In This Issue
• Quantum Racing Find Form in Cascais
• Rescuers and the rescued arrive safe and others press on
• Relentless - 52 Super Series
• America's Cup Hall of Fame to Induct Dyer Jones, Bill Trenkle & Henry Racamier
• World Sailing Renews World Match Racing Tour Special Event Status
• Golfe du Morbihan Breizh Cola racks up breezy first win
• Name a Solent Mark in Memory of Paul Heys
• Etchells European Championship
• Biggest ever seaweed bloom stretches from Gulf of Mexico to Africa
• AC Rules Committee Members and Powers
• Featured Brokerage:
• • X41 - British Soldier
• • Tore Holm 53 Ft Bermudan Cutter
• • GP42 - Silva Neo
• The Last Word: Barack Obama
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
Quantum Racing Find Form in Cascais
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Cascais, Portugal: After a somewhat less than perfect regatta last month in Puerto Sherry and a seventh place overall, 2018 52 Super Series champions Quantum Racing restored their winning mojo today in Portugal when they sailed to a second and a first in classic Cascais conditions to lead the Cascais 52 Super Series Sailing Week.
Second behind Provezza in the first race, which was contested in 17-22kts of NW'ly breeze, Quantum Racing executed a typical Cascais race winning strategy in the second windward-leeward, starting by the committee boat, tacking right early and leading all the way around the fast, bumpy Cascais track. And on the final downwind, as it to shrug off the pent up frustrations from Puerto Sherry, they more than doubled their lead, surfing away to win by 240 metres from Bronenosec.
Quantum Racing's three-point aggregate sees them three points clear of three boats - Provezza, Bronenosec and Azzurra - after the first day of racing at this renowned high-wind venue where last year they won the Rolex TP52 World Championship.
As ever, in the breeze in Cascais it is always possible to make big gains - and losses. Platoon were over the start line and had to round the boat and recross. Seventh all the way round they gained two on the last run with a come-from-behind charge.
Winds through last year's world championship were more than 20 knots on every day of the regatta and the forecast seems to promise a repeat this year - Day 1 delivered.
Regatta standings after Day 1
1. Quantum Racing (USA) (Doug DeVos) (2,1) 3 points 2. Provezza (TUR) (Ergin Imre) (1,5) 6
3. Bronenosec (RUS) (Vladimir Liubomirov) (4,2) 6
4. Azzurra (ARG/ITA) (Alberto/Pablo Roemmers) (3,3) 6
5. Platoon (GER) (Harm Müller-Spreer) (5,4) 9
6. Phoenix 11 (RSA) (Hasso/Tina Plattner) (6,6) 12
7. Alegre (USA/GBR) (Andrés Soriano) (7,7) 14
Rescuers and the rescued arrive safe and others press on
At about 2 AM PDT, a small crowd gathered at the docks of Windward Yacht Center to await the arrival of a 68-foot sailboat with 19 people aboard. This was 10 more than the 9 they left with from Long Beach back on Saturday at the third start of the 2225-mile LA-Honolulu Transpac race. Roy Disney's Andrews 68 Pyewacket left Long Beach hungry for victory in their attempt to earn corrected time honors but circumstances intervened on Sunday night.
'We came across the eerie sight of a mainsail up on a boat that was going under the waves...its a pretty tragic thing to see, and these two lifeboats tied together with flashing lights on them."
The sight was John Sangmeister's Santa Cruz 70 OEX foundering from water rushing into the boat through a hole in the stern where the rudder post used to be. Despite valiant attempts by his team to stop the flow and keep up with the ingress with pumps and buckets, the boat was filling fast with water. Liferafts were deployed.
"When I saw Pyewacket's running lights nearby and we were 4-5 feet of water inside the boat and I was sitting on deck I had waist-deep water in the cockpit, I said 'Alright boats, its time to go.' We have a watertight bulkhead on the bow and I feared the boat might go down by the stern and the mast would land on top of the raft.
"I felt really confident that Roy and his remarkable crew would look after us once we got into the boats."
"Which we did, we had ribs and wine!" said Disney. "And dinner and fellowship, all 19 of us," retorted Sangmeister. "They were more than gracious hosts."
For the 82 boats still racing, the conditions are perfect downwind tradewinds sailing
The race leader in elapsed time - Jason Carroll's MOD 70 trimaran Argo - has less than halfway to go to the finish, and has been lifted on starboard tack to cross the rhumbline to Hawaii.
Relentless - 52 Super Series
Ask around the dock during the Valencia training week in March which team would be most likely to win the 2019 52 Super Series overall and the smart money already seemed to be on Harm Müller- Spreer's Platoon. Twice runners-up, behind Azzurra in 2017 and Quantum Racing in 2018, the team that won the Rolex World Championship in Scarlino in 2017 showed a slight all-round speed edge during the training week – but then slipped up at PalmaVela itself when a couple of instances of pushing a little too hard in boat-to-boat situations cost them the regatta.
It was not a surprise then to see Platoon, helmed by the threetime Dragon Gold Cup winner, top the podium in Menorca at the first round of Super Series proper. It was, however, rather less anticipated that the two latest Vrolijk designs, Platoon and Provezza, would end up 1-2 in the regatta.
Platoon's winning pace comes from the top down.
Full story in the August issue of Seahorse
America's Cup Hall of Fame to Induct Dyer Jones, Bill Trenkle & Henry Racamier
The Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame welcomes Dyer Jones, Henry Racamier, and Bill Trenkle to the America's Cup Hall of Fame as the inductees for the Class of 2019.
The America's Cup Hall of Fame was founded in 1992, as an arm of the Herreshoff Marine Museum by Halsey Herreshoff, a four-time America's Cup defender and grandson of legendary yacht designer Nathanael G. Herreshoff. Over eighty legends of the Cup have been inducted into the Hall. Candidates eligible for consideration include members of the crew, designers, builders, syndicate leaders, supporters, chroniclers, and other individuals of merit. Each nominee is judged on the basis of outstanding ability, international recognition, character, performance, and contributions to the sport. The members of the Selection Committee are intimate with the history and traditions of America's Cup and committed to the integrity of the Hall of Fame.
William T. "Bill" Trenkle (USA) (b. 1958)
Bill Trenkle is among the leaders who exemplifies what racing in the America' Cup symbolizes. He was part of both winning and losing campaigns and had an excellent reputation for his skills and integrity.
If one were to describe Bill Trenkle in one word, it would be "loyal." He raced and worked with Dennis Conner in eight America's Cup campaigns over a 24-year stretch from 1979 through 2003, winning the America's Cup three times. During that period, Trenkle evolved from a "possible" crew as a Cadet at the State University of New York Maritime College (Class of 1980) to Conner's long time Director of Operations. In his book, Comeback, Conner said, "Bill is a seaman in the finest sense of that term. He understands from both an academic and a practical standpoint what it takes to make a boat go. Give a job to Bill, any job, and you know that it will be done to perfection." That is high praise from a demanding skipper like Dennis Conner.
Henry Racamier (France) (1912-2003)
Tall and elegant with a twinkle in his eye, French businessman Henry Racamier became part of America's Cup history in 1982 the moment he agreed to sponsor the official ''Challenger Races for the America's Cup'' organized by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (the Challenger of Record) in Newport. Later, in the summer of 1983, he presented the newly created Louis Vuitton Cup to the winners, John Bertrand and Alan Bond.
The decision to associate Louis Vuitton with the America's Cup was a logical and clever one: Founded in 1854, LV was a contemporary of the Cup (1851). Over the following decade, until he stopped holding the reins of Louis Vuitton, Henry Racamier was passionately dedicated to the association between Louis Vuitton's culture and history and the America's Cup, and historical personalities such as Sir Thomas Lipton and Harold Vanderbilt were clients of the firm.
William H. Dyer Jones (USA) (b. 1946)
Dyer Jones' contribution to the America's Cup stretched from 1967, during the 12 Metre era in Newport, through to the last appearance of the America's Cup Class in Valencia in 2007. During that time, he played a pivotal role at several important turning points in the history of the America's Cup.
In 1967, Jones served as an occasional crew member aboard Columbia during the defender selection trials. Throughout the 1970s, he served on Auxiliary Committees of the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup Race Committee.
World Sailing Renews World Match Racing Tour Special Event Status
World Sailing, the world governing body of the sport, has renewed the Special Event status of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) through to 2028.
The announcement was made today following the conclusion of the 2018-19 World Match Racing Tour Championship Final in Marstrand, Sweden a week ago which saw Phil Robertson (NZL) crowned Match Racing World Champion for the second time.
The Special Event Agreement, signed with EFB Group, who took over ownership of the WMRT in December 2018, will see World Sailing work actively together with WMRT to promote the global tour which awards the World Sailing Match Racing World Championship each year.
Founded in 2000, the WMRT promotes match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in sailing. The WMRT represents a series of independently organised and officially sanctioned and graded match racing events. Teams accumulate points from each of the events towards an overall WMRT global ranking. The top 12 ranked skippers compete in the WMRT Championship Finals at the end of the season to award the official World Sailing Match Racing World Championship.
Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD20million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today's professional sailors.
The World Match Racing Tour continues its Special Event status as one of five currently sanctioned World Sailing Special Events which currently include SailGP, PWA World Tour, Star Sailors League and the Global Kitesports Associations freestyle world tours.
Golfe du Morbihan Breizh Cola racks up breezy first win
Port Barcares delivered some superb breeze and brought youth and female teams to the fore in the Coastal Raid of Act 5. After almost four hours on the water, the youth team of Golfe du Morbihan Breizh Cola (Solune Robert, Louis Flament and Charles Dorange) claimed their first victory of the Tour Voile, just seconds ahead of the all-female team of La Boulangere (Mathilde Geron, Louise Acker and Amelie Riou) - who also celebrated their best result to date. Overall leaders Team Beijaflore, skippered by Valentin Bellet and Guillaume Pirouelle, highlighted their consistency with their fifth third-place finish and retain their position at the top of the general classification.
Today's 40-mile course took the crews on a very long beat along the coast, almost to the border with Spain, before returning to Port Barcares with a breeze that had filled in considerably, gusting at over 20 knots, and shifted from 90° to 160deg;.
Illustrating the ever-important skill of choosing the favoured end of the starting line, La Boulangere had a great start on the left side of the course, while classification leaders such as Cheminees Poujoulat and Reseau IXIO - Toulon Provence Mediterranee had to climb their way back up the fleet after choosing the pin end of the line. Golfe du Morbihan Breizh Cola started well towards the middle of the fleet and by the first weather mark had managed to inch ahead of La Boulangere, a position they would hold - only just - for the rest of the race. The two teams battled at the front of the fleet for the entire afternoon and crossed the finish line only a few boat lengths apart.
Things remain tight at the top of the Amateur group with just two points separating leaders Gregory Lemarchal - Les Sables d'Olonne from CER - Ville de Geneve in second.
The starting signal for tomorrow's Nautical Stadium racing is scheduled for 11.30 a.m.
Overall Rankings
Team Beijaflore - 479 pts
Cheminees Poujoulat - 472 pts
Team Reseau Ixio - Toulon Provence Mediterranee - 463 pts
Mixed Rankings
La Boulangere - 400 pts
Helvetia Purple by Normandy Elite Team - 351 pts
EFG Sailing Arabia The Tour - 345 pts
Youth Rankings
Cheminees Poujoulat - 472 pts
Golfe du Morbihan Breizh Cola - 445 pts
Ocewood #Waterfamily - 419 pts
Amateur Rankings
Gregory Lemarchal-Les Sables d'Olonne - 428 pts
CER - Ville de Geneve - 426 pts
West Team - BBN - Ecole Navale - 350 pts
Name a Solent Mark in Memory of Paul Heys
To the thoughtful owners who instigated this wonderful project, and to the enormously generous individuals and crews who have contributed so far,
THANK YOU
The target is almost halfway in less than a week which is simply remarkable.
"Paul helped so many of us to enjoy our hobby, whether it was helping with crew, sorting our boats, or boosting morale in the bar. A group of us are trying to raise the funds to drop a new racing buoy in the Central Solent in his honour and memory. The cost to drop and maintain the buoy for 10 years is circa £20k, and the more we raise, the more likely that his grandchildren will have the opportunity to race round it. We sincerely hope that you will be able to make a donation to the buoy and would be very grateful if you would share the link amongst your crew and friends to help us achieve the target. Please do not hesitate to contact me via Gemma if you have any questions."
The link is www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/paulheys -- Kirsty Apthorp, J/88 J-Dream
Etchells European Championship
Click on image for photo gallery.
The International Etchells European Championship was hosted by the Royal London Yacht Club and took place over three days on the Solent. 17 boats entered including 4 youth boats and 7 Corinthian boats.
3 races took place on both Friday and Saturday in generally light to medium conditions from the North West; sea-state was determined by the tide with chop decreasing throughout the day. Boats scoring low points generally started well; managed the shifts (±25 degrees) and the leverage that brought against the fleet. Results in the middle of the fleet were very sporadic and even after 6 races (and 1 discard) 5 points separated 4th to 9th place, with the rest of the fleet close behind.
A particularly impressive Saturday was had by Ante Razmilovic's Swedish Blue, winning all three races in less than stable conditions. The term Ante-Christ was used a number of times at the pub that night.
Despite this impressive performance everything was to play for on the final day that saw light and fickle wind from the East.
1st and 2nd was fought-out exclusively by Swedish Blue and Seamus McHugh's K2. K2, the only continental boat (SUI 1406) in the fleet, managed to beat Swedish Blue (12-14 respectively) closely match racing on Sunday. Whilst Shaun Frohlich's Exabyte secured 3rd after putting 4 boats between him and Rob Goddard's Rocketman (who took 1st Corinthian) in the final race. Miles Jones jumped up past Hattie Roger's Royal Lymington boat and Thea Crawshaw's Royal Thames boat after a strong finish on Sunday and taking 1st youth boat overall.
Final top five (17 boats)
1. Seamus McHugh / Luis Doreste / David Vera / Leonor Ramia, SUI, 20 points
2. Ante Razmilovic / Brian Hammersley / Andrew Mills, GBR, 27
3. Shaun Frohlich / David Bedford / Duncan Truswell , GBR, 32
4. Rob Goddard / Bryn Phillips / Joe Burns / Christine Shrimpton , GBR, 33
5. Tom Abrey / Matt Reid / Bruno van Dyke, GBR, 33
Full results on YachtScoring.com
Biggest ever seaweed bloom stretches from Gulf of Mexico to Africa
Click on image to enlarge.
A vast expanse of brown seaweed stretching across the Atlantic is a threat to tourism but a boon to marine life, US researchers have said.
A report by the University of South Florida, published on Thursday, showed satellite images of the biggest ever bloom of the sargassum seaweed, which last year extended from the US and Mexico's Atlantic coast to Africa.
The report, published in Science magazine, estimated that the giant patch grew to 8,850 kilometers (5,500 miles) wide and weighed 20 million tons.
Researchers found that sargassum, which was previously confined to the Gulf of Mexico and the Sargasso Sea, has spread to the central Atlantic Ocean over the past decade.
They said that some beaches in Florida and Mexico now have had so much sargassum that at times, swimmers are prevented from entering the sea.
The increase in the stinking mounds of rotting seaweed at the waterline has led to an increase in complaints from tourists and sullied the reputation of many paradise resorts.
Researchers said that 2019 looks set to be another record year of seaweed growth and that the phenomenon could become the new normal.
"The oceans are connected across the regions and we are going to see more sargassum coming to the Florida coast," researcher Mengqiu Wang said. "It is not fatal, it is not poisoning tides; it is more of a public nuisance and can cause some public health concerns."
AC Rules Committee Members and Powers
The Rules Committee was not in the original Protocol. It was defined in the AC75 Class Rule in March 2018, and given the power to change the class rule at any time for supplied or specified equipment. The Foil Cant System and the Foil Arms are supplied equipment. The mast is specified equipment. Only COR/D need to agree to these changes; the other challengers have no vote. Interestingly, it was not until Protocol Amendment 02 in August 2018 that we found out who appoints the Rules Committee: COR/D.
In addition, the AC75 Class Rule requires the Rules Committee to set the restrictions on using the Foil Cant System by 30 November 2019. Restrictions may include
limits on downforce generated by the foils
cant angle for the windward foil
and these restrictions may apply
for certain wind ranges
during certain phases of the race, e.g. pre-start
Now that no AC75's are sailing and there will be no racing until 2020, it might be wise to push out the November deadline.
Committee background
It's a good thing the three members of the Rules Committee are highly respected and competent:
Stan Honey (USA)
Carlos de Beltran (ESP)
Hasso Hoffmeister (GER)
Honey has engineering degrees from Yale and Stanford and has twice navigated during circumnavigation records and for a Volvo Ocean Race winner. He led the team that developed the "LiveLine" system used for TV graphics and the umpiring system for AC34 and AC35.
Carlos de Beltràn is the former offshore and technical director for World Sailing and was the equipment inspector for three editions of the VOR.
Hasso Hoffmeister is a naval architect who designed the rig for United Internet Team Germany in AC32 and has developed several standards and guidelines, amongst which are the GL Guidelines for Structural Design of Racing Yachts. His particular field of expertise is the evaluation of composite structures. -- Jack Griffin in Cup Experience
Featured Brokerage
British Soldier, the 2018 RORC IRC Overall winner is for sale. POA EUR. Located in
British Soldier, the 2018 RORC IRC Overall winner is for sale
Dry sailed and professionally maintained. Refit in 2019 including professional rigging check, hull coated with Nautix T-Speed, internal woodwork varnished and electrical overhaul. Fitted with carbon mast and IRC optimised A-Sails setup from a fixed bowsprit, enhanced with a furling Jib Top, IRC Code Zero and Genoa Staysail to increase reaching / light airs performance. Comes with symmetric spinnaker pole & spinnakers, ORC optimised Code Zero, training, delivery and cruising sails with furling head foil and full cruising inventory kept ashore in climate controlled store.
Available after the Fastnet Race 2019. Lying Gosport, UK.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
racing [AT] sailarmy [DOT] co [DOT] uk
07747 606391
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1937 Tore Holm 53 Ft Bermudan Cutter. 650,000 EUR. Located in France.
HAVSORNEN is a very fine example of Scandinavian design and boat building from Tore Holm at the peak of his powers with the build supervised by him in his family yard. Well maintained by her present owner, including a major winter refit 2016-2017, she has excelled on the Mediterranean regatta circuit and has also proven herself a very capable cruising yacht. Her seaworthy hull provides good headroom below, and the interior finish is a delight.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Barney Sandeman
info [AT] sandemanyachtcompany [DOT] co [DOT] uk
+44 (0)1202 330077
33 High Street
Poole, Dorset
BH15 1AB
United Kingdom
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2008 GP42 - Silva Neo. 199950 EUR. Located in Hamble, UK.
Extremely competitive GP42 - IRC and ORC contender. Full inventories for both rules and has had extensive refits over the past two years. The owner is a very keen seller and has now asked for all offers to be put forward.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679 222
ben [DOT] cooper [AT] berthon [DOT] co [DOT] uk
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
We are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too. -- Barack Obama
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