In This Issue
• RORC Summer Series Race 2 - Trials and Tribulations of the Odd Couple
• Airlie Beach Race Week - Final race decides winners
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• John 'Steamer' Stanley
• Something a little bit different from Andrea Francolini
• Fastnet 450 Race Capped at 25 Boat Limit; 19 Entered So Far
• Persico 69F Revolution - The Second Act With 16 Teams
• Caffari and Harayda picked for GB at mixed offshore Euros
• The RS200 - A Single Manufacture One Design Class standing the test of time
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Kodachi - Corby 27
• • ERYD 30 Classic - ORIENTE
• • Ker 40+ "Arabella"
• The Last Word: Mahatma Gandhi
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
RORC Summer Series Race 2 - Trials and Tribulations of the Odd Couple
Course: RYS Line, Peveril Ledge, North Head (42.4 nm)
The Royal Ocean Racing Club Summer Series continued on Saturday 15th August with the second race of the four-race mini-series. Light airs resulted in an extra-ordinary match race between two unlikely opponents. Victory went to Ross Hobson's Sea Cart 30 Buzz. Andrew McIrvine's Ker 39 La Reponse failed to finish the race, literally a boat length short at the time limit. La Reponse would have won the race overall under IRC, as no other team completed the course.
From the Squadron Line start the fleet made slow progress west with the tide, but at Hurst Narrow's the wind literally shut down. "As it was high tide, we could get over the Shingles which gave us the edge," commented Buzz owner Ross Hobson.
However, Andrew McIrvine's La Reponse was first to the Peveril Ledge Buoy off Swanage. "This is only our second race in the new boat, and we are really pleased with the upwind performance," commented Andrew McIrvine. "When we rounded the top mark, we calculated that we were going to be well inside the time limit and most of the fleet were not going to make it. Buzz got ahead of us downwind, but morale was good on board La Reponse."
"With only a seagull for company, who was making a mess of Buzz's sails, we drifted along," commented Ross Hobson. "Whilst we were concentrating on trim and helm, it's also an opportunity to discuss plans ahead. We are intent on getting Buzz to the Caribbean, taking on the RORC Caribbean 600, and time permitting several Caribbean regattas."
Buzz crossed the finish line on the shortened course at North Head, taking Line Honours and the MOCRA win on corrected time. Meanwhile La Reponse was struggling to keep making progress. The rest of the fleet, out of time, had retired. "As we approached North Head Buoy the wind was less than a knot and we were against the tide, literally a boat length from the finish." commented Andrew McIrvine. "We will probably remember this race more because of not finishing than if we had won. On a positive note the boat performed extremely well in the light."
The RORC Summer Series continues with Race 3, scheduled to start from the RYS Line on Saturday 22nd August. For online entry and more information: www.rorc.org -- Louay Habib
Airlie Beach Race Week - Final race decides winners
Sixty four boats to part in the 2020 Airlie Beach Race Week Whitsundays Festival of Sailing, hosted by Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC), which had a difficult job on their hands between the light and fluky conditions and imposing restrictions caused by the CoronaVirus, but the club handled it with aplomb.
Following a week of close racing between the Dale Mitchell skippered ORMA 60 and Michel Van Der Zwaard's Extreme 40, Back in Black, ORMA 60 finished on top by winning the final race of the series. She only arrived in Australia recently.
The two crossed swords all week and finished on equal points after Back in Black scored second in Race 7 - that's how close it was. Terry Archer's G'Nome finished third overall.
"The whole week's been great," Mitchell said. "It looked like it was between us and the Extreme, but that sneaky little G'Nome was a real threat. It's a local boat like us. We know them well; they're great mates and sailed well. It's a real credit to the multihull OMR rule - everyone has a shot at winning.
"A couple of races through the middle of the series, we identified that in wind, the Extreme sailed better to her rating. For us, it was best for it to be under 8 knots, rather than have bigger breeze to go and have fun in," Mitchell conceded.
"We have to thank the owner - the border closures kept him in Sydney. It means a lot to all the crew that he gave us the boat and it was well-prepared. It takes a lot of involvement from all our guys to get us on the water."
Multihull Passage
John Williams' Tyee III from Victoria got the better of Robert Dean's Cut Snake to take this division out, after the latter had led for most of the week. Cut Snake had it in the bag but scored her worst result of the six-race series today, with an uncharacteristic sixth place. Michael Hayes' Renaissance took third place.
Bruce Kellerman on Tyee III said, "We're all as happy as can be - unfortunately Willo (Williams) is stuck in Melbourne. He'll be sad he's not here, but happy he's won. His daughter, Elizabeth and crew regular, Trish Wallace-Smith, are on board. They both live in Queensland."
Kellerman pondered, "The important last day… We're lucky they changed the course to windward/leeward's. The boat's good around the corners."
IRC Rating Passage
Ray Roberts cleaned up, only beaten twice in the series. Barry Cuneo's Envy Scooters finally got the better of Team Hollywood, a Botin 40. The TP52 won Race 6, while the Sydney boat settled for second to win overall. Desperado, Graham Sherring's little Atkinson 25, took on the grand prix boats and finished third overall with a third place today backing up its win of Wednesday. -- Di Pearson/ABRW media
For full results and all information: www.abrw.com.au
Seahorse August 2020
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
ORC - Passing the hours
Lockdown has allowed time for dedicated fans of rating mathematics to really crank up their game. But is that exactly a good thing... Dobbs Davis
52 Super Series - Focused passion
Andi Robertson gets to know one of the loyallest of all Super Series supporters, 'multiple' TP52 enthusiast and skipper Tony Langley
RORC news - Tunnel, light
Eddie Warden-Owen
Seahorse build table - Back in the game?
Their man in Adelaide Bret Perry has got Farr Yacht Design back into one-designs again
Sailor of the Month
Not what you're expecting...
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John 'Steamer' Stanley
Click on image for photo gallery.
John 'Steamer' Stanley is the person to go to for historical information and photographic images regarding the 18 Footers, now it's time to take a look at John's own history when it comes to all things 18ft Skiff sailing and yachting.
John arrived in Sydney (from Queensland) as a six-year-old. After his parents bought a house at Seaforth and became social members at Middle Harbour Skiff Club, John used to sit on the beach and watch the boats go racing, and he "wanted to play the game".
His first sail on a 16 Footer was with Jim O'Rourke, a former Australian 16 Footer champion. John remembers, "It was a 30-knot westerly. I was the bailer boy and I think I bailed Middle Harbour twice that day, and I loved it."
After sailing in the B-class fleet, John became the light weather fourth-hand with Eddy Kirk and finished second in Pamela IV at the 1962-1963 Australian 16 Footer Championship.
The following season, Ken Beashel asked John to become his light weather hand on Elvina Bay, which went on to finish third in the 1963-1964 Australian Championship at Perth.
With some of the greatest names ever in the 16s at that time, John has very fond memories of his experience. "I was lucky to sail with some of the best competitors the club ever had. Next step was to move from the 16s to the 18, and I wanted to be the best forward hand going around."
"Rod Zemanek asked me to sail on his 18 Footer Minamit in 1967-1968, then the following year we moved into the 18s on a brand new skiff named Willie B, which was the first 18 to sail four on the wire. We were runner-up in both the 1969 and 1970 Giltinan championships but won the 1969-1970 Australian Championship on the Brisbane River."
At the 1969 Giltinan Championship, Willie B and TraveLodge were tied after the five regular races and the first sail-off in the championship's history was required to decide the champion. It was a controversial regatta, particularly as a protest against the Race 3 winner, Willie B, was the reason for the sail-off.
John remembers, "In Race 3 TraveLodge led Willie B around the top mark, and while setting the spinnaker the end of the boom clipped the trapeze wire of Bruce Farr's Guinness Lady which was sailing under us up to the top mark. We went on to win the race and Bruce and his crew congratulated us on our win, but when the TraveLodge manager heard of the incident he lodged a 3rd party protest late in the night. Our skipper, Rod Zemanek refused to go to protest and we were disqualified." -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
www.18footers.com.au/sailing/news/
Something a little bit different from Andrea Francolini
Photo by Andrea Francolini, www.afrancolini.com. Click on image to enlarge.
Nestled into the railway aqueduct at Lavender Bay, Robert Gordon and his team are hard at work finishing this 28' Couta Boat. Yes, she's a long way from her spiritual home of Sorrento, but around 12 years ago, Mark Abbott (now Corsair Boats) penned this slightly longer version of the venerable 'fishing' craft when he was at Tim Phillip's Wooden Boat Shop.
Robert Gordon is a Geologist by profession, but as he says, "I worked with Dad (Bob) all throughout my life, and we used to build carvel plank boats up to 60 feet out in the open back then. This Couta Boat has an Iron Bark keel, Celery Top Pine planks below the waterline, with new Zealand Kauri recycled from a beer vat (pretty typical for this rare species) atop that. It is all around steam bent spotted gum frames."
This craft is two feet longer as I wanted to have a cabin and take some people for jaunts not the harbour. It's adventure and participation based, and they can participate as much as they want. We are looking to launch with the king tides of January or February, 2021." -- John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World
Fastnet 450 Race Capped at 25 Boat Limit; 19 Entered So Far
Ireland's newest offshore race, the Fastnet 450, looks like getting its full quota of 25 boats even though details of the 270-mile fixture were announced less than a fortnight ago.
19 race-boats - drawn from as many clubs - are now entered with a cap on entries now in place and eight days to go to the first gun.
The Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Cork Harbour race that incorporates the Fastnet Rock as part of the course, sets sail next Saturday lunchtime, August 22nd.
The 'pop-up' race commemorates the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and has been arranged in jig time by the South Coast of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (SCORA).
The Race Officer will be the National Yacht Club's Larry Power who is also in charge of the regular ISORA starts. The Warning Signal is 12.55 hrs on August 22.
The closing date for entries is next Monday, August 17th. The Notice of Race is here
Persico 69F Revolution - The Second Act With 16 Teams
Photo by Studio Borlenghi. Click on image to enlarge.
Gargnano, Lake Garda, Italy: The second act of the Persico Revolution starts tomorrow, Monday August 17, in Gargnano with 16 teams at the starting line, and the table formula is back with a total of 14 races, each with four teams as protagonists.
Dutch Sail are back, the winning team of the first Revolution will have a derby with Kingdom Team Netherlands, the very young "orange" team that is back on the Persico 69F after winning the Grand Prix 1.2. In this Netherlands race there's also a bit of Italy, in fact for this second Revolution the Kingdom Team has enlisted the young Guido Gallinaro.
On water also the Danish Challenger for the Youth America's Cup, and the RHKYC Team Agiplast, the team of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, third in the first Revolution and with a strong desire of revenge.
In the race makes its debut the team of Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, YCCS who some days ago has announced its Italian participation to Youth America's Cup: Young Azzurra project begins tomorrow in Gargnano with a very competitive team composed by Ettore Botticini, Federico Colaninno and Francesca Bergamo, all of them experts after the race of last week.
From the synergy of Yacht Club Italiano and Società Velica of Barcola and Grignano is created the team Giulio Desiderato, Michele Paoletti and Vittorio Bissaro: they promise battle.
From Trieste arrives also the team of Yatch Club Čupa, the "Last Minute" with Sebastjan Cettul, Mirko Juretic and Matija Succi.
From Ravenna the FP.Sailing (Alessandro and Federico Caldari with Giacomo Bandini) are back, already protagonists a week ago. Then there's some people who will count on the "home" factor: from Lake Garda two teams of Yacht Club Torri, one from Gargnano, one from Riva del Garda, two from Malcesine, all full of experts of foiling, to raise the bar even more.
The program - after the training of today and cleared with the new online-briefing with the technical explanation of the special rules of the table and the rules of the race - starts Monday morning.
The first four races will divide the table in two: the first two of the flights will have a direct way to the final, third and fourth will go down to the lower part of the table and will have to commit to go up and access to the fourteenth and crucial race.
Caffari and Harayda picked for GB at mixed offshore Euros
Photo by Dee Caffari. Click on image to enlarge.
Record-breaking round-the-world yachtswoman Dee Caffari and young gun James Harayda will fly the flag for Great Britain at the EUROSAF Mixed Offshore European Championship, the RYA has announced.
Caffari and Harayda will go up against teams made up of Europe's most talented offshore sailors in the next major step towards the Paris 2024 Olympics where the mixed offshore keelboat event will debut.
The pair were picked after an impressive second-place finish in their SunFast 3300 Gentoo at the recent Drheam Cup, a 428-mile race starting and finishing in France.
Caffari was the first woman to sail solo and non-stop around the world in both directions and is the only woman to have sailed non-stop around the world three times.
With one Vendee Globe and two Volvo Ocean Races also under her belt, Caffari has now set her sights on the Olympics.
Harayda, 22, is a graduate of the RYA's British Keelboat Academy, a programme to support young sailors to develop their keelboat sailing skills to a professional standard. Like Caffari, he too has the Olympics in focus.
The championship will be held in Genoa, Italy, and will consist of a single, 45-hour offshore race beginning on September 3. Racing will take place in identical L30 yachts supplied by the regatta organisers.
www.britishkeelboatacademy.co.uk
The RS200 - A Single Manufacture One Design Class standing the test of time
Launched in 1995 the RS200 has stood the test of time in a competitive dinghy racing scene. A Single Manufacture One Design Class (SMOD) appeals to many people who want to test their skills against other sailors in equal kit to find out who is top dog and a look back over the last 20+ years of RS200 National Champions will read like a who's who of the UK Dinghy racing scene. The RS200 if often towards the top of the Nationals Attendance table with over 100 entries, amongst which are often members of Great Britain's Olympic Team along with the top sailors from other classes coming to test their skills in this renowned fleet.
The RS200 offers a perfect platform for sailors in the 120-140kg weight range to sail and race competitively together, covering a wide range of partnerships from parent/child, to couples and friends. Although all the kit is the same, the rake and spreaders are fully adjustable so for those who do like to tweak with rig set up there is ample opportunity. Providing the boat is well set up and being sailed well the boats are very similar in speed, so if you want to achieve some top results you are going to have to make some good decisions on the racecourse too.
The benefit of an SMOD class is that you can join the fleet with an older boat knowing that you have the same kit as everyone else, no updated designs of hull shape, or mast materials to give that extra bit of speed. For the first 20 years of its life, the RS200 didn't go through any changes... a true testament to its popularity. However, in 2015 a decision was made to give the boat a few small updates. RS Sailing, working with the RS200 class association made a small number of changes to the deck layout along with a change in mainsail material to give the boat a refresh.
25 years after the initial launch, the RS200 is still pricing to be an extremely popular boat for keen racers to test their skills against each other. With used boats starting at around the £3000 mark and new boats available from £11,250 there is a boat available for everybody to come and join in the fantastic fleet.
For more information about the RS200 click here or head to the RS200 Class Association website for information about events and membership. -- Steve Wilson - RS200 Guru and UK Sales Team Legend
Featured Brokerage
2007 Kodachi - Corby 27. 35000 EUR. Located in Dublin, Ireland.
Kodachi is a beautiful Corby 27 built in 2007 by Patterson Boatworks; her hull is strip planked Cedar, with a plywood deck. Kodachi is looking for a new owner who wants to race a top performing boat in great condition that is fun, stable and enjoyable to sail.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Lucy Jackson - LV Yachting
Call: +44 2392 161272
Email: info [AT] lvyachting [DOT] com
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2011 ERYD 30 Classic - ORIENTE. 71500 EUR. Located in La Spezia, Italy.
Very pretty ERYD 30 Classic daysailor from Rossi. Ergonomics are very well thought out and she has space to stay for the weekend as well. Row away factor is huge on this one.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Berthon Yacht Sales
Tel: 0044 (0)1590 679 222
E-Mail: ben [DOT] cooper [AT] berthon [DOT] com
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2016 Ker 40+ "Arabella" FAST 40+. POA GBP.
Arabella's DNA is highly competitive IRC and ORCi racing and most recently she has been optimized with the cutting-edge technology that is being employed by the UK FAST 40 race circuit. This circuit has pushed the boundaries when it comes to IRC rating optimization and she is turn key for 2020.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Sam Pearson - Ancasta Race Boats
sampearson [AT] ancasta [DOT] com
+447759 424900
+442380 016582
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. -- Mahatma Gandhi
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