In This Issue
• Darkwood Triumph in RORC Channel Race
• Ku-ring-gai and Tara take 5.5 Metre Cups
• Among the Penguins - Island Ribs
• Remembering the Fastnet Tragedy 40 Years on
• Tasar World Championship
• Sydney to Auckland Yacht Race 2021
• 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE
• Iker Martinez returns to the GC32 for Copa del Rey MAPFRE
• About that Olympic Class Fee... World Sailing's statement
• Team New Zealand 'in the dark' over America's Cup designs
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Sweden Yachts 42
• • Alfred Mylne 54 Ft Cutter - Irina VII
• • Swan 70-005 Flying Dragon
• The Last Word: Andy Zaltzman
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
Darkwood Triumph in RORC Channel Race
J/121 Darkwood: L-R Alistair Shaw, Stephen Lawrence, Rosie O'Donnell, Michael O'Donnell, James Holmes, Will Pidden. Photo by Rick Tomlinson, rick-tomlinson.com. Click on image to enlarge.
77 boats competed in the 2019 Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel Race. The international fleet experienced a variety of conditions and wind angles, testing boat handling and tactical skills. Perhaps the surprise overall winner, from a fleet including professional racing teams, was J/121 Darkwood owned by Irishman Michael O'Donnell. David Collins' British Botin IRC 52 Tala was runner up, and Dominique Tian's French Ker 46 Tonnerre de Glen was third.
Michael O'Donnell last competed in the Channel Race in the 1983 Admiral's Cup, as a 15-year old nipper. His J/121 Darkwood was only launched this year, and four of the crew including Michael, race in the classic Solent-based XOD Class. Darkwood is very much a team of friends and family and will be competing in next month's Rolex Fastnet Race.
In IRC Zero, it was joy and pain for David Collins' British Botin IRC 52 Tala, which missed out on the overall win by under three minutes after time correction. However, Tala beat an all-star class in IRC Zero including Peter Harrison's British Maxi72 Sorcha, Eric de Turckheim's French NM54 Teasing Machine, and Frank Niggeler's Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka 3.
The win in IRC Two went to Yves Grosjean's French J/133 Jivaro. Tom Kneen British JPK 11.80 Sunrise was second, just over 14 minutes behind after IRC time correction. With a crew from Northern Ireland, England and Hong Kong, Anthony Day's XC-50 Explorer was third.
In IRC Three, Erik van Vuuren's Dutch W36 Hubo scored a narrow victory over Rob Craigie's Sunfast 3600 Bellino. Both teams were racing Two-Handed, Craigie with his regular partner Deb Fish, and van Vuuren with the young apprentice Jochem Schoorl. British pair, Henry Bomby and Hannah Diamond, racing Sun Fast 3300 Fastrack XII, was third.
The next race of the RORC Season's Points Championship will be the Royal Ocean Racing Club's biennial flagship event, the Rolex Fastnet Race. The race village on Cowes Parade will be open from 1100 BST on Thursday 1st August. The 48th edition of the epic offshore race, the Rolex Fastnet Race, will start on Saturday 3rd August from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line in Cowes. -- Louay Habib
Ku-ring-gai and Tara take 5.5 Metre Cups
Tara (FIN 53, Roope Juhonen, Janne Heikkila, Pekka Honkavaara). Photo by Robert Deaves. Click on image to enlarge.
Ku-ring-gai (AUS 62, John Bacon, Terry Wetton, James Mayjor) has won the Hanko Evolution Cup and Tara (FIN 53, Roope Juhonen, Janne Heikkila, Pekka Honkavaara) has won the Royal Kaag Classic Cup after all racing was abandoned on Saturday with no wind in Helsinki, Finland.
After three days of fabulous racing conditions, Saturday's forecast was always the least optimistic, and an early decision was taken to abandon for the day with no wind on, or expected on, the course area all day, with temperatures again hitting the high 20s. This allowed the teams to begin preparations early for next week's world championship, which is also being hosted by the Nylandska Jaktklubben (NYK)
In the small Evolution fleet Ku-ring-gai took three races wins to take a clear victory from Zorina (FIN 38, Esko Rechardt, Michael Volontis, Janne Makinen). In the four boat Classic fleet, Tara also won three of the four races to win from Trial (FIN 4, Ville Harkke, Sami Ekblad, Pete Lindstrom).
With the Scandinavian Gold Cup and Class Cups now concluded, the fleet is preparing for the World Championship, which begins on Monday.
The fleet contains four former world champions, including defending champions New Moon (BAH 21, Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov). The winners of last week's Scandinavian Gold Cup, Artemis XIV (NOR 57, Kristian Nergaard, Johan Barne, Trond Solli-Sæther) looked very strong but it is unusual to win both big events in the same year.
Other contenders could also include 2017 World Champions John B (BAH 22, Gavin Mckinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen), Marie-Françoise XIX (SUI 228, Jürg Menzi, Rasmus Knude, Bo Selko), Caracole (SUI 214, Bernard Haissly, Nicolas Berthoud, Daniel Stampfli), who dominated the Swiss championships earlier this year, and newcomers Girls on Film (GBR 40, Peter Morton, Ben Cornish, Sam Haines), being the only boat to take a race off Artemis XIV last week.
Racing for the 2019 5.5 Metre World Championship begins on Monday 29 July with a 9 race series scheduled, ending on Friday 2 August. -- Robert Deaves
Hanko Evolution Cup
1. Ku-ring-gai (AUS 62, John Bacon, Terry Wetton, James Mayjor) 6
2. Zorina (FIN 38, Esko Rechardt, Michael Volontis, Janne Makinen) 8
3. Skylla IV (SUI 182, Andre Bernheim, Urs Werner, Alex Bernheim) 13
Royal Kaag Classic Cup
1. Tara (FIN 53, Roope Juhonen, Janne Heikkila , Pekka Honkavaara) 5
2. Trial (FIN 4, Ville Harkke, Sami Ekblad, Pete Lindstrom) 8
3. Vis a vis (FIN 09, Ari Bungers, Tiera Hirvonen, Niko Rissanen) 14
Among the Penguins - Island Ribs
As well as their success in home waters the latest MCA-coded craft from Island RIBs are also doing rather well in Antarctica
Island RIBs know how to build RIBs extremely well. Managing director Alex Cottle is an engineer with a meticulous eye for detail, uncompromising focus on quality and well thought-out designs that culminate in a range of boats that are different from most run-of-the-mill production units.
Many Island RIBs have gone into the yacht tender and chase boat market. Recently two were sold to the British Antarctic Survey and will be used at the Rothera research station for scientific survey work, diving and crew and equipment transport. Island RIBs' 7m series craft are type tested to MCA cat. 3 (R), allowing commercial operators to work up to 20 miles from a safe haven. This is the maximum category possible for an open boat.
Full article in the August issue of Seahorse
Remembering the Fastnet Tragedy 40 Years on
This weekend forty years ago, I was the chirpy co-skipper of the smallest boat in the Cruise-in-Company fleet as we closed in on Glengarriff in far West Cork for the Golden Jubilee party of the Irish Cruising Club in the magic place where it had been founded in July 1929 writes WM Nixon.
There were boats from several organisations including the Cruising Club of America which were on a busy schedule, as several of them - and some of the Irish Cruising Club fleet too - planned to head on soon in order to do Cowes Week and the 1979 Fastnet Race, for in those days many cruiser-racers really were cruiser-racers.
Our "smallest boat in the fleet" was the cat ketch Endeavour, prototype of the lift-keel 21ft Poacher developed by Willie and Angus Richardson of Liverpool and Holyhead. During a test sail in June from Holyhead which took us round to Treardur Bay and all the delights thereof, the idea arose that Endeavour would be just the job for participation in the ICC's celebratory cruise-in-company. My own boat at the time was a Squib, which wouldn't quite do for a week-long cruise from Crosshaven to Glengarriff, whereas Willie was mad keen to show his new mini wonder-cruiser to as many people as possible.
The charter fee may well have been a shilling or whatever currency we used at the time, but though modest it made our participation official, while the time economy of being able to road-trail the boat to Crosser and then trail her back again from Glengarriff suited a hyper-busy season.
For those were the glory days of the Admirals Cup, the Irish were very much to the fore, and Nixon Verbiage Industries plc were on treble overtime to keep up with everything and feed several hungry printed news outlets.
WM Nixon's full editorial in Afloat
Tasar World Championship
Click on image for photo gallery.
The 2019 Tasar World Championship practice race started at 1415 BST in Hayling Bay with stunning sunny conditions and 12-15 knot winds.
"We believe the Tasar holds a unique place in the sailing world, we all know it's a very special boat enabling mixed teams and parent child combos to enjoy friendly high-performance sailing" says Tasar UK Chairman and WTC President Rod Porteous.
A few eager beavers over the start line meant a general recall for the fleet but once they had restarted, first round the mark was Aussie boat AUS 2813 Rick Longbottom and Darryl Bentley. Australian teams dominated the practice race with James & Tara Burman (AUS 2942) in first place, Craig McPhee & Gillian Berry (AUS 2857) in second and Rick Longbottom & Darryl Bentley (AUS 2813) in third. Race Officer Mark Wood said on the way back to the shore "Shame it was a practice race, Hayling Bay delivers once again".
Hayling Island Sailing Club Commodore Nick Peters is hosting the Commodore's Welcome Reception this evening "we have a long history of hosting successful international events, our highly experienced Race Officers and team will ensure some great racing and a very sociable time ashore!"
The forecast is looking good for tomorrow's three races, with 9-12 knots from the SE and sunshine the competitors are set for great start to the Championship.
Sydney to Auckland Yacht Race 2021
The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have announced that the Notice of Race for the 1250nm Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race 2021 is now available.
Visit SydneytoAuckland.com to view and download. Entries will open on 1 August, 2019.
The race will start on Sydney Harbour on 30 January 2021 and finish in Auckland Harbour in time to help the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron celebrate their 150th Anniversary and enjoy the 36th Americas Cup. This challenging Category 1 race is open to offshore cruising and racing yachts, superyachts, ocean racing multihulls, as well as incorporating a rally for cruisers.
Berthing arrangements:
RPAYC: Berths for competing boats may be available at RPAYC for a discounted rate in the build up to the race. For more details of berthing at the RPAYC and alternative berthing in Pittwater and Sydney; please contact the RPAYC Waterfront department.
RNZYS: Berthing will be provided on arrival in Auckland for 48hrs. The Race Committee will direct boats to their temporary berth. B Berthing space is limited so boats planning to stay on in Auckland beyond 48hrs should make their own arrangements.
It is a Condition of Entry that boats must moor in accordance with the directions of the Marina Manager and the Race Committee.
The program in Auckland 2021 will be diverse; yachts from around the world. For full details and information about the RNZYS 150th Anniversary program visit: www.rnzys.org.nz
38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE
As racing starts Monday at the 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE, the Bay of Palma saw teams from most of the key classes making their final training and tuning missions in today's perfect sea breeze and warm sunshine.
One of the new innovations at this regatta is a significant change to the scoring system. A Previous and Finals system is being trialled for 10 out of the 11 classes. After six races have been sailed (eight in the case of the Herbalife J80 and Purobeach Women's Cup) the preliminary series is scored with the boat in first position allocated one point, second two, third three and so on. That score is carried forwards to the Finals series which comprises the remaining races. The idea is that, like in the Olympic classes racing, interest remains into the final day of racing and there is less chance of a team winning with a day to spare.
"This is a six day regatta and so you know you are not going to win it during the first three or four days. You have to hang tough." Says Terry Hutchinson, tactician on Hap Fauth's Maxi72 Bella Mente which races in the Mallorca Sotheby's IRC Class up against the two other Maxi72s, George Sakellaris' Proteus and Dario Ferarri's Cannonball which are laden with top grand prix racing stars from the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the 52 Super Series.
The 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE has attracted 132 entries across the 11 classes. One of the closest, hardest to win will be the ClubSwan 50 which has drawn 14 entries from seven different countries.
The 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE sees the first all women's class racing for the Purobeach Women's Cup in a fleet of matched Viper 640 sportsboats. Favourite to win should be Spain's double Olympic medallist Natalia Via-Dufresne.
The regatta will be sailed over four different racing arenas. The GC32 Cup starts racing on Wednesday. This is the final event of the Nations Trophy Mediterranean League for the Swan Classes.
Iker Martinez returns to the GC32 for Copa del Rey MAPFRE
One of Spain's most accomplished sailors, Iker Martinez is set to return to the GC32 flying one design catamaran for 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE in Palma de Mallorca next week. The Mediterranean's leading multi-class regatta, organised by the Real Club Náutico de Palma, is the third event of the 2019 GC32 Racing Tour following Villasimius, Sardinia and the GC32 World Championship in Lagos, Portugal.
GC32 racing at 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE will start on 31 July and will culminate on 3 August with a prizegiving where King Felipe VI of Spain will preside.
For 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE, Martinez, the two time 49er Olympic medallist, and former Volvo Ocean Race and Barcelona World Race skipper, will be campaigning his GC32 under the name M&G Tressis Silicius.
"We have been out of the game with the GC32," admits Martinez, who last raced his GC32 at Copa del Rey MAPFRE two years ago. "We started in a pretty good way, but we had to stop because I didn't have enough time. Now we have restructured and are trying to rebuild the team. This is just the beginning..."
He is aware that he will be rusty: "We know it will be very hard and we are unlikely to beat anyone. The GC32 teams coming here are super good, super professional, with a lot of experience, but we will try and do our best. We don't often set this kind of goal - normally we go into races to win."
Copa del Rey MAPFRE is the only event on the GC32 Racing Tour which is not stand-alone. In Palma, the catamarans will be berthed by many of the world's top racing yachts, from Maxi 72s down to the IRC, ORC and smaller one design fleets, whose crews, for a fourth consecutive year, will have the opportunity to see 30 knot foiling catamaran racing first hand.
About that Olympic Class Fee... World Sailing's statement
World Sailing implements new independent quality control processes to secure and improve the quality and consistency of Olympic equipment
As part of the process of finalising the equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Sailing is introducing new quality control processes for all Olympic Classes to ensure the technical integrity of the sport can be assured.
Based upon feedback from Sailors, Coaches and Member National Authorities (MNAs) it has become clear that one-design equipment is not always being delivered to an absolutely consistent standard, when one-design is meant to ensure that the equipment is identical.
Sailors are having to purchase and test multiple components to ensure that they are sailing, what they believe to be the best performing boat. This leads to increased Olympic campaign costs for Olympic Sailors. MNAs first raised this at the 2016 Annual Conference and at subsequent meetings, as a result World Sailing are committed to addressing this issue to reduce costs and to protect the integrity of the sport for all stakeholders.
The new Olympic equipment fee will fund an independent quality control process that will promote technological improvements and ensure the technical integrity of the Class.
The new independent quality control processes will be funded through a fee of up to 1% levied on the manufacturers. The manufacturers fee for each Class will only fund quality control processes for that particular Class. At the end of each year, the actual costs will be transparently reported back to the manufacturer and any surplus fee for that Class will be refunded to the manufacturers. The fee will then be reviewed on a Class by Class basis for subsequent years (again, up to a maximum level of 1%) to ensure that the right fee level is set going forward. The quality control checks for each Olympic Class are different and it is expected that ultimately the fee will vary by Class once the first year of inspections is complete.
The new independent quality control process will include all main equipment items on the boat which need to be controlled and not just hulls. The manufacturers fee is entirely different to the World Sailing plaque fees, which relate to all World Sailing Classes and are approximately 0.2% of the retail price of the boat. The World Sailing plaque fees provides a plaque that is applied to the hull and does not serve to control quality. It is for this reason that this Olympic specific policy is within the Olympic Classes contract.
All Olympic Classes have already signed a version of the Olympic Classes contract that includes the provision of the manufacturers fee and contracts are being updated to include the Olympic equipment FRAND principles that have now become World Sailing policy.
The independent quality control is to ensure that sailors and MNA`s are getting what they are paying for. World Sailing is confident that these steps will further protect the integrity of the sport.
Team New Zealand 'in the dark' over America's Cup designs, says Glenn Ashby
Team New Zealand will face an information overload when they put their new boat on the water in the next few weeks.
TNZ's first AC75 boat will hit the Waitemata Harbour in August or September, a big moment in the campaign to defend the America's Cup in March 2021.
Glenn Ashby, TNZ's 2017 skipper, told Radio Sport's Jim Kayes that time was already ticking on the radical new foiling monohull design.
The initial boat will face its first big test at the America's Cup World Series in Italy next April, but many things will be locked in place by then.
"Internally we've been wondering what the other teams will be coming up with," Ashby said.
"The rule is really great with lots of areas of freedom to explore design and engineering... but also some fantastic one design componentry to keep a lid on costs, for areas which don't ultimately make a huge difference to winning or losing.
"The hull design, the foil horizontal design, sail design - there is a huge amount where we're unsure what our opponents will come up with. Over the next couple of months we'll find out.
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1935 Alfred Mylne 54 Ft Cutter - Irina. 625000 EUR. Located in France.
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2002 Swan 70-005 Flying Dragon. 1,400,000 VAT Paid EUR. Located in Genoa, Italy.
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The Last Word
Politicians are like God. No one believes in them, they haven't done anything for ages, and they give jobs to their immediate family. -- Andy Zaltzman
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