Brought to you by boats.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe 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@scuttlebutteurope.com
Zbogar Extends His Lead at Finn Europeans
Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) has taken a six point lead going into the final qualification day of the 2013 Finn European Championship in Warnemunde, Germany, after winning the only race sailed on day four. Ed Wright (GBR) moves up to second while Josh Junior (NZL) is up to third.
The patience of the sailors was tested yet again on day four of the championship as the fleet was held on shore all morning following an overnight change in the weather that brought rain and cloud to the area. Finally just as everyone was giving up hope the cloud cleared the sun came out and a light sea breeze began to establish itself. The AP flag was removed at 14.30 and the 100 boat fleet set out for a first start at 15.50 in around 6-8 knots of wind.
Race seven turned into a game of snakes and ladders with some large shifts and tricky conditions.
The race team tried valiantly to start race eight, but after around half a dozen attempts with the sea breeze starting to clock round they hoisted AP over A and sent the fleet back to harbour. It was 18.00 and the sailors were tired and hungry.
In the Junior Championship, the points gap has closed with Peter McCoy (GBR) still leading, but by only 30 points from Jake Liley (AUS), who had a better result today.
Racing continues Friday at 12.00 with three races scheduled before the final race and medal race for the top 10 on Saturday.
Top 10 after seven races:
1. Vasilij Zbogar, SLO, 23 points
2. Ed Wright, GBR, 29
3. Josh Junior, NZL, 40
4. Jonathan Lobert, FRA, 42
5. Andrew Murdoch, NZL, 43
6. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, CRO, 46
7. Pieter-Jan Postma, NED, 47
8. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 59
9. Max Salminen, SWE, 60
10. Thomas Le Breton, FRA, 66
Juniors
1. Peter McCoy, GBR, 158 (24th overall)
2. Jake Lilley, AUS, 188 (32nd overall)
3. Lennart Luttkus, GER, 251 (44th overall)
Event website: www.finneuropeans.org/ec2013
Class website: www.finnclass.org
Charisma Holds Its Own, While Barking Mad Makes Its Play
Photo by Sara Proctor, sailfastphotography.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Edgartown, Massachusetts, USA: Gloomy skies and strong northeast winds weren't exactly what the Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce had in mind as a treat for island guests today, but at least 11 teams of sailors appreciated it, since it meant three excellent races could be added to their score lines at the Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship. Hosted by the Farr 40 Class and the Edgartown Yacht Club, the event kicked off yesterday in more brochure-like conditions but today tested heavy-air boat handling skills and shuffled standings behind leader Nico Poons (Monaco) and his Charisma team, which-as it did yesterday-sailed smartly, winning the first race and placing second in the following two.
Poons called his start at the committee boat end in race one "splendid" and said it allowed his team to lead by the top mark and for the rest of the way around the twice-around windward leeward course. His start was not as memorable in the second race, and Jim Richardson's (Boston, Mass.) Barking Mad got the advantage at the pin end and went on to win that race. In the third race it was Helmut Jahn's (Chicago, Ill.) Flash Gordon that won, but nevertheless, Charisma and Barking Mad were head-to-head in battle, with Charisma passing Barking Mad on the last run to take second, leaving third for Barking Mad.
Tomorrow's forecast is for 27-30 knots in the morning; therefore, the race committee has slated a one-hour delay in the start to 12:30.
Results:
1. Charisma, Nico Poons , Monaco, MON, 8 points
2. Barking Mad, James Richardson, USA, 16
3. Enfant Terrible, Alberto Rossi, ITA, 24
4. Groovederci, John Demourkas, USA, 26
5. Struntje light, Wolfgang Schaefer, GER, 28
6. PLENTY, Alexander Roepers, USA, 29
7. Nightshift, Kevin McNeil, USA, 30
8. Flash Gordon 6, Helmut Jahn, USA, 37
9. Asterisk Uno, Hasip Gencer, TUR, 39
10. Flojito y Cooperando, Bernardo Minkow / Julian Fernandez, MEX, 44
11. Oakcliff, Oakcliff Sailing, USA, 53
Opening Day In Porto
Photo by Mark Lloyd, www.lloydimages.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
An epic nine races were sailed in open sea on the opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series Act 5 in Porto, with plenty of hull flying, close mark roundings and even a man overboard for the local boys on ROFF Cascais Sailing Team to keep the on water umpire team busy. Despite hydraulics problems for The Wave, Muscat before racing had even started the defending champions were on fire, winning the opening race before going on to a further three race wins staking an early lead in Porto. Never letting them far from their sights however was Pierre Pennec who returns to the Series at the helm of Realteam, leading the Swiss entry to an impressive three race wins and showing everyone why he is one of the most formidable skippers in the fleet ahead of tomorrow's Stadium Racing.
13 knots of breeze that built to 15 knots for the final race gave the teams a chance to stretch their sails and push their carbon fibre catamarans hard around the course, with each race lasting an average of 14 minutes.
Pierre Pennec didn't take long to find his Extreme 40 feet again, having last raced in the Series in 2012, and three race wins sees them just four points behind The Wave, Muscat.
The new faces to the Series onboard Team Tilt showed they can mix it up with the more experienced skippers on their first ever day of Extreme 40 racing, even posting a race win in the third race of the day before a string of top three results.
Friday and for the next three days it's Stadium Racing for the fleet and there is plenty of anticipation dockside for what SAP Extreme Sailing Team co-skipper Jes Gram Hansen described as "one of the best racecourses I have ever sailed on" in this morning's press conference.
Standings after Day 1, 9 races
1. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Musab Al Hadi, Hashim Al Rashdi, 78 points
2. Realteam (SUI) Pierre Pennec, Bryan Mettraux, Nils Palmieri, Cedric Schmidt, Thierry Wassem, 74
3. Alinghi (SUI) Morgan Larson, Ben Lezin, Pierre Yves Jorand, Nils Frei, Yves Detrey, 66
4. SAP Extreme Sailing Team (DEN) Jes Gram-Hansen, Rasmus Køstner, Pete Cumming, Mikkel Røssberg, Nicolai Sehested, 58
5. Red Bull Sailing Team (AUT) Roman Hagara, Hans Peter Steinacher, Matthew Adams, Simon Cooke, Graeme Spence, 58
6. Team Tilt (SUI) Lucien Cujean, Jocelyn Keller, Jeremy Bachelin, Thomas Mermod, Jonas Schagen, 51
7. GAC Pindar (NZL) Will Tiller, Brad Farrand, Stewart Dodson, Harry Thurston, Shaun Mason, 47
8. ROFF Cascais Sailing Team (POR) Antonio Mello, Bernardo Freitas, Joao Mello, Ricardo Schedel, Joao Matos Rosa, 33
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Once More Unto The Breach
At best for organizers of the America's Cup yacht race, a lawsuit by a would-be American team of sailors is just another unwanted episode for an event riddled with a range of missteps and calamity.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club did not approve any U.S. challenges to Oracle Team USA, right. At worst, it could severely delay September's finals, international sailing's main event.
The suit claims that the Golden Gate Yacht Club, holder of the trophy and the host of this year's race, did not act in good faith in 2011 when it reviewed and rejected the application of African Diaspora Maritime, described as a North Carolina-based sailing syndicate with a mission of training African-American race sailors.
A New York court initially dismissed the suit, but a state appellate court in late June reinstated one of the claims and sent the case back to the trial court to ascertain whether Golden Gate Yacht Club acted in good faith when it rejected African Diaspora Maritime's application in April 2011. The group filed the original lawsuit in December 2011.
With the case bubbling up again, lawyers for Golden Gate Yacht Club on Monday requested permission from the appellate court to ask New York's top court to dismiss the claim. In the meantime, the parties [were] scheduled to appear in court in New York City on Wednesday to discuss a potential trial. -- John Branch
420 World and Ladies World Championships
Valencia, Spain: A light breeze of around 7 knots greeted teams for day 1 of racing at the 2013 420 World Championships, as racing got started under a clear blue sky and dazzling sun. By the time race 2 was underway, the wind had increased to around 10-12 knots.
The 110 teams in the 420 Open fleet have been seeded into yellow, blue and red fleets, with the 87 Ladies teams seeded into yellow and blue for the six races of the three day qualification series. Teams will be reseeded after each of the three qualification days, before advancing to the final gold, silver and bronze fleets for the 420 Open and gold, silver for the 420 Ladies for another six races over the three day final series.
420 Open - Leaderboard Top 5
1. Gianmaria Caiconti / Edoardo Portoraro, ITA, 3 points
2. Tiago Brito / Andrei Kneipp, BRA, 3
3. Santiago Mas / David Mas, ESP, 5
4. Ibuki Koizumi / Tsubasa Arioka, JPN, 7
5. Jose María Ruiz / Fernando Davila (ESP, 9
In the 420 Ladies Championiship, Carlotta Omari / Francesca Russo Cirillo of Italy were the team of the opening day, knocking out two race wins with what looked like relative ease in the blue fleet.
It is just day 1, but interesting so far to see Italian 420 teams representing fifty percent of the top 10 leaderboard.
420 Ladies - Leaderboard Top 5
1. Carlotta Omari / Francesca Russo Cirillo, ITA, 2 points
2. Jenifer Poret / Lucie Scheiwiller, FRA, 6
3. Paula Barceló / Margarita Alba, ESP, 7
4. Carmen Davila / Julia Davila, ESP, 10
5. Ilaria Paternnoster / Di Salle Benedetta, ITA, 11
A Bit More About Dorade
As I am sure you all know that Dorade just won the 2013 TransPac -- for the second time -- at 83 years old. If you wish to read more about her win, see some gorgeous photos and learn more of her history go to www.dorade.org.
When the book LINES by Olin Stephens was published some years ago, blue leather book marks (I guess you would call them) donated by S & S were included in the boxed copies.
They were copies of souvenirs handed out at the ticker tape parade in NYC held for the DORADE crew when she came back in 1931 from winning the 1930 transAtlantic race to Europe and subsequent Fastnet.
As the DORADE website mentions she is now the oldest boat to participate in and win the TransPac, and the photos available on the internet of her running down the Channel to the finish line show her in all her glory. If you look carefully, you can see that the skylight midships is open which is noteworthy considering her reputation for rolling, and the often nasty conditions between the islands. You can also tell that she is whistling right along and she looks "happy." I have read (although it is hard to believe) that her top speed during the race was either a over 13 or 15 K (two different reports) with an average speed of 7.8 K for the almost 3000 nm race. This was 8.1% faster than her winning performance in 1936.
The website says it all: "Really there were eight of us on this -- seven crew members and the eighth was DORADE -- and she didn't disappoint us, she performed flawlessly and did everything we asked her to do." (Matt Brooks who owns DORADE with his wife Pam). -- Ginny Jones
Besson / Riou Extend Lead at NACRA 17 Worlds
Photo by Laurens Morel, saltycolours.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
The Hague, Netherlands: On the first day of the final series, the French Billy Besson and Marie Riou extended their lead at the Nacra 17 Worlds 2013 in The Hague, Netherlands. As expected, it was again a sunny and quiet day. The sailors got more time to recover from a full day of action yesterday, as AP was up until 16:12 hours. The race committee managed to get in one race for the Gold Fleet.
After the breeze shifted to the west and picked up to 8-10 knots, the boats were sent out for the second time today.
The Dutch Mandy Mulder and Thijs Visser won the qualification series, tied on points with Besson and Riou, but they lost points today with a 18th position.
There are three final races needed to start the Medal Race and five to discard the worst result. That makes two discards: one in the qualification and one in the final series. For Friday there are three races planned for the Silver fleet and two for the Gold, but the weather forecast remains the biggest challenge. -- Diana Bogaards
Top 5 Gold Fleet after 6 races and 1 discard:
1. Besson/Riou, FRA, 8 points
2. Saxton/Diamond, GBR, 15
3. Vaireaux/Audinet, FRA, 16
4. Bissaro/Sicouri, ITA, 24
5. Jones/Saunders, NZL, 24
Grabbing Points
The moment Groupama 34 crossed the finish in La Seyne, the team won the Tour de France a la Voile 2013. Courrier Dunkerque and Bretagne Credit Mutuel are tied for second place and Sodebo, who finished second today, is still in a threatening position. Cammas won but the fight for second is far from over.
The leg from Gruissan to La Seyne was a tricky one with a lot of wind shifts throughout the 123-mile route, scored by a factor of 3. Groupama 34 claimed their 18th victory over the 30 races sailed since the race started in Dunkirk on June 29. Cammas and his men cannot loose the Tour before the end of the race in Marseille on Saturday. There are six races left (total scoring factor of 7) and they are 98 points ahead tonight.
Their first place overall is symbolised by a blue spinnaker but they are still looking to claim the green (offshore ranking) and red chutes (inshore ranking) as well. And to top it off, Groupama is gunning for a 100-point lead over the second place team.
As of today there are two runners up: Courrier Dunkerque 3 and Bretagne Credit Mutuel, both tied for points after Bretagne was disqualified for an in-port race in Gruissan. But the second two places on the podium are wide open. Sodebo finished second today, and now Tomas Coville's team is only 12.7 points becond the runners-up.
Bo Petersen Still Leads OK Dinghy Europeans
Click on image for photo gallery.
On the fourth day of the OK Dinghy Europeans in Carnac France, only one race was managed in the ongoing tricky conditions. Dawid Kania (POL) seems to know what is going on though with his second race victory for move up to sixth overall.
However, the math is now getting more complicated as Stefan Myralf (DEN) picked up a second place and is now only trailing championship leader Bo Petersen (DEN) by just one point. Young Pole Kania, scored his second consecutive win in this series. The top is still very close so both Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE) and Tomazs Gaj (POL) could still come from behind and take the title if the two leading Danes had a bad race.
Other than Kania moving up the top ten stayed in the same order, though it is still all up for grabs on the final day - if the wind shows up. -- Robert Deaves
The championship concludes on Friday.
Results after seven races:
1. Bo Petersen, DEN, 15 points
2. Stefan Myralf, DEN, 16
3. Thomas Hansson-Mild, SWE, 23
4. Tomasz Gaj, POL, 25
5. Greg Wilcox, NZL, 29
6. Dawid Kania, POL, 41
7. Nick Craig, GBR, 42
8. Lee Child, GBR, 52
9. Jorgen Lindhardtsen, DEN, 56
10. Rene Johannsen Sarabia, DEN, 56
Event website: www.yccarnac.com
Class website: www.okdia.org
Weymouth Keelboat Championships
The Yacht clubs of Weymouth (YCW) are counting down the days to the Weymouth Keelboat Championships in association with the Ellen MacArthur cancer trust (EMCT.) This is the biggest regatta planned for many a year by YCW which starts with feeder races from the Solent and Poole on Tuesday 13th August.
Arranged to allow competitors the chance to enjoy Weymouth and the surrounding countryside during the day yet experience local club racing in the evenings (Wednesday and Thursday) and sample some offshore racing around the headlands of Portland and St Albans on the Friday whilst bashing the cans on Saturday and Sunday.
The National Impalas are holding their nationals as part of the championships, whilst Squibs, PY and IRC classes are also catered for. The Keelboat championships welcomes limited validity IRC holders.
Working with the EMCT we are trying to raise £500 to allow a local youngster recuperating from cancer the chance to experience sailing to build their confidence and mix with like minded people.
The socials based at Weymouth Sailing Club are sponsored by Old Pulteney whiskey and the apres sail games are now legendary along the south coast.
Local Preparatory School, Thornlow are sponsoring trophies and prizes for under 18's who excel on the water but just as importantly those that assist in race management.
For more details and to enter visit www.weymouthregatta.co.uk
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Azahara is finished with traditional satin varnish applied over teak. In 2009, the teak, along with the headliner was renewed. The cabin sole is teak and holly. The interior cushions were at the same time also reupholstered.
There are lee cloths for all the berths forward and leeboards for the aft cabin berths. The companionway ladder is aluminum and teak and there is a smaller teak ladder from the aft cabin to the aft cockpit.
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