In This Issue
• Clipper Race Embarks On Southern Ocean Leg
• Brest Atlantiques
• Ocean Safety's new technology at METSTRADE
• Wizard and Black Sheep star at the RORC Oscars
• Huusela Celebrates First Finnish IMOCA
• Wight Vodka Best Sailor Bar - Send us your recommendations and drink recipes
• Mini Podiums Turned Upside Down At The End Of The Second Stage
• 22nd Hobie 16 World Championships
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• 170 boats for 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Charter
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Beneteau First 40.7- Philosophie IV
• • Vismara Buzzi V60 Open
• • Swan 100-103 Hoppetosse
• 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
The 11th annual Wight Vodka Best Sailor's Bar search is on... Send us your thoughts and drink recipes...
Clipper Race Embarks On Southern Ocean Leg
Damage to Sanya, China and Punta del Este. Photo by Alec Smith / ImageMundi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
The 4,750 nautical mile Southern Ocean stage of Clipper 2019-20 Race started in Cape Town today as the only global sailing race for non-professionals passes its quarter-way mark.
Race 4: The Marlow Southern Ocean Sleigh Ride got underway on Sunday 17 November from the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, bound for Fremantle Sailing Club, Western Australia. The eleven strong fleet of identical 70-ft racing yachts lined up for a 1300UTC kick-off and battled for prime position in the unpredictable winds of Table Bay.
As the fleet jostled for favourable positions on the start line, it was Unicef that came out on top first pipping both WTC Logistics and Zhuhai to the post. It was then a tactical race down towards fixed racing mark Manex RCYC with Qingdao first round the mark. The fleet then streamed along the coast to mark Milnerton RCYC, making a final turn, keeping the starting buoy to port. As the fleet headed out into open water, Qingdao, led by Chris Brooks was leading the pack with Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam and Imagine your Korea chasing.
Visit Sanya, China and Punta del Este were involved in a collision as they headed towards the first mark.
All crew are safe and well and both yachts have returned to the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Vessel damage will be assessed and current estimates for the repair plan are ten to fourteen days.
As the Cape of Good Hope falls astern, the teams still racing will head towards the 40th parallel.
This race is not to be underestimated. Race Director Mark Light said: "You will expect to see big, big conditions, lots of downwind sailing and spinnaker work and perfect surfing conditions. Initially it is looking like the fleet will get a couple of days of upwind as they leave Cape Town and bypass the Agulhas bank.
"This is heavy weather sailing for sure but the boats, equipment and crew are all prepared for it and up to the challenge."
It's going to be an upwind beat for the first few days before south westerlies kick in, spinnakers can be hoisted and for the sleigh ride to begin. Tactically, two depressions are developing which the fleet will have to negotiate. In this race, successful teams will stay on the right side of the depressions, staying in the downwind, in the westerly belts. If the teams try to go too far north they may run out of wind, but then there is also a danger of going too far south where a 45° ice limit, set by the Race Office, is in place.
The fleet expected to arrive into Fremantle Sailing Club between 9 and 14 December 2019.
Brest Atlantiques
Slow progress overnight from Saturday to Sunday in a zone of weaker winds, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild regained speed on Sunday, which allowed him to increase the gap between its pursuers, (in order) MACIF, Sodebo Ultim 3 and Actual Leader. The leader of "Brest Atlantiques" is expected tomorrow night at Gough Island, an island located on the edge of the ice exclusion zone, which will be left to starboard before attempting a series of gybes.
After passing Gough Island the boats will then slip under a high pressure in a westerly wind that will force them to multiply the gybes along the "ZEG", while behind them, Actual Leader should benefit from a gradual rise of this anticyclone to make a more direct route to Cape Town, where the four trimarans are expected in about fifteen hours from the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
Ocean Safety's new technology at METSTRADE
Ocean Safety will introduce their latest ground-breaking safety products at METSTRADE, Amsterdam tomorrow, 19 November.
Advances in technology have enabled Ocean Safety to introduce a revised ISO Liferaft container, which is the container option for the ever-popular Ocean ISO liferaft. The updated version is not just lighter but a re-design means it is also easier to handle. Both of these are vital factors to help the raft be more easily launched overboard in an emergency. Technology has also enabled Ocean Safety to create an additional choice for its Jon Buoy man overboard retrieval range. While the standard hi-viz range Jon Buoy range remains the same, an ultra-high-viz choice is now available using Ocean Safety's new Glo Lite retro-reflective fabric. Glo Lite significantly enhances the fabric's visibility so it's highly reflective to search lights in the dark.
As well as presenting other key products from the full range of safety and survival equipment Ocean Safety will support its worldwide distributor network. The company's team of marine safety experts will be on hand to provide advice to yacht captains and naval architects on bespoke design and inventory layouts for installations on board superyachts, grand prix, leisure, and commercial vessels.
Visit Ocean Safety on Stand 03.310 at METSTRADE or visit our website www.oceansafety.com for further information.
Wizard and Black Sheep star at the RORC Oscars
RORC Yacht of the Year - Wizard, Peter & David Askew's Volvo Open 70 (USA). Photo by Sportography.tv. Click on image to enlarge.
London, UK: The 2019 Royal Ocean Racing Club Annual Dinner and Prize Giving was held in the Grand Connaught Rooms with 250 guests attending the spectacular black tie event. Prize winners, competitors, crews, RORC members and guests celebrated the year's achievements with the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
There was a huge ovation for the overall winner of the 2019 RORC Season's Points Championship, Black Sheep, and for the RORC Yacht of the Year, Wizard.
Winning the Jazz Trophy for first overall in IRC was Trevor Middleton's Sun Fast 3600 Black Sheep. Skippered by Jake Carter, the team collected five more awards: Jacob Carter was awarded the Keith Ludlow Trophy for the Navigator on the yacht that is First in IRC Overall, and the Duncan Munro Kerr Youth Challenge Trophy. Black Sheep also won the Grenade Goblet for first in IRC Three, the Serendip Trophy for Best Series Produced Yacht, and the Alan Paul Trophy for Consistent High Performance.
The 2019 RORC Yacht of the Year, winning the Somerset Memorial Trophy was Peter and David Askew's Volvo Open 70 Wizard, which is the first American yacht to win the accolade for over 20 years. Wizard's overall win in the RORC Caribbean 600 and the Rolex Fastnet Race in the same season is unprecedented. This double victory has never been achieved before by any other yacht.
List of 2019 RORC Season's Points Trophy Winners
Huusela Celebrates First Finnish IMOCA
Ari Huusela became the first Finn and Scandinavian in an IMOCA to finish the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre on Friday as he and Irish co-skipper, Michael Ferguson, forced Ariel IIacross the finish line in the Bay of All Saints. There was no mistaking that it was them, because you could see Salvador through their mainsail.
"It feels great to be the first ever Scandinavian IMOCA sailor to finish the Transat Jacques Vabre, I'm proud of that," Huusela said. "Hopefully someone else from Scandinavia can follow in my footsteps now I've shown that it's possible, even if we're a bit far away. The Baltic Sea is good training for this."
On a tiny budget, Huusela was unable to buy a replacement mainsail and make a pit-stop en route as most other IMOCA teams in the race would, so he and Ferguson ploughed on.
Did he ever think he wouldn't make it? "No, no, my friend Tapio (Lehtinen), who raced in the Golden Globe Race (2018); he did it with three layers of barnacles on the bottom of his boat, 332 days," the 57-year-old Huusela, an A350 pilot for Finnair when not doing this, said. "I thought, even if it takes 50 days, I'm going to do it."
29 IMOCA left Le Havre on October 27, and 27 have made it to Salvador (MACSF and Hugo Boss had to abandon), some lost a keel, some a foil and some their way, but few had to deal with the travails of Ariel II.
The unlikely became the incredible. "It was weird looking at the stars last night through the missing mainsail panels," Ferguson wrote on November 2. Huusela was increasingly poetic and he waxed lyrical with pictures of the moon blazing directly through their threadbare mainsail.
Wight Vodka Best Sailor Bar - Send us your recommendations and drink recipes
Wight Vodka is distilled seven times in small batches, blended and bottled in London under the watchful eyes and direction of a seventh generation master distiller with over 300 years of family experience. Wight Vodka is the only 42% abv, potato-based luxury vodka, hand-crafted in the United Kingdom today.
Wight Cap - For the Socialites
CapDepending on your mood, the Wight Cap can be enjoyed first thing in the morning, during the afternoon, in the early evening or late into the night. What we're getting at here is that it's a versatile cocktail any time day or night, in any season, in any weather, regardless of the marine forecast.
Take your best champagne flute, run it under cold water and place it into a freezer for the moment.
Place fresh ice into a cocktail shaker.
Pour one shot of Wight Vodka into the shaker.
Shake or stir for a minute or two.
Pull the champagne flute from the freezer.
Pour the Wight Vodka into the flute.
Top up with your favourite chilled champagne.
Add a splash of Blue Curacao.
You can enjoy the Wight Cap in any condition… but it's recommended that you do so with a current or future-potential partner.
This year's winner receives a custom made to order 3D map from Latitude Kinsale
Recommend YOUR favourite bar: eurosailnews.com/sailors-bars
Mini Podiums Turned Upside Down At The End Of The Second Stage
This was to be expected: the second stage of the La Boulangere Mini-Transat, between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Le Marin en Martinique (2,700 miles), greatly redistributed the cards in the overall classification of this 22nd edition. In proto, Francois Jambou made a double blow: by winning the second act, he won the final victory over Axel Trehin (winner of the first stage).
After a disappointing 11th place finish in Las Palmas, Germany's Morten Bogacki recovered perfectly and finished third at Marin and the general. In series, the coronation of Ambrogio Beccaria did not undergo any dispute. The Italian is ahead of two skippers who made a very nice second stage: Nicolas d'Estais and Benjamin Ferre (who also came in 11th position at the end of act 1).
The podium in proto:
1. Francois Jambou
2. Axel Trehin
3. Morten Bogacki
The podium in series:
1. Ambrogio Beccaria
2. Nicolas d'Estais
3. Benjamin Ferre
22nd Hobie 16 World Championships
Captiva Island, Florida:The Hobie 16 Open World Championships conclude. The final day of competition was abandoned due to high winds combined with an unsafe sea state. The race committee postponed in the morning and held the fleet on shore while they monitored the conditions with hopes that the wind and seas would moderate but the wind held in the 25-30 knot range all day with an incredibly large sea state. At 2:00 the race committee hoisted N over A signaling an end to the event.
After 16 days of sailing and seven events, just two days were ultimately lost due to weather (one with no wind and one with too much). Captiva Island, FL delivered a full mix of conditions in a beautiful tropical venue.
Final top ten
1. Yamil Saba / Gonzalo Cendra, Ven, 47
2. Nicolaj Bjornholt / Michelle Jensen, DEN, 49
3. Gav Colby / Worst News, AUS, 50
4. Cameron Owen / Susan Ghent, AUS, 54
5. Leonardo Morelli / Victoria Giannetti, ITA, 69
6. Daniel Bjornholt / Clara Nielsen, DEN, 70
7. Rod Waterhouse / BridgetBolewski, AUS, 92
8. Hess, Jason / Katya Castellanos, GUA, 93
9. Vladimir Sola Dias / De La Guardia Perex, Alejandro, CUB, 104
10. Darren Smith / Claire Bisgood, AUS, 117
Seahorse December 2019
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
A man and his boats
When US railroad and automobile tycoon Arthur Curtiss James decided to learn to sail he found just the boat. Roger Vaughan
Shifter
Forget foils, why not trim the hull as well? Gavin Willis and Graham Camm
No turning back
Foils may indeed be everywhere but the story began at the turn of the last century, not the current one. Brian Hancock
A rare beast indeed
The success out of the box of the Italia 11.98 Sugar winning this year's ORC Worlds was impressive. And you can sleep on it too. Matteo Polli
Reflex reaction
Harken has been quick to respond to the growth of cable-less headsails to ensure the gains extend beyond better sail designs
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170 boats for 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart
Entry for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has closed and organisers at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) are thrilled to announce 170 yachts from Australia and overseas will take part in their 75th race, making it the largest fleet since the 50th in 1994, and the fourth-largest in the history of the race.
In 1994, a record 371 yachts started the race, a number that has never been reached before or since, and is not likely to.
Among this year's number are five super maxis; Peter Harburg's Black Jack (Qld), Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant's record holder Comanche (NSW); Christian Beck's InfoTrack (NSW); the Oatley family's reigning line-honours champion, Wild Oats XI (NSW) and Seng Huang Lee's SHK Scallywag from Hong Kong.
International boats are representative of Great Britain, Ireland, France, China, Hungary, Poland, Hong Kong and USA - and, while NSW has predictably yielded the largest Australian numbers with 96, the other states have produced healthy numbers too.
There are also a few 'first timers', most notably the first Aboriginal crew to ever take part in the race with the Beneteau 47.7, Tribal Warrior.
There are 10 past overall winners representative of various sizes and eras, from the 2018 winner, Philip Turner's RP66, Alive; Matt Allen's TP52, Ichi Ban; Bob Steel's TP52 Quest, which also won as Paul Clitheroe's Balance seven years later; Oskana, a Cookson 50 that won as Victoire in 2013; Simon Kurts' 46-year-old classic yacht, Love & War, one of only two three-time winners in the race's history; and two-time winner, Wild Oats XI.
Featured Brokerage
2001 Beneteau First 40.7- Philosophie IV. 89,950 GBP. Located in Hamble, UK.
Superbly maintained and analytically optimised, race winning Beneteau 40.7 now available for s
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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
FYS Europe: +447774 138777
info [AT] farryachtsales [DOT] com
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1996 Vismara Buzzi V60 Open. 150,000 EUR, Located in Sicily, Italy.
Quite possibly the most innovative and ground-breaking yacht ever to be launched. Employing much of the design and technology now regarded as cutting edge, but 20yrs ahead of her time. A totally unique opportunity.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
GRABAU INTERNATIONAL
Lead broker - Alex Grabau
Tel: +44 (0)1590 673715
Email: alex [AT] grabauinternational [DOT] com
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2006 Swan 100-103 'Hoppetosse'. Located in Palma de Mallorca.
Hoppetosse is a superyacht and masterpiece built by Nautor’s Swan and launched in 2006. She combines the performance of a racing yacht with world-class comfort and opulence. The Swan 100 FD's deck lines give the yacht a very impressive sleek and racing oriented look. The cockpit concept features two spacious L-shaped sofas with large cockpit tables on either side of the centre-line companionway. In addition the helmsman seats are extended aft to form another seating area on the aft deck. The coaming continues aft of the L-shaped helmsman seats awarding a sleek and elegant profile.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Lorenzo Bortolotti
Nautor's Swan Brokerage
T. +377 97 97 95 07
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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