the achievement of IRC Champion status and exciting Spinlock prizes. James Hall, Spinlock Sales and Marketing Manager, is enthusiastic about continuing support of the IRC Championships:
"Spinlock are pleased to support the 2019 IRC Championships and continue to encourage competitive IRC racing around the regions. We are thrilled to provide a trophy, £250 Spinlock Voucher, a VITO lifejacket and a Deck Pack for the winners at each of this season's Championships."
Ten IRC Championships are held all around the British coast from Scotland to the Channel Islands as well as a specific event for two-handed crews, providing a large variety of venues, racing conditions and social events to be enjoyed both on and off the water. While most events are held over a weekend, some are spread over several weeks or incorporate separate events. The Solent Championship consists of four events organised by separate clubs, while RORC's Two-Handed National Championship comprises both inshore and offshore racing and the Inshore Championship on Lake Windermere runs through the winter. 2019 also sees the return of the GBR IRC National Championship organised by RORC from Cowes, after a break last year when RORC organised the IRC European Championship.
Scottish Series is also a major event for the RC35 class which was developed for close racing within a tight IRC rating band, and along with the Welsh National IRC Championship is part of the Celtic Cup incorporating events in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Two of the first clubs to use the RORC Rating Office's Advocate Scheme to successfully start using IRC for their club racing in are hosting IRC Championships this year - the Southern Championship at Weymouth Sailing Club, and the South West Championship which includes the Royal Dart YC as organisers. Reflecting increasing participation in two-handed racing, the Two-Handed Championship returns in September, organised by RORC Cowes.
The 2019 GBR IRC Championships programme is as follows:
Solent - 4 events (May-Sept)
Scottish - Scottish Series (May)
Southern - Weymouth & Portland (May)
National - RORC Cowes (July)
East Coast - Ramsgate Week (July)
Welsh National - Cardigan Bay (August)
South West - Dartmouth (August)
Two-Handed - Cowes (September)
Channel Islands - Jersey (September)
Inland - Windermere (November-March)
Harken Tech Team on Duty at 2019 PalmaVela Regatta
The Harken Tech Team will keep the fleets race-ready and flying during the 2019 edition of the PalmaVela Regatta in Palma, Spain. The regatta service will be available on site from Wednesday, May 8, through Sunday morning, May 12. The Tech Team will have emergency spare parts on hand for repairs. Sailors can contact the Tech Team via email, techservice [AT] harken [DOT] it, or via the phone number posted at the race office.
The Harken Tech Team will also be present on the listed dates at these summer 2019 events:
Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Mahón, Menorca (May 20-25)
Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, Porto Cervo, Italy (June 3-8)
Puerto Sherry 52 Super Series Royal Cup, Cadiz, Spain (June 17-22)
Superyacht Cup, Palma, Spain (June 19-22)
Cascais 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Cascais, Portugal (July 15-20)
Copa del Rey Regatta, Palma, Spain (July 27-August 3)
Rolex TP52 World Championship 2019, Puerto Portals, Spain (August 24-29)
Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Porto Cervo, Italy (September 1-7)
Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Sardinia, Italy (September 23-28)
European Snipe Master Championship
The first day of the Snipe European Masters Championship was on today at the Real Club Nautico de Valencia, the 91 teams completed two technical windward-leeward races with a light 5 to 7 knots southeast to northeast wind, as the typical Valencian sea breeze didn't show up today on the race course.
The huge fleet, with sailors representing 11 countries, was split into yellow and blue groups, and the scores have then been combined at the end of the day to offer a joint provisional classification. The fundamental requirement in this competition is the age of the skipper, which must be over 45, with the sum of the ages of both team members 80 years or over.
The level of the competitors is really high, and after day one there's a tie on the top spot of the ranking; two teams won both races in their own fleet: Alejandro Fresneda and Javier Lopez, Club de Mar de Almería (ESP), and the Portuguese Tiago Roquette and Dries Crombe. The Valencian José Luis Maldonado and Alexandre Tinoco occupy the provisional third place with a third and a second, also claiming a provisional spot on the podium of the Apprentice Master category, the ones for skippers between 45 and 54 years of age.
Jose Palacio and Francisco Palacio (ESP) are the provisional leaders in the Grand Master, the category in which the skippers must be over 65 to participate, they're eighth in the overall standings; while the most senior category, the Legend Masters, with skipper older than 75, it's led by José Pérez Morales and Jorge Juan Soriano (ESP) who are 52nd overall.
Sailing will continue tomorrow and on Saturday May 4th, with two additional races per day.
snipe-rcnv.es/campeonato-de-europa-master-2019-clase-snipe/
Perth Lasers beam in "Classic Hyeres"
If the RS:X men's fleet has been all about the Italian city of Civitavecchia so far in the 51st Semaine Olympique Francaise, Wednesday's solid 15-knot easterlies - "Classic Hyeres conditions" as many of the sailors called them - were all about Perth in the Laser.
Both Laser fleets had Down Under dominance again and two Perth natives won five of the six races. Matthew Wearn had the rare satisfaction of a perfect day, winning all three races from the front in his half of the fleet, to take the overall lead. Meanwhile, his younger rival and training partner, Luke Elliott, won the first two races in the other fleet, before finishing second to New Zealand's Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist and the overnight leader, Sam Meech.
Laser
After six races, the Laser fleet will now divide into gold and silver fleets with five more races over the next two days before the medal race on Saturday. At the moment the forecast is for lighter breeze tomorrow before really big westerlies on Friday and Saturday.
The top 10 and even beyond all look competitive and will fancy their chances of moving up, but realistically the winner is only likely to come from the top five. The four Australians, including the Rio 2016 Olympic champion in fourth overall, and Meech all have fairly clean sheets - important with only discard allowed.
Laser Radial
Maria Erdi, the 21-year-old Hungarian, is showing why she is coming force by winning the second of the two races today to keep the pressure on her more experienced rivals. With five races left Erdi trails overall leader, Finland's Tuula Tenkanen, by just four points and has the better discard. Tankenen won the first race but in the second was passed by Erdi on the second upwind. Erdi also chased down America's Paige Railey on the final downwind.
RS:X women
China's Yunxiu Lu moved to the top of the leaderboard with a near faultless day, finishing second in the first race before winning the next two. That moved her past her teammate Peina Chen - China's silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and the woman who just beat Chen, France's 2016 Olympic Champion Charline Picon. Picon is just two points behind Lu, after finishing 3rd, 4th and 4th.
RS:X men
It was another great day for Civitavecchia, as Daniele Benedetti moved into second place overall behind Mattia Camboni, the man he shares an apparment block with in the Italian ciy. France's Thomas Goyard, fresh from his bronze in the European Championships in Palma at the beginning of April, had his best day so far to move into third, just three points behind Benedetti. So consistent has Camboni been that he has a formidable lead of 18 points, with his ninth-placed finish yesterday his discard.
Programme (subject to change):
Monday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 1: qualifying phase (one to three rounds per day)
Thursday May 2 to Saturday May 4: final phase (one to three rounds per day)
Saturday, May 4: Medal Races (30-minute round for the top ten in each series in which points count double)
Saturday May 4: Award ceremony and closing ceremony.
evenements.ffvoile.fr/sof2019gbr.aspx
Day Two of HM King Juan Carlos Trophy 2019 in Cascais
Cascais, Portugal - After the strong winds and drama of the opening day, day two of the Dragon HM King Juan Carlos Trophy, being hosted by the Clube Naval de Cascais from 1 to 4 May, brought a welcome change of pace with light to moderate breezes and plenty of hot sunshine. Races three and four of the eight race series, brought some surprise results and a significant shake up on the leader board.
Just prior to the start of racing all attention was on the recovery of Peter Gilmour's Team Yanmar JPN56 following her sinking after yesterday's race. Excellent work by the club staff, Pedro Andrade of 8th Dimension Racing and a professional dive team saw her rapidly recovered. Fortunately the boat had come off virtually unscathed and Gilmour has confirmed that they will be back with the fleet tomorrow.
Out on the race course Cascais continued to offer superbly challenging sailing for this top flight Dragon fleet, with lots of shifts and some tricky wave patterns to contend with.
Two further races are schedule for Friday with the start time revised from 11.00 to 13.00 to again allow for the anticipated early afternoon arrival of the sea breeze. The regatta continues until Saturday 4 May with a total of eight races programmed.
Provisional Top Five After Four Races
Grant Gordon - GBR820 - (12), 1, 3, 7 = 11
Anatoly Loginov - RUS27 - (20), 3, 7, 3 = 13
Jens Rathsack - MON2 - (11), 6, 2, 6 = 14
Pedro Rebelo de Andrade - POR84 - 5, (8), 6, 4 = 15
Hugo Stenbeck - SUI311 - 2, (23), 12, 1 = 16
Open Letter to World Sailing from OK Dinghy Class
I am writing in my capacity as President OKDIA, the International OK Dinghy Class Association, to express our dissatisfaction at the process and decisions taken by World Sailing last year to remove the Finn from the 2024 Olympics.
The International OK Dinghy Class celebrated its 60th anniversary year in 2017 and continues to grow in popularity around the world. Traditionally the class had been used as an intermediate step for singlehanded sailors prior to campaigning a Finn towards Olympic selection. More recently the class has seen former Finn sailors, and sailors from many other classes, choose the OK Dinghy as their racing dinghy of choice due to the one design nature of the class, the sophistication and availability of equipment, the world standard of racing including annually held World, European and regional championships and of course the social character of the class.
The 2019 International OK Dinghy World Championship was held in February in Auckland, New Zealand with over 100 boats competing. The event was narrowly won by former Olympian and Finn sailor Dan Slater, from Olympic Gold Medalist and former Finn sailor Freddy Loof, with 17 year old World Youth Champion Josh Armit finishing third. While we are rightly proud of the OK Dinghy, equally we feel that the increasing popularity of the class benefits world sailing generally as an avenue for promoting our wonderful sport across many countries.
The Annual General Meeting of OKDIA was held in Auckland in conjunction with the World Championship in February 2019. At that meeting, the Australian Representative informed the meeting that the AUS association had written to Australian Sailing expressing disappointment regarding the decision of World Sailing to drop the event intended for the Finn class from the Olympics in 2024 in favour of a 2 person mixed keelboat. There was general consent within the room for OKDIA to express its dissatisfaction and unhappiness at the general direction of World Sailing, in particular the recent Olympic class decisions, which have and will affect many within the class and the options and pathways for singlehanded dinghy sailing in general. The meeting agreed that OKDIA should write to World Sailing and represent the views of the OKDIA member countries that reflect these views.
I have personally sailed the OK Dinghy for almost 40 years since I was 16 years of age and am still enjoying sailing with and competing against both new and old friends from many countries. I have also recently joined the Finn Masters and have similarly enjoyed the level of competition mixed with great friendship. Like most sailors I have also had my fair share of offshore keelboat sailing as part of my lifelong involvement in the sport. With this experience I can personally echo the sentiments and concern of OK Dinghy sailors at the strategic direction of World Sailing, or it seems lack of it, and dismay at the decisions being taken. In my view this demonstrates a lack of leadership, both in honouring the past and building a shared vision for the future.
On behalf of the OK Dinghy Class I implore you and all at World Sailing to act in the best interests of the future of sailing and the people you represent.
Mark Jackson, President, OKDIA
Launchings
The 96-year-old Solent Sunbeam class welcomed a brand new yacht to its fleet last week with the launching of V70 Minty which took place at Itchenor, the base for this historic and much-admired classic keel-boat fleet.
Minty's hull was built on the Isle of Wight by Mark Downer's AM Structures, a GRP and composites specialist who has built all nine of the new GRP yachts. Minty was fitted out by wooden boat specialists Haines Boatyard based at Itchenor.
Harriet and Simon Patterson are the proud new owners of Minty, which sports a glacial-green hull. They are keen sailors with children who are very active junior members of Itchenor Sailing Club. Now their children are sailing so much they wanted to get back on the water themselves.
Following Minty's launch the Fleet now on the water and racing this season grows to 27, with the new GRP hulled yachts and the original wooden versions, dating back 96 years to 1923, racing side by side on an equal basis.
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Friday, 3 May 2019 in Scarlino, Italy marks the worldwide premiere of the breathtakingly innovative ClubSwan 36. Combining the inspirational design flair of Argentinean Juan Kouyoumdjian with the peerless heritage and production skills of Nautor's Swan, the ClubSwan 36, comprising innovations from BMW and Torqeedo, is the latest step in the long and successful design evolution of one of the marine world's most celebrated marques.
It is 52 years since the first ever Swan, also a 36, made its debut in 1967. It, too, was groundbreaking in its day. The launch of the prototype ClubSwan 36 tomorrow at the Marina di Scarlino, during the second leg of The Nations Trophy Mediterranean League 2019, confirms that the enthusiasm and belief in innovation that led to the original 36 remain central pillars of Nautor's boatbuilding philosophy.
At the official unveiling, hosted at the Club Nautico Scarlino tomorrow at 17:30, the key features of this remarkable craft will be revealed publicly for the first time.
Photos from the launch, as well as technical specifications, will be distributed in a press release on Saturday 4 May.
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After weeks of extensive sea trials, Power of 2, the third unit of Southern Wind's SW105 miniseries and first with the new 'Deck Saloon' configuration, is ready to leave on her maiden voyage from Cape Town to the North Sea.
The third hull in the SW105 mini-series designed by Farr Yacht Design and Nauta Design, was commissioned by a keen sailor who was looking to step up from a smaller yacht, to a larger one for faster sailing and exploring remote locations in comfort and safety. Power of 2's twin rudder system combined with the lifting keel (3-5m) allows access to remote shallow ports and anchorages. With the keel down this configuration provides excellent upwind light air performance. Jim Schmicker, vice president of Farr Yacht Design explains: "Twin rudder arrangement works very well with the 3m shallow draft as the rudder blades only extend 2m below the waterline". He continues: "The interior and keel tower configuration permit a generous addition of 2m resulting in a keel down draft of 5m for excellent performance, stability and comfort. The sail plan and sail design have been tailored to the righting moment generated by the keel and the versatile 105 hull shape."
Power of 2's fixed bowsprit with an integrated anchor arm makes for easy anchoring and her clean deck layout with efficiently engineered systems makes for easy sailing in any sea and wind condition.The deck has been cleared of technical clutter where possible, pushing jib sheets and runner retrievers below the side decks. Raising and trimming the mainsail has become simplified with two captive winches controlling the sheet and halyard, all interlinked with the furling boom via a state of the art PLC system that can also be managed by remote control.SW105#03 is built with a 'Deck Saloon' configuration. This idea was briefed by the owner and designed by Nauta Design and Southern Wind Shipyard. The coachroof coamings are intended to protect the guest cockpit, at the same time creating aesthetically pleasing lines. In the words of Massimo Gino from Nauta Design:"SW105#03 is the culmination of 20 years' experience we have gained working with Southern Wind. When an owner decides to reduce the width of the saloon to get a 360' view, it is down to the designers to provide the maximum effect while maintaining a sporty exterior look and feel, that is pleasing and yet, at the same time, slightly aggressive. This look and feel needs to be created without additional height at the front of the cockpit, which would reduce the all-round vision and also detract from the sporty lines."
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Italia Yachts recently launched its new 11.98 in Venice at the historical Compagnia della Vela yacht club. The boat is the first in the Bellissima series which is aimed at recreational owners and complements its Fuoriserie series designed with sports racers in mind.
Italia Yachts told IBI that the new 12m comes with the creature comforts and styling one might expect from a much larger yacht. The interior is the work of Arbore and Partners - Mirko Arbore made is reputation as a designer of high-end villa interiors, so a move to medium-sized sailboats marks a change of direction and makes itself evident in the homely feel of the boat's interior.
Italia Yachts is currently building around 20 boats a year, but the plan is to up that to around 35-40 boats annually. Key to growth will be expansion in the US where is is growing its dealer network. It has sales offices in Annapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Santa Barbara and Newport. A new logo that incorporated the Lion of Venice, it's wing mimicking a sail, is part of the new drive by the builder to raise its brand profile.
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The Herreshoff S-Class is highly regarded as one of the most beautiful one-designs ever. It's an instantly recognizable classic with it's spoon bow, Herreshoff cabin trunk, and sharply curved mast carrying a large marconi mainsail and 5/8ths self-tending jib. The S-Class is incredibly fun to sail in all conditions. In light air the tall rig will power an S-Class right by any modern boat and in heavy air the high ballast ratio keeps the boat stable. The deep cockpit remains comfortable while the bendy mast automatically depowers the main by spilling air. Such is the reason that after a century, more than half of the original 96 S-Class boats are still sailing and racing.
Papoose was one the first contracted Herreshoff S-Class in late 1919 and was given the 3rd hull number (#831) when launched in March of 1920. Papoose's earliest years were spent racing in Marblehead with owners John Silsbee Lawrence and Livingston Davis. In 1924 Papoose joined the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club fleet. Nearly 40 years later in 1963 Papoose joined the Narragansett Bay fleet which has been homeport for over 55 years.
Papoose's restoration:
In 2011/12 Papoose underwent an extensive, detailed, and documented keel-up restoration in Bristol, Rhode Island. Papoose has been maintained in as-new condition since. Ensuring Papoose is ready to take on another century of sailing and racing.
Letters To The Editor - editor [AT] scuttlebutteurope [DOT] com
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* From Guy Nowell, Editor, Sail-World Asia: re: Scallwag, Fastnet.
"In order to win, first you have to finish." It is to be hoped that Scallywag does not embarrass her Hong Kong flag as much as she did on the start line in Antigua.
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Swan 46-418 'Storm'. 420,000 under leasing EUR. Located in Cala de Medici, Italy.
Fully revised in winter 2017/2018: - New B&G electronics including autopilot, radar, AIS, mast instruments, plotter... - Completely new rigging with Ciccio Manzoli - New sails (Full Batten Main, Furling Jib, Code Zero Triradial) - Hull varnished in white
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The Last Word
I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here. -- Arthur C. Clarke
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