In This Issue
• Melges 32 World League, a day of "champagne sailing" in Villasimius
• The RWYC 'Lonely Rock Race'
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• 5.5 Metre Class gathering in Sanremo for 2020 European Championship
• Oskari Muhonen dominates U23 Finn fleet to win record third Finn Silver Cup
• Annapolis and Cannes Shows Cancelled
• RORC Summer Series Race 3: Fastrak XII scorches to victory
• History of the 18 Skiff: Rob Greenhalgh
• The 2020 Southern Coast Cup International Yacht Competition ends successfully
• Refocussing on 2021, as this season's 44Cup is cancelled
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Pilot Classic 66
• • TP52 - Rockall
• • Swan 90-708 Alix
• The Last Word: Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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
Melges 32 World League, a day of "champagne sailing" in Villasimius
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Mistral, steep waves and dolphins, which unexpectedly visit the Melges 32 fleet on the race course: these are the ingredients of an excellent second day of sailing in Villasimius, valid as the first stage of 2020 Melges 32 World League.
Challenging conditions, which tested the abilities of the crews, but which thrilled sailors and enthusiasts for the spectacularity of the regattas.
Three races concluded on Day 2, the maximum allowed by the notice of race for each day of racing: the first two victories today went to Caipirinha of Martin Reintjes, winner of the Melges 32 World League in 2019 and protagonist of a series to date of impeccable regattas in Villasimius, weighed down only by the disqualification obtained in the last race due to a penalty.
The general ranking is still led by La Pericolosa, who with solid placements (6-3-3, 17 points) leaves behind G-Spot, second behind by 4 points, and the already named Caipirinha. Andrea Lacorte's Vitamina (24 points) and Fritz Homann's Wilma (29 points) close the top five.
Monday's conditions promise once again to be challenging and similar to those of today, to the point that the Race Committee has decided to repeat today's choice, calling the crews into the water for the first start at 10.00.
The RWYC 'Lonely Rock Race'
Sunrise. Photo by Jim Deheer. Click on image to enlarge.
1000hrs on Sunday 16th August and the first gun fires on the RWYC lonely Rock Race. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club's race starting officer Martin Bedford calls 'line clear' and the race begins. The first start included multihulls, non-handicap class, provision for the Class40's and IMOCA. Pip Hare on 'Medallia' had 2 crew members, Paul Larsen and Mikey Ferguson, with her on this her shakedown for this year's 'Vendee Globe' race. She quickly took the lead and that's where she stayed for the entire race.
The start line was set as Motherbank and Liam. Cowes United sat to the North of Motherbank and there was a 'line split' mark, 'B&G', to provide the space for 'Medallia' in what were quite tricky, starting conditions.
1015hrs saw the second start, the IRC class. Notable entries being Tom Kneen's 'Sunrise' and Ed Bell with his crew on 'Dawn Treader'. Both JPK1180's are level rated so this was set to be the fleets focal battle and that didn't disappoint.
Conditions for both starts was very light with an ESE breeze of no more than 5 knots but the following tide ensured the entire fleet was washed out of the Solent before the tide turned foul.
Soon into the race, Ian Whittaker's 'Falcon' developed a hydraulic problem with their Kiel and were forced to retire.
The first night saw very light breezes, with many of the fleet suffering with negative VMG for sustained periods of time.
Monday afternoon saw the wind strength build. By now Medallia was approaching the Lizard with the tail enders still approaching Start Point. Now focus was starting to turn on the 2 lows developing in the Atlantic with the expectation of them merging forming a storm of 1979 proportions. At 1500 notice was given to all competitors that by 1800 a call would be made by the race office to shorten course or not. It duly was and the fleet were informed that for the first time in the courses 47 previous races the race would operate a shortened course, using Wolf Rock as a turning point and as such enabling everyone the chance to have a safe return leg back in its finishing home of Plymouth.
Pip Hare and team on 'Medallia' crossed the line on Tuesday morning at 0345 to win the Line Honours trophy. As 'Medallia' crossed the line, both JPK1180's where rounding the mark literally together. This made for a fascinating downwind return from the rock, as Sunrise was set up for Asymmetric sails and Dawn Treader with symmetrical sails. 9 hours after 'Medallia', it was RWYC and RORC member, Tom Kneen's 'Sunrise' who would cross the line just over 20 minutes ahead of his race-long rival and eventually take the IRC Overall title With 'Dawn Treader' taking 3rd on the water and 2nd in IRC.
3rd place in IRC and winner for the 2 handed class went to Kathy Claydon Arcsine, with Steve Andrew and team finishing 4th in his Sunfast3200 'Sunfire'.
Results
Line Honours - Medallia - Pip Hare
IRC OVERALL - 1st Sunrise - Tom Kneen, 2nd Dawn Treader - Ed Bell, 3rd Arcsine - Kathy Claydon, 4th Sunfire - Steve Andrew
2 handed - 1st Arcsine - Kathy Claydon, 2nd Colombus Circle - Matt Smith, 3rd Tarantella - Will Claxton
MOCRA - 1st Chimera - Chris Edwards
Non-handicap class - 1st Sue Zolica - CJ and Jody Smith
Seahorse September 2020
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
World news
A nail-biting finish promises an 'interesting' solo round-the-world lap (but life onboard is getting ridiculously hard), scary fast L'Occitane, Class40s around again, successful first flight in Kiwi land, from skiffs to Newport to Freo (before bumping into Dennis). Plus where now for the US college sailing scene? Patrice Carpentier, Iain Murray, Armel Tripon, Dobbs Davis, Thomas Ruyant, Sam Davies, Bianca Cook, Ivor Wilkins, Blue Robinson, Mitch Brindley
IRC - The more is not always the merrier
Trust is at a premium when you mix a virus with a Maxi world championship. James Dadd
RORC news - Still sad
But might the Caribbean perhaps now beckon? Eddie Warden-Owen
Seahorse build table - French touch
German skipper Joerg Riechers is preparing to take on the French (with the help of the French)
Sailor of the Month
No racing? That's certainly news for some
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5.5 Metre Class gathering in Sanremo for 2020 European Championship
Sanremo, Italy, is all ready to welcome the 5.5 Metre fleet for its 2020 European Championship, which is being sailed from 25-29 August. Normally only held when the world championship is outside Europe, the event has attracted 20 crews from nine countries.
This year the class was fortunate enough to have its world championship in Pittwater, Australia in January, one of the few classes to manage to get a world title in during 2020. Next week's Europeans will be the first international event for the class since the coronavirus pandemic began, and the first European Championship for the class since 2013.
International Class Vice President, Peter Vlasov, who will also be competing in Sanremo on New Moon II (BAH 24), has been in Sanremo a few days already preparing for the championship.
Oskari Muhonen dominates U23 Finn fleet to win record third Finn Silver Cup
Podium awards. Click on image for photo gallery.
The U23 Finn World Championship for the Jorg Bruder Finn Silver Cup concluded today in Canet en Roussillon, France, with three more races to complete the series. Defending champion, Oskari Muhonen, from Finland, wrapped up an almost flawless week with three more race wins to take a record third Silver Cup title. Taavi Valter Taveter, from Estonia had the next best of the final day to take silver, while Guillaume Boisard, from France, took bronze.
The last race was a match race from the five-minute gun. Taveter led back to the start and Boisard tried to get the overlap several times. It was pretty close with several calls to the jury and there was a protest afterwards which was dismissed. But they had a really good start with Boisard holding Taveter out to the left side of the course trying to sail him back through the fleet, but when they came back in, they were one and two at the top.
The downwind was really tight with wind from 9-10 knots and huge waves. Muhonen made it round just ahead of Taveter and Nemeth and that was pretty much the end of Boisard's chances to take the silver. However both sailed really well and were worthy of the podium places
Final top ten results after 12 races
1. Oskari Muhonen, FIN, 12
2. Taavi Valter Taveter, EST, 32
3. Guillaume Boisard, FRA, 34
4. Domonkos Nemeth, HUN, 42
5. Nicolas Thierse, GER, 45
6. Andres Juan LLoret Perez, FRA, 75
7. Aubert Lerouge, FRA, 82
8. Kevin Maurin, FRA, 83
9. Thomas Piotrowski, FRA, 83
10. Descriaud Lucas, FRA, 116
Annapolis and Cannes Boat Shows Cancelled
Following the city of Annapolis' decision on Thursday August 20th to cancel its two boat shows - the US Powerboat Show and the US Sailboat Show - scheduled to take place on the Chesapeake, the Prefecture of France's Alpes-Maritimes region, the next day, forced the organizers of the Cannes Yachting Festival to cancel their 2020 edition because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This will really knock the wind out of the organizers', exhibitors' and of course visitors' sails. It also leaves the La Rochelle Boat Show, Le Grand Pavois, as the only autumn show still in the running, hypothetically. Southampton and Barcelona have already been cancelled. -- Multihulls Magazine
* Announcement From The Annapolis Boat Shows
After only two meetings with the City of Annapolis and health officials, and months of working on creating the protocols to create a safe and healthy environment for the United States Powerboat Show and United States Sailboat Show, the City of Annapolis and County Health Officers have pulled their support and cancelled the 2020 fall shows. We understand the reluctance of governmental agencies to take any risks when it comes to health, but the reopening of the economy and the rescue of businesses in our communities must soon become a greater part of the conversation.
We hope that innovative programs can be developed in the near future to address the needs of both the private and public sectors and allow for future events to operate successfully. We strived to become that success model but seemed a bit ahead of the curve.
Thank you for fifty years of continued support of our shows. We look forward to moving beyond this paralyzing pandemic and making plans for bigger and better things in 2021.
* Announcment from Cannes Yachting Festival
Despite a very rigorous sanitary plan with a series of additional health and safety measures, presented by the Yachting Festival and deemed "satisfactory" during a meeting held on 17 August at the sub-prefecture of Grasse in the presence of the prefectural authorities, the city of Cannes and the Regional Health Authority (ARS), the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, the only official empowered to rule ultimately, decided not to grant the dispensation that would have allowed the Yachting Festival to go ahead. It is with our greatest regret and with some misunderstanding that we are therefore forced to announce the cancellation of the Yachting Festival 2020.
On 11 August 2020 the government through the Prime Minister reversed this announcement suddenly and unexpectedly, and decided to ban, because of worsening of the health situation, the holding of events of more than 5,000 people in France until October 30, 2020, a decision which resulted in the decree published on August 13.
www.cannesyachtingfestival.com
RORC Summer Series Race 3: Fastrak XII scorches to victory
The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Summer Series Race 3 was a full-on foam up in 25 knots of breeze gusting over 30. The long day race was a course of about 42 miles for the monohulls with a beat west from the Squadron Line to East Lepe, followed by a scorching downwind leg east through the Solent. After bisecting No Man's Land and Horse Sand Forts, the downwind sleigh ride took the fleet to Pullar, north east of the Nab Tower. The final leg was a beat to finish at the Squadron Line.
The stand-out performance in the race was Sun Fast 3300 Fastrak XII, raced Two-Handed by Henry Bomby & Shirley Robertson. Fastrak XII was the overall winner after IRC time correction and the victor in both IRC Three and IRC Two-Handed.
Bomby and Robertson have set their sights on representing Great Britain in the 2024 Olympics. Bomby is one of Britain's most promising young sailors having raced in four Solitaire du Figaro campaigns, the Volvo Ocean Race and two years with the MOD70 Phaedo3. Shirley Robertson has won two consecutive Olympic Gold medals, and whilst Robertson has offshore experience, the Two-Handed offshore discipline is a new experience.
Congratulations to all of the IRC Class Winners in the RORC Summer Series Race 3. Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster was the winner of IRC 2 and second overall, Scarlet Oyster scorched around the racetrack in an elapsed time just three seconds shy of Fastrak XII. Rob Bottomley's MAT12 Sailplane 3, skippered by Nick Jones, took Line Honours for the race, was third overall, and winner of IRC One. Richard Palmer's JPK 10.10 Jangada, sailed by Jeremy Waitt and Paul Wood, won IRC Four. Ross Hobson's Seacart 30 Buzz won the Multihull Class. -- Louay Habib
The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Summer Series comes to a conclusion with the fourth and final race scheduled for Sunday 6th September. Further racing with the club is set to continue in September with a new Two-Handed Autumn Series (4th, 26th Sept. & 10th Oct.) as well as the IRC National Championship (11/13 Sept.) and the IRC Two-Handed National Championship (12/13 Sept.)
History of the 18 Skiff: Rob Greenhalgh
Click on image for photo gallery.
One of the long list of super-talented JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship-winning skippers is the 2004 champion, Britain's Rob Greenhalgh.
Rob, one of only three skippers from the northern hemisphere to win the world's premier 18 Footer championship, and his RMW Marine-sponsored team totally dominated the 2004 regatta with winning margins averaging two minutes.
For Greenhalgh and his team-mates, Dan Johnson and Peter Greenhalgh, it was a sweet victory after the RMW Marine trio was narrowly beaten (by less than one point) at the previous JJs.
Greenhalgh's first challenge for the Giltinan Championship came in 2001 when he sailed a former Sydney skiff under the name Fat Face.
He caught the 'bug' immediately and had a new hull built by Ovington Boats in preparation for another challenge at the 2002 regatta. Richard Woof came on board as sponsor (through his RMW Marine company) and a team of Dan Johnson and Johnny Mears was assembled.
Despite some new boat teething problems, the team performed well and finished in the top group, but Rob's competitive nature was now committed to winning 'the big one'.
Rob's brother Peter joined the team in place of Mears and it was back to Sydney Harbour for a crack at the 2003 championship.
Going into the final race of the 2003 championship, the very fast and consistent RMW Marine held a lead which appeared would be good enough to take the title.
USA's Howie Hamlin, the defending champion in General Electric-US Challenge, was the nearest challenger and had the task of finishing first or second in the race while hoping that RMW Marine would finish worse than fifth.
RMW Marine led early in the race and was still fourth at the final rounding mark, and looked to have the championship won.
As the fleet worked across the harbour to the finish line off Clark Island, the RMW Marine team was caught on the wrong side of a wind shift and was passed by two other competitors, which relegated the team back to sixth place.
The incredible finish gave the 2003 championship to Howie Hamlin by just 0.35 of a point.
Hamlin actually returned to shore believing that Rob Greenhalgh's team had won the title and had to be convinced that the result was correct, and his team had actually retained the title he won with the same boat in 2002. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
Full story: www.18footers.com.au
The 2020 Southern Coast Cup International Yacht Competition ends successfully
The 2020 Southern Coast Cup International Yacht Competition, co-hosted by Busan City, Jeollanam-do Province and Gyeongsangnam-do Province ended successfully on the third of August at Yeosu.
The 2020 Southern Coast Cup International Yacht Competition, which was being held for the first time this year, featured 31 boats and 298 sailors from 9 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Great Britain, etc.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the competition was held by limiting the number of participants to domestic sailors and foreign sailors living in Korea. The competition was held without regard, and it was successfully completed with the utmost preparation and prevention even in difficult situations.
The match was held in ORC class (offshore sailing). Busan's United team SEXY BUSAN won the overall ORC I class, Korea's SUMMER GIRL placed second, and Korea's VIKIRA was third.
United team called SOUTHERN BREEZE III was the overall champion of ORC II class, followed by Korea's BOLI in second and NIMFA in third place.
Refocussing on 2021, as this season's 44Cup is cancelled
The owners and Organising Authority of the 44Cup have today made the final decision to cancel the remaining two events of the 2020 season. This is due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic which this year has brought much of the sporting world to a standstill.
Having revised its 2020 schedule consistently over the last few months, the 44Cup community hoped a September and November regatta would still be possible in Portoroz, Slovenia, following the World Sailing and World Health Organisation guidelines. However, the final decision to cancel the 2020 season was due to the strict travel restrictions and quarantine requirements which remain in place and affect many of the fleet's owners, organising team and sailors who travel from around the world to participate on the circuit for the high performance one design owner-driver monohulls.
The priority for the RC44 Class is safety and ensuring the future of the circuit. Today's decision will help minimise any potential spread of the COVID-19 virus through non-essential travel.
The full focus of the Class and teams will now be on the 2021 season. The full calendar for the 2021 44Cup will be announced in the coming weeks.
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The Last Word
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