In This Issue
• Wicklow Sailing Club Cancels Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020
• Airlie Beach Race Week ready to roll - on and off the water
• Clean, Green and Mean - Baltic Yachts
• Royal Southern YC Charity Cup Regatta
• Dry run the new Rolex Fastnet Race course with Virtual Regatta
• First MC38 regatta win for Swish
• RNZYS announces two talented teams for Youth America's Cup
• First Regatta at Kellett Island Awarded Clean Regatta Certification
• OK Dinghy fleet hoping for Bandol return to contest inaugural Autumn Trophy
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Marten 49 - SUMMER STORM
• • Aquarius Alfa - Swan 100S
• • Bavaria C50
• The Last Word: Father Guido Sarducci
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
Wicklow Sailing Club Cancels Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020
In a decision which will resonate with the national and international sailing community, and following intensive meetings all day, organisers Wicklow Sailing Club in concert with their many stakeholders have decided at 1845hrs today (Monday) that the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic make it inadvisable and impossible to stage the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020, which had already been put back by two months to August 22nd in the hope of a significant improvement in the general health and hazard situation.
afloat.ie/sail/events/round-ireland/
Statement from Wicklow Sailing Club
The sharp rise in global Covid-19 cases has forced Wicklow Sailing Club to cancel this year's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race, due to start on Saturday 22nd August. The next staging of the blue ribband sailing event will now take place in June 2022.
As early as March of this year, the 21st edition of the race was headed for a record turnout in excess of 60 teams in what would have been the Round Ireland's 40th Anniversary year.
Following the introduction of initial Covid-19 lockdown restrictions the original start date of June 2020 was postponed to 22nd August to allow time for virus counter-measures to take effect. Even with Covid restrictions in place, entry numbers for this year's rescheduled race from Irish and international competitors held around the 50-boat mark.
In the months since the postponement, Wicklow Sailing Club has been consulting diligently with various stake-holders including race participants, sponsor SSE Renewables, Wicklow County Council and Irish Sailing among others to agree a range of mitigation measures onshore and offshore to allow the race event to proceed safely while adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.
However, despite these mitigations, Wicklow Sailing Club has taken the decision to cancel this year's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race in the best interests of participants and volunteer support crews, and in response to concerns around the recent sharp rise in global Covid-19 cases.
The next edition in 2022 of the 704-nautical mile race that has been dubbed "the Kilimanjaro of Sailing" is unaffected at this time.
Airlie Beach Race Week ready to roll - on and off the water
Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC) officials are pleased to announce that a healthy fleet of 70 boats will take part in the 32nd running of Airlie Beach Race Week Whitsundays Festival of Sailing, where a week-long sailing program and a fabulous social calendar awaits all.
To be held from 6-13 August, competitors are readying for a 'State of Origin' style battle, with the bulk of boats representing Queensland and NSW due to ongoing Corona Virus restrictions.
A variety of fast designs will take to the course in the Multihull Racing field, among them Dale Mitchell's ORMA 60, 'ORMA W60'. The Queenslander has upgraded to the formerly named Frank/Team Vodafone Sailing.
Mitchell says the 60 foot trimaran "targets average speeds of 18 knots to windward in 25 knots of breeze, or 30 knots on a broad reach. The top speed achieved by the previous owners was 45.6 knots," which is extremely fast.
Heading the fleet for IRC honours is NSW's Ray Roberts with his Botin 40, Hollywood Boulevard and Trailable Yachts defending champion, Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic, Qld), returns. The Cruising divisions will again provide the most eye-catching colour on the course each day with their large numbers, with Performance Racing and Sports Boats divisions joining them on the water. -- Di Pearson, ABRW media
Clean, Green and Mean - Baltic Yachts
Baltic's 68-foot Café Racer really is a yacht for the 21st Century
Breaking new ground. Easy to say, but for Baltic Yachts that is genuinely the core of its DNA. It is almost 50 years since Baltic Yachts was founded on a simple principle, based on a refusal to accept the "norm" and to explore new boundaries. In 1973 five men, young at that time, eloped from Nautor to start their own boatyard and build the very finest sailboats in the world together with a group of native talents from the Bosund region in Finland.
They wanted to create top quality, comfortable cruising yachts with racing potential and with lighter displacement than their competitors' boats, not only to boost performance but also to make life easier and more enjoyable, and they had the idea that hi-tech materials and methods could do this.
Full story in the August issue of Seahorse
Royal Southern YC Charity Cup Regatta
The Royal Southern YC has published the Notice of Race for the August Charity Cup with racing in the Solent over four days from 8th to 11th August, 2020.
Racing will be organised for IRC and Club Racing yachts, IRC Doublehanded, Sportsboat and Dayboat classes, and will include two race management teams and course areas using Solent courses and laid windward leeward courses. Details of the number of races and the schedule for the different classes can be found in the Notice of Race.
All of the racing, race management and facilities ashore will be organised in line with HM Government guidance and regulations on Covid -19 and we will follow all recommendations from the Harbour Authorities. Skippers will be required to ensure that their crew complies with Government guidance and social distancing. Entries will be open to :
IRC Doublehanded
IRC Yachts sailed by a crew of 3 to 6 people
Club Racing Yachts using the VPRS Handicap system sailed by a crew of 2 - 6 people
J70 Sportsboats sailing with 3 people
XODs sailed by 2 people
On Line Entry is now available at: yachtscoring.com
For more information about the Royal Southern Yacht Club
Dry run the new Rolex Fastnet Race course with Virtual Regatta
Just over a year out from the August 2021 start of the race proper, potential competitors, armchair sailors and gamer enthusiasts from all over the world will have the opportunity to try their hand at competing on the new course for the Rolex Fastnet Race, in the online game created by Virtual Regatta.
The first part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's premier offshore event remains the same - leaving Cowes, heading west down the English Channel, passing Land's End and crossing the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, before returning to the Channel, leaving Bishop Rock to port. But, for its next edition, the finish has moved to Cherbourg at the top of the Cotentin Peninsula, some 70 miles due south of Cowes. This change to the world's most popular offshore race increases its distance to 695nm.
Following the new course, Virtual Regatta's Rolex Fastnet Race will set sail at 1200 UTC on 3 August 2020. It will provide players with the opportunity to compete against friends, family, colleagues or fellow sailing enthusiasts in a race based on real weather data aboard their own Class40. The game is free to play, but the more competitive can pay a small fee to upgrade their equipment. While the 'real' Rolex Fastnet Race is the world's most well subscribed offshore race with more than 350 entries expected on the start line in 2021, ranging from 100ft Ultime maxi trimarans to mums and dads on their 30ft family cruisers, the Virtual Regatta fleet will dwarf this, their offshore events regularly seeing more than 30,000 entries.
Among the virtual competitors this year will be two-time Volvo Ocean Race winner Phil Harmer. The Australian was part of Ian Walker's crew that set the present monohull Rolex Fastnet Race course record aboard the VO70 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in 2011.
The virtual Rolex Fastnet Race can be played on a computer at: virtualregatta.com and on a smart phone via the Virtual Regatta Offshore App available for download from the Apple Store / Google Play Store. Those wishing to play must register with Virtual Regatta.
First MC38 regatta win for Swish
Close to two years of shooting for a MC38 one design class top result finally yielded Steve Proud's Swish team the main prize, on dreary Pittwater in the shortened five-race Act 4 winter pointscore.
The Middle Harbour Yacht Club skipper named his team one by one, a special mention going to longtime tactician Billy Sykes. "Billy has been with me from the start, he's put a great team together. We've got some excellent sailors. Nobody's putting tickets on themselves; we just get out there and do the job."
A second by two points for John Bacon's Dark Star - looking resplendent following a recent makeover in Newcastle - is a great result for the local team. "We're really happy and I'm really pleased for Steven, Billy and the Swish team - they have worked so hard," Bacon acknowledged.
Most Valuable Player of the series goes to Dark Star's mainsheet Darren 'Twirler' Jones, who heads home to South Australia for his second quarantine stint in as many months, following a MC38 weekend regatta. "He's done 28 days in quarantine for the Dark Stars," Bacon pointed out.
Third in Act 4 went to Lazy Dog, Shaun Lane and Quentin Stewart's MHYC team who opened day two with a bullet off Mackerel Beach on Pittwater's western shoreline, then slid back in the rankings when the track was shifted to an area known as 'big pond', the expanse north of Scotland Island.
A south-moving and deepening low pressure system brought heavy rain and changeable breeze to the fleet on Sunday July 26, mostly south swinging to an easterly flow, 8-10 knots. On the verge of a fourth and final race, an attempt to make up part of Saturday's two race shortfall, the heavens opened. The downpour reduced visibility and played havoc with the wind, RPAYC race officer Steve Merrington deciding another start was optimistic, and the cold and saturated had probably had enough.
RNZYS announces two talented teams for Youth America's Cup
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has today announced that they will now be entering two teams into next year's Youth America's Cup event in Auckland, as well as announcing the sailors for both teams.
Initially the RNZYS received eighty eight applications for the team, this was then reduced to seventeen, and then to twelve. The squad then underwent a significant fitness testing and interview process. It became very clear that there was an overwhelming abundance of young female and male talent within the squad, making the selection process impossible for selectors to determine who should make-up the final team. The RNZYS has therefore made the decision to enter two very strong teams.
The two teams who have been selected both include four starting sailors plus a reserve male and female for each team. The teams selected are as follows;
RNZYS Youth Americas Cup - BLUE
Starters: Nick Egnot-Johnson, Charlotte Porter, Alistair Gifford, Celia Willison
Reserves: Zak Merton, TBC*
RNZYS Youth Americas Cup - WHITE
Starters: Leonard Takahashi, Megan Thomson, Josh Wijohn, Crystal Sun
Reserves: Taylor Balogh, TBC*
*The female reserve for each of the teams are still to be confirmed.
The team's first outing together will be at the Yachting Developments NZ Match Racing Championship where they will be aiming to prove the decision was the right one. Training is underway and a strong internationally recognised coaching team is also planned to ensure they receive the best possible chance against a very experienced group of entries.
The Youth America's Cup will take place over a three week period in the off sailing days of the Prada Cup Challenger Series finals and America's Cup match, the dates are February 18th - 23rd, March 1st - 5th, and March 8th - 12th 2021.
First Regatta at Kellett Island Awarded Clean Regatta Certification
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is pleased to announce that Nations' Cup 2020 has been awarded Silver Level Clean Regatta certification by Sailors for the Sea.
Clean Regatta is a certification programme administered by Sailors for the Sea, a nonprofit organisation that educates and empowers boaters to protect and restore our oceans and coastal waters. At Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, we believe that we have an obligation and a responsibility to operate in a sustainable manner. By supporting proper recycling of paper, glass, metal and plastic, participants contributed towards the Club's goal of achieving Clean Regatta certification for all sailing and rowing events going forward.
Previously, the Club's Hong Kong Race Week and Boase Cohen & Collins Inter-School Sailing Festival, both sailed out of Middle Island, have been awarded the highest of accolades in achieving Gold level Clean Regatta certification for the past two years and this new award for the Nation's Cup is the first certification for a regatta at Kellett Island from Sailors for the Sea.
OK Dinghy fleet hoping for Bandol return to contest inaugural Autumn Trophy
OK Dinghy sailors across Europe are keeping their fingers crossed that they can return to Bandol in September for the inaugural Autumn Trophy. The Notice of Race has now been published and online entry is open for the four-day event at Société Nautique de Bandol.
The club hosted the hugely successful 2018 European Championship, and ever since then, sailors have been clamouring to go back for another major event. Bandol's idyllic beachside location on the Mediterranean, the welcoming hospitality of the family based club, and the wonderful food and wine make it the perfect venue for the class.
After the class has had to cancel all its major events so far this year due to COVID-19, everyone hopes this one can go ahead. There has already been a lot of interest from Denmark, Germany and UK, and providing further travel restrictions are not brought in, the turnout is expected to be high.
This beautiful half model of His Majesty's OK Dinghy, TH27, 'Vega' was disposed of by World Sailing during the 2017 office move from Southampton to London, but was offered to the class for safekeeping. The class is very proud of this heritage and very happy the half model has been saved and put to good use.
Racing in Bandol is scheduled to take place from 16-19 September. Keep your fingers, and toes, crossed...
The Notice of Race and the Entry Form can be found here: events.okdinghy.org
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The Last Word
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