In This Issue
• MACIF Heads West
• Final curtain in Le Marin, 78 sailors safely in port!
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Rolex Fastnet Race announcement by the Royal Ocean Racing Club
• 49er, 49erFX and Nacra17 Oceania Championships
• Murrays' Punt Makes A Splash At The Dash
• Mirabaud Sailing Video Award - Classic Yachts in the spotlights
• Being with Benny
• OGR opens a CLASSIC Challenge to Whitbread Maxis and W60's
• Cruising Association Open Weekend
• Solaris Yachts Around the Island Race
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Swan 82-010 Grey Goose
• • Grand Soleil 40
• • X41 - British Soldier
• The Last Word: Definitely not Shakespeare
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MACIF Heads West
After nearly three weeks at sea, the three trimarans still racing on "Brest Atlantiques" continue their progression towards the equator, which they should cross Thursday. But while so far, all of them followed fairly similar routes, the trimaran MACIF has opted since Sunday for a path to the west, which Francois Gabart and Gwenole Gahinet hope will bear fruit by the end of the week.
In a video sent by Jeremie Eloy, the media man on board, the two skippers explained their choice: "Two options have emerged: one taken by our two competitors, which is to leave almost full north downwind in a weak wind, and a second which is to cross a ridge, fetch a front, namely a zone of wind a little stronger. The idea is to cross this front and win in the west to then recover the trade wind with a better angle. "
Aboard Edmond de Rothschild, which has a lead of 245 miles over Actual Leader (Yves Le Blevec / Alex Pella), launched in an outboard west, we follow closely the road followed by the trimaran MACIF, as confirmed by Franck Cammas to media man Yann Riou: "We saw MACIF gyber (to jibe) and go to the south-west. Obviously, he's taking a completely different option from the one everybody seems to have been following for a few days, because there's a 1000-mile front of our growing area, with wind behind him. South West. One of the models actually gives this optimum route, namely to pass through this front and make a round on the other side, it's not going to be a very simple road, there will be work for them. "
Final curtain in Le Marin, 78 sailors safely in port!
The arrival of the final competitor, Georges Kick, on Saturday night through into Sunday, marked the official closure of the finish line for this second leg of the Mini-Transat La Boulangère 2019 between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canaries and Le Marin in Martinique.
Of the 87 participants that set sail from La Rochelle, including 8 women, 78 skippers completed this 22nd edition. On land, the prize-giving ceremony for the 2nd leg took place yesterday evening in Le Marin, in the presence of the organisation, the skippers and their families, as well as the race partners, rounding off the festivities in the finish village in Le Marin.
Upon making landfall in Martinique yesterday, Sunday 24 November at 05 h 43 min 25 seconds UTC, Georges Kick, the last competitor in the Mini-Transat La Boulangère 2019, officially closed the finish line for this second leg. Celebrated with great pomp by all the skippers on the pontoon in Le Marin, the arrival of the oldest competitor (64 years of age) in this edition marks the end of a particularly prolific transatlantic race.
The second leg lived up to expectations with a lot of downwind sailing apart from at the end, but that spiced up the race a bit. Even though it's always a bit annoying to sail 60 miles in 24 hours for three consecutive days, in sporting terms it was fantastic. The star players stepped up to the plate and didn't break much. There were three sailors who didn't set sail due to injury and the other retirements were a result of technical issues. Two boats were abandoned in this second leg. It's always distressing but in both incidents, each of the boats no longer had any form of steerage, which is the worst possible damage you can suffer."
With no less than 37 finishers in the space of 24 hours, the night of Wednesday through into Thursday really made life exciting for the organisation, who had to put in place additional on-the-water support to deal with the great slew of finishers.
22nd edition
87 skippers at the start in La Rochelle including 8 women
83 skippers made the finish in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
82 skippers at the start in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
78 skippers at the finish in Le Marin
37 finishers in 24hrs in Le Marin
Prototype:
1st Francois Jambou (865 - Team BFR Maree Haute): 12d 02h 27min 07s
2nd Axel Trehin (945 - Project Rescue Ocean): 12d 15h 18min 54s
3rd Morten Bogacki (934 - Otg Lilienthal): 14d 05h 26min 24s
Production:
1st Ambrogio Beccaria (943 - Geomag): 13d 01h 58min 48s
2nd Nicolas d'Estais (905 - Cheminant-Ursuit): 13d 21h 05min 44S
3rd Benjamin Ferre (902 - Imago Incubateur D'aventures): 14d 07h 34min 54s
Seahorse December 2019
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Decompression
It started with the racing code zero but already the benefits are spreading rapidly out through the superyacht world (and elsewhere...)
(Almost) a clean sheet of paper
Moving from Archimedean craft to foilers - and particularly to foils - demands a new mindset as much as it does a new approach to composite construction and engineering
Multiple challenges
Redefining the concept of a superyacht - the introduction of Dynamic Stability System (DSS), Cl Ellipse rigging from Carbo-Link and spars from Rondal - and suddenly life's even more full-on
The cutting edge of the cutting edge
For this driven team of Italian engineers the Hugo Boss project now added dramatic compactness to a long list of performance criteria
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Rolex Fastnet Race announcement by the Royal Ocean Racing Club
Some big changes for the next edition!
Press briefing & Q&A session
Tuesday 26 November
RORC Clubhouse at 20 St. James' Place
Broadcasting LIVE on Facebook at 13.30
Visit: www.facebook.com/royaloceanracingclub
49er, 49erFX and Nacra17 Oceania Championships
Glamour conditions greeted the 178 international teams on the opening day of racing at the 2019 49er, 49erFX and Nacra17 Oceania Championships. The three-day warmup regatta before next weeks world championships is hosted by Auckland's Royal Akarana Yacht Club. With the weeks leading up to the event being filled with strong winds and sunshine, the bar was set high and New Zealand certainly delivered.
The 49er class once again staked its claim of being one of the tightest fleets in Olympic sailing. Just ten points separate the top 13 teams after three races with the young American team of Andrew Mollerus and Ian MacDiarmid taking the top honours. France's Erwan / Pequin were the only team to record two wins and see themselves just one point behind the Americans, while the red hot Kiwi squad were lead by young guns Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie, finishing the day in third.
Day one in the 49erFX class was also lead by a team from the United States with Stephine Roble & Maggie Shea relishing in the conditions, claiming two wins and a third to lead by 7 points from Rio 2016 Gold Medallists Martine Grael & Kahena Kunze of Brazil, with reigning European and World Champions Annemiek Bekkering & Annette Duetz just two points further back.
It was the Ben & Nikki show in the Nacra 17 mixed multihull fleet. The reigning European Champions from Great Britain, Ben Saxton & Nicola Boniface rattled off three bullets from as many races in the building conditions to lead the fleet by 5 points. This show of dominance sets the scene for a thrilling selection battle with their fellow team mates John Gimson and Anna Burnet, currently 7th. The two teams have been trading wins throughout 2019 and a decisive win at the 2019 worlds could book the winning team a ticket to Tokyo.
Full results: 49er 49erFX Nacra17
Murrays' Punt Makes A Splash At The Dash
Colin and Oly Murray sailed their Norfolk Punt to victory at the Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash, the first of eight events in this season's Selden SailJuice Winter Series.
The conditions were predominantly light and overcast, with the Force 2 breeze occasionally gusting to Force 3 on Draycote Water. Starting under the black flag with three separate starts for Fast, Medium and Slow, the trapezoid course was always busy, with traffic avoidance and clear air one of the keys to success.
With the tallest rig in the fleet, the father and son duo in the Norfolk Punt made the most of the conditions where they were running at full power much of the time while most teams were still crouching. The Murrays finished 5th on corrected time in race one but then scored a hat trick of bullets in the next three races on Saturday.
Sunday was meant to bring the non-discardable Pursuit Race, although fog and lack of breeze meant that the results from Saturday's four races would determine the final positions in the Draycote Dash. So the Murrays were the winners, followed by some class acts who filled the top 10 places.
Steve and Sarah Cockerill raced their RS400 to second overall, 6 points behind the winners and 4 points ahead of the third-placed team in their World Championship winning GP14, Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe. There were six top-class GP14s present at Draycote, with Sam Watson/ Andy Punter finishing on equal points with Pete Gray and Geoff Edwards in 5th and 6th place respectively.
For fairly light conditions, Tom Morris and Guy Fillmore proved that an RS800 can be competitive even when they're not twin-trapezing, the Hayling Island crew coming fourth overall. Another high-performing boat from the Fast Handicap was the leading Fireball sailed by Martyn Lewis crewed by his son Daniel in 7th overall.
This event also served as the Inland Championships for the Hadron H2 class, with Richard Leftley finishing first in class, and 21st overall. There are a number of classes using the Series events for class regattas, including:
Hadron H2 - Inlands (Dash)
Blaze - Fire Cup (Datchet Flyer)
RS Aero - Winter Championships (Oxford)
OK - Winter Championships (Oxford)
The next event in the Series is fast approaching, with just a fortnight until the Datchet Flyer on on the weekend of 7 & 8 December.
Mirabaud Sailing Video Award - Classic Yachts in the spotlights
The third edition of the Mirabaud Sailing Video Award was a great success, with thirty-four videos produced by professional directors and cameramen spanning ten different countries, which perfectly summarised an intense and beautiful sailing season. Manuel Llario (ESP) wins the main prize, awarded by the International Jury, while Jose Cigarrán (ESP) wins the Public Award. The "Special Prize" goes to Ricardo Pinto (POR).
The Main Prize was awarded by an international Jury composed of Nathalie Quere, Nic Douglas, Elena Otekina, Nicolas Mirabaud, Nico Martinez and Nacho Gomez-Zarzuela. The overall winner is Manuel Llario (ESP) and his video Feel Traditional Sailing. A beautiful tribute to classic yachts, filmed during the Puig Vela Clásica regatta in Barcelona (ESP). Manuel Llario worked with Vicente Jose Robles Ribalta (production), and both represent Tactic Audiovisual.
Yann Riou (FRA, polaRYSE) finishes second, very close from the winner, with his video Maxi Edmond de Rothschild taking off to Brest Atlantiques. Media man aboard the trimaran, he filmed Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier in action. Third of the contest, Ricardo Pinto (POR) filmed Greta Thunberg, Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi during their Atlantic crossing onboard Malizia and produced a video entitled: The Future is now!
www.sailingvideoaward.com/videos.html
Being with Benny
Being with Benny is the story of how Bob Miller, from a shattered childhood in rural Australia and only four years of schooling became one of the world's leading yacht designers. His creation Australia II won the America's Cup in 1983, ending the New York Yacht Club's 132-year hold on the world's oldest sporting trophy.
The lack of formal education worked for this self-taught genius. An intuition for fast sailboat shapes, an open mind and a hunger for new ideas led to his exploration of the winged keel concept, which crossed his path from aerospace research, while he was designing Australia II.
Miller, who changed his name to Ben Lexcen before designing Australia II, had previously designed three-handed lightweight 18-footers that changed the whole course of skiff design. His trapeze-powered Contender single-handed skiff won international class status. He designed successful ocean racers, including Mercedes III, Apollo, Ginkgo, Ballyhoo and Sydney-Hobart race winner Ceil III. He was also a champion sailor and represented Australia in the Olympic Games.
At the time of his sudden death on May 1, 1988, from a heart attack, when he was aged 52, he had captivated the Mediterranean rich and famous with his stylish designs of large yachts, power and sail.
The publisher of the book, Robert Deaves said, "It's an absolute privilege to publish this book for Bob. It is such a momentous and famous story that sailors everywhere know about. Bob's narrative is captivating and fascinating, not just the story of the design of Australia II and how it won the America's Cup, but also all the details about Lexcen's many designs and projects that led up to that. It is a important historical record of the events that changed the America's Cup forever."
boatswainbooks.uk/being-with-benny
OGR opens a CLASSIC Challenge to Whitbread Maxis and W60's
Don McIntyre, Chairman of the Ocean Globe Race announced at the Yacht Racing Forum today the addition of a "CLASSIC Challenge". This new class will open another eight entries to former Whitbread Maxis over 71 feet and W60 racing yachts from 1985 to 1997.
Retro and Classics will share host and stopover ports as well as starting dates. However, the unique, longer course sailed by CLASSIC sailors means additional hardship and less in-port time, making for a more challenging race. Crews will compete for the "Big Red Trophy" named after the late Sir Peter Blake's Steinlager II, the only yacht ever to win all legs, line honours, and on handicap.
With 15 confirmed entries in 5 months, the Retro Class, comprised of Adventure, Sayula and Flyer categories with 8 entries each, is already more than half-full. The addition of the CLASSIC Challenge and the 2 discretionary invitations will increase the number of available entries to 34, making the OGR one of the biggest fully-crewed round the world races of the last 29 years.
The latest entry is the Swan 51 "Eira", skippered by Sebastian Gylling from Finland. Upon entering the race, Gylling who owned multiple X-Yachts and Swan designs said the "race is what Mount Everest is to a mountaineer" and that he wants to compete "Because (he is) a romantic fool".
Unlike the Retro class, CLASSIC entries will be allowed full sponsor branding and no restriction on boat signage. Crews will have access to all usual electronics, including GPS, smartphones, satellite communications (to media only), satellite video feeds, drones, sat weather forecasts and computers, but not to weather routing programs.
The new class is already bringing excitement in the racing community, including Whitbread and V.O.R. legend Grant Dalton: "Those early Whitbread days really were full of passion and completely raw experiences. Every edition put up new challenges with the human element as important, if not more so than the boat. The stories and characters became legend and we had a lot of fun. I have lots of memories of "Fisher & Paykel", many of which are about coming only second! This new Classic Challenge in the Ocean Globe is going to excite a lot of people on and off the water. Imagine if Steinlager and F&P return!"
One notable reason for the appeal of this class is the number of yachts available at a competitive price, leaving a fair amount of budget for the mandatory refit.
Cruising Association Open Weekend
In the absence of the London Boat Show in January, the CA has taken the initiative to open its doors to CA members and non-members as well as to a number of high-profile marine companies to exhibit their products and services at CA House.
The CA's 'Open Weekend', focuses on all things boaty and is being hosted at CA House in London's Limehouse Basin, on Saturday February 29 and Sunday March 1. Everyone is welcome to come along for an informative and fun day out for all boating enthusiasts.
The weekend gives visitors an exclusive opportunity to have one-to-one conversations with representatives from:
ASAP Supplies
Dolphin Sails
Gill
ICOM
Imray
Limehouse Basin Marina
Navionics
Ocean Safety
Raymarine
...and of course the Cruising Association whose staff and speakers will be on hand to chat and answer any questions. There will also be plenty of opportunity to socialise in a heated patio marquee where food and drinks will be available to purchase throughout the day.
Introduce your boating friends to the CA!
Visitors can get exclusive discounts on a range of products and the CA is also giving 10% off the first year's membership if you join on the day and pay by DD, so spread the word and do invite your boating friends along.
We have also put together a packed schedule of specialist speakers on a fascinating range of cruising-related topics on both days and are delighted to confirm Tom Cunliffe as our Saturday evening guest speaker.
Visit www.theca.org.uk/events/ca_open_weekend_290219 to review the full speaker and topics schedule in order to plan your day and then get your booking sorted.
Solaris Yachts Around the Island Race Over 200 boats turned up for the 26nm Solaris Yachts Around the Island Race under a perfect blue sky. Given the sheer number of boats, Race Officer David Norton set two start lines off of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's Kellett Island Clubhouse with the line closest to Kellett Island used for starting the one design boats and the outside line for HKPN, IRC and beach cat divisions.
The first start was at 0830hrs with the Pandoras and HKPN Monohulls setting off in a easterly breeze of around 4 to 7kts and the last division to set off was the only fast fleet boat Jelik at 1030hrs. All starts got away cleanly except for a few scoring OSCs including a 29er, a Dragon, an Impala, a J/80 and an Etchells.
The biggest yacht in the fleet was Frank Pong's 72ftJelik and the smallest was the only single handed entry RS Aero skipper by Giles Surman.
Two 420s led the fleet out of Lei Yu Mun Gap and were the first boats to round Cape D'Aguillar. As the entire fleet made their around Stanley head, it was a colourful sight to behold with hundreds of kites on the horizon.
Casey Law's 29er took the lead towards Ap Lei Chau until he was overtaken by the big boats at Cyberport. For the front fleet, they passed by Green Island and were greeted by some solid wind and strong tide in the harbour. Marcel Liedts' Zannekin took line honours followed by Robert Wiest, Victor Kuk and David Ho's Phoenix and Shawn Kang's Alpha +.
Unfortunately the wind softened in the afternoon and a wind hole developed around Middle Island. The majority of the fleet were sailing slowly downwind at the southern side of Hong Kong Island and in the end one third of the participating yachts could not reach Kellett Island before the cut-off of 1700hrs with Big Boat Blu being the last boat to cross the line to get a finish.
Featured Brokerage
2006 Swan 82 'Grey Goose'. 2,950,000 EUR VAT Paid. Located in Valencia, Spain
This Nautor's Swan 82 FD "Grey Goose" has been built for two defined missions. One is luxurious and short handed family cruising with performance but without any stress on deck. The second mission is competitive racing in all conditions inshore as well as offshore and even transatlantic racing. She is not a pure race boat even more she demonstrates the real Swan DNA by accomplishing both missions in a perfect manner beeing comfortable, sea worthy and very fast. She has proven her outstanding performance in several racing events and in numerous family holidays cruises.
See listing details in Nautors Swan brokerage
Contact
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Nautor's Swan Brokerage
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2006 Grand Soleil 40. 99000 EUR. Located in Tuscany, Italy.
TURAN is a much-loved and very lightly used Grand Soleil 40. She is the perfect value for money fast cruiser with low maintenance costs and she is able to host 5 guests for easy handling cruising. She is still under the first ownership.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Michele Antonini – Grabau International (Italia)
Tel: +39 333 74 89 281
Email: enquiries [AT] grabauinternational [DOT] com
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British Soldier, the 2018 RORC IRC Overall winner is for sale. POA EUR. Located in Gosport UK.
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
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust into them. -- Anon.
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