In This Issue
• World Sailing - Another foot in mouth incident
• No refunds for Newport Bermuda Race
• SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race Delayed
• Yacht Racing Forum 2020 - Portsmouth, UK, November 23-24 - CONFERENCE UPDATE & SPECIAL OFFER
• Highlights from the Collection: the RELIANCE wheel (Part II)
• Dumas Pond Yacht Kits
• Fivepointfive magazine launched
• A+T Instructional Videos
• 1720 Sportsboats Return to Baltimore Sailing Club for 2020 National Championships
• Irish Sailing launches Ireland's eSailing National Championship
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Aquarius Alfa - Swan 100S
• • Beneteau First 50 Sport
• • SB20
• The Last Word: Arnold H. Glasow
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
World Sailing - Another foot in mouth incident
A row has broken out between World Sailing and Sailing Illustrated, the American on-line sailing news show.
World Sailing (WS) President Kim Andersen accused Sailing Illustrated presenter Tom Ehman of publishing false statements about the WS financial position, on the 18 February show.
Andersen apparently informed the World Sailing board that Ehman had mentioned WS Vice-Presidents, Gary Jobson and Scott Perry, as the source of the information indicating that WS had financial problems.
Andersen then drafted a letter which he urged Gary Jobson and Scott Perry to sign.
This they refused to do, as they wanted to review the programme content first.
But ... the letter was sent to Ehman with Jobson and Scott Perry's electronic signatures attached, without their permission.
Scott Perry then followed that letter with his own letter to Tom Ehman, 'apologising for the sad confusion' in the unapproved letter, and accepting that the Scott mentioned on the programme was Scott Macleod and not himself, Scott Perry.
Tom Ehman denies discussing the WS financial situation with either Gary Jobson or Scott Perry.
No refunds for Newport Bermuda Race
Posted without comment, this letter that was mailed to competitors:
Thank you for entering XXX in the 2020 Newport Bermuda Race.
As good skippers who keep a watchful eye to weather, you know how often that threatening rain cloud on the horizon brings less wind than you expect. But every now and then one arrives that makes you glad that you reduced sail or sought shelter.
In the case of COVID-19, the cloud rapidly grew bigger and darker by the day, and while we have yet to feel the full impact of the pandemic, we know it's unlike anything we have encountered before.
By the end of the third week in March, despite a strong instinct and desire that "the show must go on," it became clear to our Bermuda Race Organizing Committee that the 2020 Newport Bermuda Race had to be cancelled for the safety of the competing sailors and those communities touched by it. Wherever we looked the risks were too great-whether in pre-race boat preparation, inspections, and crew training; in sailing 635 miles with a potentially asymptomatic crewmember aboard; and during all of the normal events before, during and after the race.
The Cruising Club of America and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club believe strongly that a culture of safety aboard must be paramount. With COVID-19, the principle remains the same: the responsibility of all skippers as well as the organizers extends not only to the safety of crews but also to others potentially impacted in Rhode Island and Bermuda.
Some captains have asked our Committee why there are no refunds available for your 50 percent deposits. The reason the Notice of Race specifies no refunds for deposits after 20 February is because by that date, we expected to have made sufficient expenditures and fixed commitments that we would not have funds from deposits to return. And that is indeed the case: the deposit funds have already been spent to organize the race.
Despite what the Notice of Race says, we would certainly be refunding deposits if we could, but all entry deposits have been spent on commitments to entry and registration software and other technology including website development, satellite tracking services, scoring software programming, plus media services, race village preparation, trophy storage, insurance, administrative costs, and more.
The extraordinary amount of planning, organization and legwork is all done by a dedicated group of unpaid volunteers both in Bermuda and the US. These volunteers travel for periodic planning meetings and pay for their own travel, food and lodging expenses. Many also race their own boats and are in exactly the same position as other captains with regard to preparation expenses and payment of entry fees.
As the leaders of the CCA and the RBYC, we would like to acknowledge and share in your disappointment that the race is not proceeding as planned. We would like to thank you for understanding the unprecedented challenges faced by our organizing committee and express the full commitment of RBYC and CCA to the 2022 edition of the Newport Bermuda Race, which will coincide with the CCA's 100th Anniversary Celebration. We earnestly hope you will be able to join us for that event to continue the competitive, adventurous tradition of the "Thrash to the Onion Patch."
SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race Delayed
Organisers at Wicklow Sailing Club have today announced their decision to postpone by two months the start of the biennial SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The new start date for the 704-mile race will be Saturday 22nd August 2020 subject to government guidelines.
"Even under the most optimistic scenario, our traditional start date of mid-June would not be possible," commented Kyran O'Grady, Race Director at Wicklow Sailing Club. "However, we believe that there is a suitable late-Summer fixtures window that can still deliver a great race. We will keep updated guidelines under constant review as we plan for the new date."
More than 40 entries from around Ireland and further afield have already been received for the original start date. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, indications that a record fleet of more than 60 boats was expected. Wicklow SC organisers will begin contacting all the interested crews to assess their availability and requirements for the new date.
The first Round Ireland Race was sailed in 1980 and since then hundreds of crews have entered what is regarded as the "Kilimanjaro of Sailing" as the course offers a range of obstacles and challenges. Simply finishing the race that can take up to a week for some boats is regarded as an achievement in itself.
Yacht Racing Forum 2020 - Portsmouth, UK, November 23-24 - CONFERENCE UPDATE & SPECIAL OFFER
The Yacht Racing Forum organising team is following the current global situation with great attention, and extends its sincerest thoughts to those directly affected by the pandemic.
We hope that the situation will stabilize as soon as possible and we are not considering postponing the event for the time being. Should this be the case, confirmed partnerships for 2020, as well as early registrations would automatically be assigned to the new event.
We are all facing a complicated period but we strongly believe that we need to plan for the future, make projects, invest. The Yacht Racing Forum is a B2B event. Its purpose is to bring people together and to promote business and our sport. This is precisely what the yacht racing industry - and everyone else - will need when we finally come out of this dramatic situation and the reason why we believe that hosting the Forum in November 2020 is important for the global yacht racing industry.
The 13th edition of the Forum will once again provide a unique opportunity to network, debate the future of the sport and make business.
We accept early registrations. Our Early Bird rate will be valid for the top 80 registrants. We also offer a 20% discount on all our partnership packages until April 30, valid for a duration of two years. Click here for more details.
For more information: www.yachtracingforum.com
For partnership & exhibition opportunities: contact [AT] maxcomm [DOT] ch
We look forward to welcoming you to the Yacht Racing Forum in Portsmouth !
Highlights from the Collection: the RELIANCE wheel (Part II)
Click on image to enlarge.
RELIANCE handily won every race against Thomas Lipton's SHAMROCK III in August and September of 1903, and kept the Cup for the Iselin Syndicate and the New York Yacht Club. After the racing was over, there wasn't much of a future for RELIANCE, unlike some other former America's Cup contenders and candidates that continued to race or were converted to yachts. As Yachting magazine reported in 1914, RELIANCE was "too big for a sloop, with no one in her class to sail against, and not suited or conversion into a schooner… [so] she stood idle in Jacob's yard [on City Island] for eleven years, a club over any would-be challenger for the Cup…" She was finally sold for scrap in December 1913 to a Brooklyn-based ship wrecker and salvor named Michael Cowhey, who had RELIANCE towed from City Island to Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company at Erie Basin in April 1914. He began dismantling the Cup Defender around the corner from Robins at the Furman Dry Dock Company in July that year.
By all accounts, Cowhey was a colorful figure on the Red Hook waterfront. The business at 438-440 Van Brunt St. he had inherited from his father had started out as a scrap iron and marine hardware salvage business - but as the great shipping days waned, nostalgia turned his shop into an exotic destination for "New York Society" decorators. In an entertaining (and error-riddled) article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1929, Cowhey reports that "ships lanterns are what they rave over the most. The dirtier and the older the better. Oil or electric, they put them on their porches, and call the place Searoost, or something like that. Ha, ha. And they buy ship clocks, steering wheels and even binoculars…" ! It's hard to imagine an equivalent fad today, but we wonder if Mr. Cowhey wasn't far more delighted at the business than genuinely driven to drink by the interest from "fancy old boys," as claimed in the article.
RELIANCE's acres of sails were cut up and sold for awnings and sail covers, and the valuable metal (lead, bronze, aluminum, and steel) was sold for scrap. According to a 1914 New London Day article, after Cowhey purchased RELIANCE he sold her mast to the Federal Baseball Club (home of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops) at 4th Avenue and 3rd Street in Brooklyn for $1,000 - something like $25,000 today adjusted for inflation. It remained at Washington Park as a flagpole until it was purportedly destroyed by a lightning strike in 1921. What happened to the rest of the hardware - and the wheels - is not well documented, but the location of Cowhey's shop and the yard where RELIANCE was scrapped provide some clues.
Dumas Pond Yacht Kits
Click on image to enlarge.
If you enjoyed the Bevin's skiff project last week, we suggest something a little more challenging. These are the kits we use to build sailing pond models with students at the museum. This simple and relatively inexpensive sailboat kit from Dumas Products is designed so that even younger children can enjoy the creative satisfaction of building a model boat.
Dumas carries a wide variety of model kits that are suitable for model builders of all ages. Just don't forget to order the glue!
herreshoff.org/2020/04/dumas-pond-yacht-kits/
Fivepointfive magazine launched
The International 5.5 Metre Class Association has launched a new magazine, fivepointfive, highlighting the increased growth and interest in this classic construction class. It includes all the news from the past year as well as a range of fascinating interviews, technical articles, history and national updates.
You can also read it online here.
Looking at the class history, the story of Tokyo 1964 is retold, back when the 5.5 Metre was an Olympic Class.
"The design challenge, on the other hand, lost the global characteristics that had been found in Naples. The Japanese fleet was largely from the American design school with nine boats out of the (six by Bill Luders, two by Raymond Hunt, one by Olin Stephens and one by the young Britton Chance Jr. The only European designed boat was from the expert Swedish designer Einar Ohlson, who had a good six boats at the start."
This issue also looks at amazing legacy of the Ohlson brothers. Einar and Carl-Eric Ohlson were famous designers of 5.5 Metres in the 1950s and 1960s, and the only designers to win a medal at each Olympics. Now The Ohlson Project (TOP) seeks to revive their work. Team leader Christina Stenberg, daughter of the late Einar Ohlson and TOP initiator Lutz von Meyerinck explain.
"At the end of the 1940s, the Ohlson Brothers delivered boat designs for design contests but requests for design work quickly started to come in after their International 5.5 Metre Class design Hojwa won a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics at Helsinki, Finland. This was not a success by chance but the result of two previous years of rigorous work, but this early success established their names internationally. As a consequence, one of their boats was sailed to an Olympic medal at each of the Olympic Games from 1952 to 1968."
The Ohlson Project also released a fascinating video of this story recently.
A+T Instructional Videos
We have had long in plan to produce a series of videos on instrumentation. Here is link to first one which is really the basics. We will to get further ones out shortly week dealing with various aspects of troubleshooting and calibration
Part I Wind Instruments for Yachts, the basics and troubleshooting
1720 Sportsboats Return to Baltimore Sailing Club for 2020 National Championships
Baltimore Sailing Club will be hoping for the same conditions that graced last year's West Cork race track when the 1720 sportsboat fleet returns for its National Championships from 25 – 27 September 2020.
As Afloat reported last September, a buoyant 20-boat fleet contested the championship in 2019 won by the host club's Robert O'Leary with six top-five results from eight sailed including three race wins.
A Notice of Race - will be published in due course.
Irish Sailing launches Ireland's eSailing National Championship
Irish Sailing have teamed up with World Sailing and Virtual Regatta, the leading digital sailing platform, to launch the Irish eSailing National Championship.
"Virtual Regatta Inshore" is a free-to-play game available online or as an app, and at 10am this morning we launch the Irish eSailing National Championship on it. Irish Sailing have invested in a licence for Ireland so that you can now register as an Irish sailor and aim for the top of a new Irish Leader Board. You can play against friends, fellow sailors and members of the Irish Sailing Team including Olympians Annalise Murphy, Ryan Seaton and Finn Lynch. All Irish registered players will be automatically put into the Ireland rankings, and entered into the Irish eSailing National Championship. The top 10 ranked Irish sailors on 1 September 2020 will automatically represent Ireland at the eSailing World Championship Finals Playoff.
10 x VIP passes were given away to the first 10 clubs and classes that registered their interest this morning. 30 plus registered within 10 minutes of the launch. A VIP pass allows a club or class to run their own event for a year (each annual pass is worth €120). Details of the VIP pass and other options for running your own regatta are all on www.sailing.ie/eSailing.
The 2020 Irish eSailing National Championship is live from 10.00am on Wednesday 8 April 2020. To get started simply visit the Irish Sailing website, or the Virtual Regatta website or download the Virtual Regatta Inshore App from the App Store or Google Play. (see all links below).
Letters To The Editor - editor [AT] eurosailnews [DOT] com
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Mark Fisher:
I too could live in a large house with domestic staff and outgoings that I simply cannot afford.
Sooner rather than later I would be insolvent.
I have watched "World Sailing" and wondered when this day would come.
It HAS come sooner rather than later,
FYI: I am an OK Dinghy Sailor.
At the 1995 Worlds in Poland the coach boats sat on one side of the course or the other; the Polish Boats ALWAYS sailed in the direction of their "Coach" boats.
Featured Brokerage
Aquarius Alfa - Swan 100 S. Price on request.
Aquarius Alfa is a sleek looking semi raised Swan 100 S which was designed by German Frers. She is the first SWAN 100S to feature the ‘Semi-Raised Saloon’ configuration incorporating a low-level coach roof. The yacht has four en-suite guest cabins sleeping up to nine people. This yacht is beautifully appointed and in excellent overall condition. Viewing is highly recommended - she is VAT paid. Aquarius Alfa is Malta registered.
See listing details at Carswood Yachts
Contact
Contact Alastair for further details +44747 6888639
www.carrswoodyachts.com
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2008 Beneteau First 50. 225000 EUR. Located in Barcelona.
Very well-maintained and substantially upgraded/refitted Sport version of the Beneteau First 50 performance cruiser. Just two owners since new.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Lucio Pellegrini - Grabau International (Palma)
Tel: +34 675 236 174
Email: lucio [AT] grabauinternational [DOT] com
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SB 20. 30,000. EUR
Designed by Tony Castro, the SB20 is a British-built strict one-design 6.15m keelboat conceived as a wide appeal, affordable, competitive sportsboat for teams of three or four sailors. It is also, arguably, the most successful sportsboat in the world with 800 owners competing regularly in a programme of exciting local, national and international events.
Originally known as the Laser SB3, the SB20 continues to deliver on its pioneering promise: a boat that is fun, fast and easy to sail by anyone of any age; the best value-for-money sportsboat in the market.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
email: tony [DOT] castro [AT] sportsboatworld [DOT] com
Tel: +44 (0) 23 8045 4722
Mob: +44 (0) 7836 322 443
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. -- Arnold H. Glasow
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