In This Issue
• 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE Opens on the Bay of Palma
• Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta
• All Aboard for the 21st Jersey Regatta!
• Spinlock IRC Welsh Championship
• Sam Davies: "In The Vendee Globe, You Have To Have A Double Philosophy On How To Race"
• 5.5 Metre Worlds
• A (magnificent) tradition of fine engineering - Reckman
• Cowes Classics Week opener
• Rodos Cup 2019 came to an end on Friday
• Featured Brokerage:
• • GC32
• • AKRON AOTON
• • X-Yachts X-41 - BANDIT
• The Last Word: John Oliver
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
38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE Opens on the Bay of Palma
Smart use of the small but regular shifts of wind direction was the key to successes among the top classes on the first day of Palma Mallorca's 132 boat, 11 classes showcase 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE regatta.
General classification leaders of the Mallorca Sotheby's IRC division, better known as the Maxi72s, the BMW ORC Class 0 which is primarily TP52s or 52 foot derivatives and the 14 strong, white hot ClubSwan 50s all reported that they had used the supply of beneficial windshifts to make their crucial gains during what proved to be a fairly typical Bay of Palma seabreeze opening day.
George Sakellaris' Maxi 72 Proteus started their Copa del Rey MAPFRE on a perfect footing, winning both races in the very competitive three boat division which contains dozens of America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race aces.
Germany's Mallorcan based Markus Wieser, who previously guided Momo to success on these waters and to two Maxi72 world championship wins, sails as strategist on Proteus in support of tactician Mark Mendelblatt.
In the BMW ORC Class 0, Rowdy Too leads. The Botin designed IRC 52 won here last year as Beau Geste and returns skippered by Timothy Goodbody with Jeremy Robinson calling tactics. They opened with a 2,1 today.
In the Purobeach Women's Cup top seed, Spain's double Olympic medallist Natalia Vía Dufresne leads after posting three wins to finish five points up on Vigo's 49er FX Olympic campaigner Patricia Suarez. In BMW ORC Class 2, the favourites and many times class winning Swan 45 Rats on Fire starts with the class lead and in the 27 strong ORC Class 3 Antonio Guasch's Salona 37 Vertigo dos Texia which leads.
Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta
Record breaking entries, tricky breeze, a lot of luck and a popular overall winner at the 2019 Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta
For the 12th edition of the Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta, supported by Rouse Ltd. (26-28 July), and based in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, the breeze - unusually - trended from the north and with a record 214 boats competing, the event's Race Committee chose to start all racing from the Island shore: Black Group (132 boats) close under the clay cliffs just west of Hamstead Ledge and White Group (82 boats) directly in front of the Royal Solent's clubhouse just east of Yarmouth Pier.
As the tide turned to flood for the second race on Saturday, the NW breeze of 8-11 knots spluttered, wheezed and disappeared across the Western Solent before backing to WSW and settling at a disappointing four knots.
Swan 41 Moustique of Haven Ports Yacht Club raced in the six-boat IRC Swan fleet and took first overall with a 2-2-1 tally over the two days.
On Sunday the breeze, again, looked promising at around 11 knots from the NW with stunning sunshine and an ebb tide before the wind dropped at around 11.00 after an hour's racing, switching to the west and building to 12 knots. Both the XOD and Folkboat fleets had 27 entries - the largest classes at the regatta - with Simon Flack of Parkstone Yacht Club showing early dominance in the Folkboats with two wins on Saturday for Stralende. Once again, luck had played a major part with Stralende in fifth place as the wind died in the second race, but Flack's crew held their nerve.
Sunday, however, was a different game for Stralende and although Flack admits his crew partied with great energy at the Champagne Taittinger Reception on Friday night, Saturday evening was more subdued: "I don't know if it was the pressure of leading the fleet after the first day, but we really didn't want to make fools of ourselves on Sunday," he explains. Pre-start on Sunday, Stralende undertook two practice runs on the start line in a ferocious ebb tide. "When the time came, it was a complete and utter disaster!" admits Flack. "Every other Folkboat near us was all over us, then we managed to work our way through the huge bundle of boats at the first windward mark, picked the shifts right and ended up with the front boats again," he recalls of their fourth place finish in the final race. "It was a fantastic regatta, we really enjoyed it," says Flack. "We had a great deal of luck and a great time!"
For the second year running, Harry Brewer and the crew of J109 Space 8 from Parkstone Yacht Club took the Overall Winner Prize for the 2019 Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta with three bullets - matching the team's score from last year's regatta.
Full results for the 2019 Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta
www.royalsolent.org/2019-taittinger-rsyc-regatta/
All Aboard for the 21st Jersey Regatta!
With the summer in full swing and the Island’s sailing programme progressing at a rate of knots, the scene is set for the 21st edition of the Jersey Regatta, the Island’s ‘flagship’ sailing event. Slated for 6th to 8th September, the Island’s combined clubs’ ‘jamboree’ will be held, as ever, in the beautiful arena of St Aubin’s Bay and adjacent coastal waters.
Key to the ongoing success of this most popular of events is the warm regatta community atmosphere in which competitors of all ages and experience compete in sportsboat, cruiser/racer, Quarter Ton, dayboat, dinghy, sport catamaran and windsurfer classes. The organisers’ guiding principle is to ensure a great welcome and three days of camaraderie, fun and keen racing for all. Visiting boats, especially, provide that added ingredient that puts the local sailors on their mettle whilst, often, winning many of the prizes and coveted silverware.
The Regatta gets underway on Thursday 5th September with the traditional welcoming reception in St Helier YC. The racing programme opens on Friday morning with a long race for the sportsboat and cruiser/racer classes, the ‘small boat’ classes racing later that afternoon. Friday’s races are ‘standalone’ whilst races held on Saturday and Sunday count towards the Jersey Regatta class championships, in each class, and the IRC Channel Islands Championships that are the major feature of the cruiser/racer programme. All IRC-rated boats will be competing for the Championship titles and, additionally, the great prizes provided by Spinlock, the IRC Sponsors. This year sees a change in the Sportsboat and Class 1 programme with two longer races replacing the traditional three ‘round the cans’ races on both days.
However, this sailing extravaganza is not only about competing, winning and having a good time on the water, it is complimented by a lively social programme ashore that is intended to provide everyone with plenty of opportunity to unwind and enjoy the camaraderie and ever-warm welcome that awaits them in the Clubs.
For local and visiting boats alike, Jersey Marinas, supporters from the first edition in 1999, will be providing complimentary berthing and will be available to provide such other assistance as may be needed to help things run smoothly.
Condor Ferries, also long-time supporters, are providing discounted fares for those Regatta entrants wishing to transport their boats to the Island; this kind offer covers accompanied boats on trailers
For further information, please contact the Regatta office, info [AT] jerseyregatta [DOT] com, or call 00 44 (0)1534 732229.
Spinlock IRC Welsh Championship
With just over two weeks now until we welcome competitors from all over the Irish Sea catchment area to the fantastic sailing waters of Cardigan Bay. Racing takes place 9th to 11th August.
Competing boats have already arrived including Tripple Elf from Scotland and last years Class 2 Overall Winner Checkmate (Ian MacMillan). The Checkmate team have just become the Impala National Champions.
The 'Notice of Race' is published and available here.
IRC 1, 2 and sports-boats (IRC3) will race from a committee boat start in Tremadog Bay (Race Officer Mike Butterfield)
Note: there is also the 29er National Championships who will also be racing in the bay. The race officers will manage the separation between racing areas. The 29ers will beach launch from Plas Heli.
The cruiser class (IRC4) will start and finish from the PSC club line adjacent to Gimlet Rock (Race Officer Robin Evans)
Sam Davies: "In The Vendee Globe, You Have To Have A Double Philosophy On How To Race"
In the last eighteen months Sam Davies has established herself as a podium contender for the next Vendee Globe. On the water she has proven competitive across the wind range on her Initiatives Coeur which has been substantially turbo'd up with a massive set of new foils. Her programme, a highly optimised 10 year old boat which was second in 2012 as Banque Populaire and third in 2016 as Maitre CoQ, brings massive advantages in terms of building reliability and a perfect knowledge of the boat, building tens of thousands of sea miles. This week Davies and her Transat Jacques Vabre co-skipper Paul Meilhat have been training with Charal, still the only new generation IMOCA on the water, next week they will take part to the Fastnet Race alongside 20 IMOCAs. As a raft of new launches start to hit the water, Davies says her envy for the new boats is limited and she is happy with her course towards the 2020 Vendee Globe. Tip & Shaft caught up with Sam before she went training this week.
So what is the schedule this week, what can you learn two boat testing with the much newer Charal?
We've done a couple of sessions with Jeremie. Charal is the only other top level boat that's sailing right now, it's better to train with another boat rather than just yourself and we're neighbours on the dock so it's quite easy to organise. Until now it has been mainly light wind that is not what we are looking for now this next session should be interesting as it should be 25 knots for a few hours, so we should get some good learning.
Overall do you feel you are where you want to be in terms of you short, medium and long term goals for the Vendee Globe, and you chosen schedule to fit new gen foils when you did?
I'm feeling good as I've been sailing this boat for two years, that has given me a really good base before the Vendee Globe. I delaminated the hull in the Route du Rhum which was good in a way because we realised there were some structural changes that needed to be made to the boat. It's frustrating to abandon a race but I'm glad that we discovered that early. It was good to be able to change the foils as soon as possible. It is hard to find the right moment because things are changing so quickly. To do it too early then you don't get the advantage of seeing what does not work for other people. But then if you do it too late then we have made a big, big change to the way the boat sails and how we are going to sail the boat, and sail design, there is a while heap of stuff there, and it is useful to have done this early to react and be able to learn it all before the Vendee Globe. Right now we are learning a lot for the Transat Jacques Vabre which is cool. And we have been sailing together since the Sardinha Cup. I'm sad for Paul because I'd rather have him as a competitor than a co-skipper. He's putting his Volvo campaign together and doesn't have any other sailing apart from sailing with me and he's been 100% with the project ever since we launched the boat and that's an advantage for the TJV for us as a duo. Even though we have done a lot of sailing it still doesn't feel like we've done enough sailing to have covered the whole range of wind angles and boat speeds for our new foils to totally understand them yet.
5.5 Metre Worlds
Defending World Champions, New Moon (BAH 21 Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov), laid down a marker in the opening race of the 2019 5.5 Metre World Championship in Helsinki, Finland after an emphatic victory in some quite testing conditions. Otto (SUI 209 Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Lasse Berthelsen, Luka Strahovnik) crossed in second with 2017 World Champions, John B (BAH 22 Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen) in third.
Only one race was possible on the first day in Helsinki, despite plans to sail two. The scheduled 12.00 start was delayed over two hours while the fleet waited afloat for a light sea breeze to build. Eventually something approaching a sailable breeze filled in over the race course and after a further short postponement for a wind shift, Race 1 got away.
It wasn't exactly a stable breeze with the pressure varying between 3 and 8 knots and with lots of shifts and puffs across the course, but it was a breeze nonetheless, which some made better use of than others.
There were hopes a second race could be sailed but the wind was getting even more unstable and patchy, so the fleet was sent back to the club.
The fleet boasts one of the largest fleets of Classic 5.5 Metres to be found in recent years with no less than 10 on the start line. The oldest, Trial, dates from 1951.
Racing in Helsinki continues Tuesday with two races places. A nine race series is scheduled, concluding on Friday.
Results after Race 1
1. New Moon (BAH 21 Mark Holowesko, Christoph Burger, Peter Vlasov)
2. Otto (SUI 209 Bent Christian Wilhelmsen, Lasse Berthelsen, Luka Strahovnik
3. John B (BAH 22 Gavin McKinney, Mathias Dahlman, Lars Horn Johannessen
4. Girls On Film (GBR 40 Peter Morton, Ben Cornish, Sam Haines)
5. Caracole (SUI 214 Bernard Haissly, Nicolas Berthoud, Daniel Stampfli)
A (magnificent) tradition of fine engineering - Reckman
Reckmann furling systems did not achieve their iconic status overnight... they are not resting on their laurels
Reckmann is well known for its sailfurling technology and engineering - the bomb-proof headsail furlers that made its reputation and similarly highspec mainsail reefing systems, seen on many of the world's finest yachts.
What's less well known is that Reckmann has equally impressive record in rigging hydraulics, with a versatile range of solutions that can boost almost any boat's performance while offering the extreme reliability that Reckmann has always assured. All components are CNC-milled from high-grade materials and all systems can be custom-made in larger than standard sizes, or in exotic materials. An example of this is the Wally 148 Saudade's carbon/titanium tack ram.
Full article in the August issue of Seahorse
Cowes Classics Week opener
XOD startline action. Tim Jeffreys. Click on image to enlarge.
Cowes, UK. 29th July 2019 - Sailing conditions could not have been better for the opener of the five day series of the 12th Cowes Classics Week today.
Fittingly, from amongst the 143 yachts taking part, Lawrence Wride's 1967-built one tonner Sunmaid V was the first yacht to get away at the opening gun of the day, when she led Class One, setting the pace once again after her overall win in last year's event. Sunmaid V, back to defend the historic 1792 Cup, went on to win in class when she beat Stephen Brookson's S&S Swan Kiswala into second place over a mid-Solent course.
A southerly breeze gave the race committee the challenge of setting a fair course for Class 1, along with Classes 2 and 3, the Gaffers and Folkboats, since they were all coming off the organising Royal London Yacht Club's shoreline with no chance of a first beat from the north facing shore. But Derek Hodd's race team managed to pull it off, giving short legs and plenty of mark roundings to each of the fleets, much to the appreciation of the competitors.
The XOD fleet, always the largest at Cowes Classics Week, numbered 36, providing for a thrilling spectacle on the startline. True to form, the first start ended up in a general recall, as is so often the way in this competitive class, before Race Officer Bob Milner added a U-flag disqualification threat ensuring that they got away cleanly at the second attempt. A very even line ensured a good spread of the fleet at the start, with David Palmer's Princess Jalina taking the lead at the first mark rounding and managing to extend it right until the final leg where Roger Yeoman's Xcitation, hot on her heals split at the second leeward gate, chose to go left then committing to the right hand side of the course. Aided by a wind shift he took the win leapfrogging to the front.
Tight racing was also the name of the game in the Daring Class where Sir Richard Ottaway, sailing Division Belle reported "It was quite a challenge with the tide turning during the race. We were fourth out of the first windward mark and then climbed to second place. There were a lot of places changing just behind us." Today's Daring winner was Richard Acland sailing Dauntless. He kept out a huge lead throughout the race. "He's going to be hard to beat this week," commented Richard.
In the other race areas tight racing was also the name of the game for the Bembridge One Designs, with Russ Fowler claiming victory in BOD1, and the Solent Sunbeams, with Roger Wickens' Danny taking 1st place.
Racing finishes on 2nd August 2019. More information at www.cowesclassicsweek.org
Rodos Cup 2019 came to an end on Friday
On Friday, the 26th of July, Rodos Cup 2019 came to an end.
The international sailing race, organized by Offshore Yachting Club of Rhodes and the Region of South Aegean, was crowned with racing and organizing success, reaffirming its importance as one of the top sailing races of the South east Mediterranean.
The 537 sailors from 13 countries that participated completed the last leg Friday morning, carrying new experiences and beautiful images.
The boats started from the picturesque island of Symi, and finished at Rodos, early noon, in the area of the Aquarium.
The spectacle enjoyed by the visitors and bystanders that were lucky enough to be at the northern tip of the island at the time of the conclusion of the race, was unique.
The boats finished consecutively, having their colorful sails open, reaffirming their new rendezvous for the next Rodos Cup, in July 2020. -- Icarus Sports
Featured Brokerage
GC32. Price : POA.
Conceived by Amsterdam-based French businessman Laurent Lenne and designed by Dr Martin Fischer, the GC32 is a 10m long (12m including bowsprit) by 6m wide foiling catamaran, that is one of the world’s fastest racing yachts. It is aimed at both pro-sailing teams and private owners looking to experience the latest in ultra-high performance racing and a level of sailing boat technology – albeit simplified – typically only available to America’s Cup teams.
Inspired by the AC72s catamarans used in the 34th America’s Cup that fly above, rather than through, the water, the GC32 was fitted with its Mk2 foils in the spring of 2014. This transformed the GC32 into a fully flying foiling catamaran.
For more information on the GC32s please go to .....gc32.org
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Laurent Lenne – CEO The Great Cup BV
www.thegreatcup.com
Email: laurent [AT] thegreatcup [DOT] com
Phone: +31 613347842
-----------------------------------------
1998 ORMA 60 Trimaran 'AKRON AOTON'. 275000 EUR. Located in Greece.
Originally launched as GROUPAMA 1 and renamed HIQ later on Winner Orma Cup 2000, 2001, 2003 & 2004 as GROUPAMA 1
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
BERNARD GALLAY Yacht Brokerage
info [AT] bernard-gallay [DOT] com
www.bernard-gallay.com
Tel +33 (0) 467 66 39 93
-----------------------------------------
2007 X-Yachts X-41 - BANDIT. 125000 GBP. Located in Lymington, UK.
The best X-41 on the market. A large refit in 2017 with standing and running rigging, upholstery, instruments and interior re-varnish, she looks like a new yacht. Four out of the top 10 at the ORC worlds in 2018 were X-41s; priced in sterling she offers a very good opportunity.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Telephone: +44(0) 1590 679222
ben [DOT] cooper [AT] berthon [DOT] com
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Every empire has to get sucked down the drain. As a British person, I know how it feels. -- John Oliver
Editorial and letter submissions to editor [AT] eurosailnews [DOT] com
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: gb [AT] beesonstone [DOT] com or see www.eurosailnews.com/advertise.html