In This Issue
• First Night Performance May Shape Stage 2 Finish Order
• Ino XXX and Redshift celebrate in Cowes
• Salone Nautico Genoa - Harken Won't Miss It!
• Zsombor Berecz, Joan Cardona and Milan Vujasinovic win Finn European titles in Gdynia
• Don't jump to conclusions - Gunboat
• Landsail Tyres J-Cup 21st Birthday Celebration
• John Winning : The Winning Family, the Winning Way
• Team Rockwool Racing Takes Line Honours In Kiel Week Welcome Race
• Moonen Yachts Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race Postponed until January 2022
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Oyster 655 - 'Roulette'
• • 85Ft Racing Sloop - 'Tahia'
• • Soto 48 - 'Kuankun Too'
• The Last Word: Benjamin Franklin
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
First Night Performance May Shape Stage 2 Finish Order
The second stage of the La Solitaire du Figaro started on the Baie de Saint-Brieuc, northern Brittany in a light to moderate north easterly breeze at 1100hrs this Sunday morning. The 404 nautical miles stage takes the 35 strong field of solo sailors east to Dunkirk, a new destination port for the multi stage solo offshore race which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
The leg is expected to take two and a half days - a veritable sprint compared to the 642 miles, four night first stage marathon to the Fastnet and back - but once again sailors and weather experts alike consider that it is this first tricky light winds night which is very likely to shape the finish order into the historic, easternmost city of France.
The tricky beat to Eddystone, off Plymouth, is followed by a long, fast 160 miles downwind run east up the channel to a mark, Antifer, off Le Havre then continuing 100 miles more on a downwind procession to Dunkirk, the fleet increasingly funnelled into a narrow lane, gybing several times down a course bounded by high land to the south and the forbidden shipping lane to their left.
The opening 115 miles upwind passage to Eddystone lighthouse off Plymouth is set to see the sailors encounter shifting light winds affected by an occluded front and a new high pressure ridge coming in from the west which will combine to swing the breeze through three significant shifts in direction during the night. What promises to be a hard fought upwind in a decent 14-16kts of northwesterly breeze will peter out as the wind drops completely in the small hours of the morning.
Round Start Point the fleet are likely to work the Devon coast where there will be more wind pressure before calling a layline for the A8 mark off Le Havre, a difficult but necessarily accurate call given the strong tides in the Channel. The wind is set to build to over 20 knots for an express ride to the line where the leaders are now expected late on Tuesday evening.
Ino XXX and Redshift celebrate in Cowes
The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Summer Series came to a conclusion with the fourth and final race of the RORC Summer Series. A light airs 36-mile race was held in The Solent. Ed Fishwick's GP42 Redshift took line honours and the overall race win after IRC correction. James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX was second overall, and with the result, won the four-race series. Richard Palmer's JPK 1010 Jangada, skippered by Jeremy Waitt, was third overall for the race and for the series. 136 boats entered the RORC Summer Series, which was designed to replace part of the 2020 RORC Season's Points Championship.
Redshift's Nick Cherry, a six-time figarist commented: "We really enjoyed this race and the series. Racing with six people, instead of ten, you really have to focus all the time and whilst we adapted our manoeuvres, we made no changes to the systems on board. When we get back to fully crewed offshore racing, this has served as great practice, as you are in a watch system, often without the full complement of crew on deck."
Congratulations to the class winners of RORC Summer Series Race 4 including Ed Bell's JPK 1180 Dawn Treader and Sun Fast 3300 Fastrak XII, sailed two-handed by Henry Bomby & Shirley Robertson.
Full Results: rorc.org/racing/race-results/2020-results
Salone Nautico Genoa - Harken Won't Miss It!
The year 2020 has been unpredictable in so many ways. It's hard to even know if a boat show will happen or be canceled. We just plain miss seeing our friends and customers! So we've created a boat show experience - virtually. Come rain, shine, or Covid-19, "Harken Red Tent - Genoa" will take place 1-6 October. Whether there's a live show or not, you'll find us on the show dates, offering an experience as close to being in person during the 60th anniversary of the Genoa International Boat Show as we can. Join us live, 1-6 October, at www.harkenredtent.com/genoa:
- Book an online appointment with a Harken technical or sales rep
- View videos of new Harken products:
1) Air Winch 900 - a winch with the perfect blend of speed and power that has a giant hole in the middle where we removed unneeded kilograms
2) CLR 12000 Mooring Winch - a flush-stowing, deck mounted, power mooring winch featuring never seen before geometry
3) V Block - Harken's most efficient and lightweight block ever that offers unmatched efficiency at high loads
- Enjoy live meet ups "At The Front" of sailing
There's a lot to do at Harken Red Tent - Genoa, c'mon inside!
Zsombor Berecz, Joan Cardona and Milan Vujasinovic win Finn European titles in Gdynia
The 2020 U23, Open and Masters Finn European Championship in Gdynia, Poland, concluded on Sunday with the three titles assigned. Zsombor Berecz, from Hungary, took gold without winning a race and with a race to spare. Giles Scott, from Britain, took the silver while Joan Cardona, from Spain, took the bronze. In addition Cardona won the U23 European Championship while Milan Vujasinovic, from Croatia, won the Finn European Masters. The race winners on the final day were Nenad Bugarin, from Croatia, and Facundo Olezza, from Argentina.
After a week that has tested the sailors in many ways, the final day brought yet another set of conditions to further challenge the fleet of 70 sailors from 27 nations. There were offshore winds from 10-18 knots, with huge swings in direction, as well as something that has been lacking all week, sunshine.
France's Jonathan Lobert took the early lead in Race 9 and seemed to have it sewn up, however Bugarin had other ideas and passed Lobert down the final run to round the gate just metres ahead to lead into the finish, with Britain's Henry Wetherell crossing in third.
With Scott and Spain's Alejandro Muscat finishing in the 20s, Berecz had secured the title with a race to spare.
Race 10 belonged to Olezza and featured the biggest shifts of the week. He led round the top mark from Scott and Ondrej Teply, from Czech Republic, but Scott had the better first downwind to round the opposite gate just ahead. However a huge right shift on the second upwind left Olezza with a huge lead on the fleet while Scott dropped to eighth. Muscat moved up to second with Fabian Pic, from France in third.
Full credit must go to the Polish Yachting Association and its dedicated staff who have been tireless in making sure the event happened and as many sailors as possible could get here. Some couldn't get here but to get 70 Finn sailors to Poland during these weird times was a remarkable success and makes a fairly strong statement, demonstrating the strength of the class and the devotion of its sailors.
Next year the U23 and Open European Championship takes place in Hyeres in April, while the Finn European Masters returns to Tihany on Lake Balaton in September. -- Robert Deaves
Final top ten results
1. Zsombor Berecz, HUN, 53
2. Giles Scott, GBR, 61
3. Joan Cardona Mendez, ESP, 61
4. Alejandro Muscat, ESP, 71
5. Nicholas Heiner, NED, 76
6. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 78
7. Facundo Olezza Bazan, ARG, 82
8. Josip Olujic, CRO, 83
9. Nenad Bugarin, CRO, 84
10. Nils Theuninck, SUI, 85
Don't jump to conclusions - Gunboat
Just because an extremely quick multihull sailor decides to spend some time checking out the cruising lifestyle does not mean for a moment that they have any intention of slowing down...
What sort of boat does a high-performance sailing connoisseur choose when it's time to go cruising? Gunboat's mission is to fill that particular niche; it drove the luxury performance segment of the multihull market and has raised the bar significantly with its latest model, the Gunboat 68.
The owner of the third 68 launched is an international businessman with a wealth of offshore and inshore racing experience including the Mini- Transat and Solitaire du Figaro, six Bol d'Or wins and two M2 Speed Tour victories on Lake Geneva, plus recent forays into foiling multihull racing in the Flying Phantom Ultimate and A-Cat classes. He also runs and manages Team Tilt, a Swiss sailing squad with current Olympic and GC32 campaigns. For a sailor of this calibre, even in long-distance cruising mode, a full carbon rocket ship is required.
Full article in the September issue of Seahorse
Landsail Tyres J-Cup 21st Birthday Celebration
By invitation of Key Yachting, the 2020 Landsail Tyres J-Cup celebrated the 21st birthday of the annual regatta exclusively for J Boats. Whilst the regatta was somewhat different this year, the spirit of the J Boats family was as strong as ever. Hosted for the first time by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the regatta was a huge success. 50 J Boats with over 200 crew enjoying great racing, plus safe and secure social functions at the RORC Clubhouse in Cowes.
The regatta featured two National Championships. Tony & Sally Mack's McFly retained the J/111 National Championship and was also awarded the J-Cup. Simon Perry's Jiraffe won the 2020 J/109 UK National Championship. In the J/70 Class, Paul Ward's Eat Sleep J Repeat was the winner for the second year in a row. IRC One was won by Christopher Daniels' J/122 Juno. In IRC Two, Nick Munday's J/97 Induljence was the victor.
Full results in YachtScoring.com
John Winning : The Winning Family, the Winning Way
Click on image for photo gallery.
The ongoing success of Australia's iconic 128-year-old sport of 18ft Skiff Racing on Sydney Harbour, owes much to the incredible action and support of John (Woody) Winning, the Winning family and the Winning family's business.
John is a Giltinan world champion as well as an International and Australian Championship winner. He has also been the President of the Australian 18 Footers League for the past 17 years and responsible for the sport's stability and success.
'Woody' has not only been the major influence in 18ft Skiff Racing on Sydney Harbour over the past 20 years, or more, he is still an active competitor in both the modern and historical (1910-1950s style 18s) fleets each weekend over the summer months.
He will again line up with the Australian 18 Footers League's 2020-2021 season fleet each Sunday in the famous Yandoo (red and blue oval) colour patch as well as skippering The Mistake in the Sydney Flying Squadron's historical fleet every Saturday.
John's son, John (Herman) Winning Jr. is hopeful that his business commitments will allow him enough time to compete against his father again, at the League, in the new season in his Winning Group skiff.
Both are products of the Vaucluse Amateur 12 Footer Sailing Club and both have impressive sailing records.
'Woody' joined the 18 Footer ranks in 1975-1976 in a skiff sponsored by TraveLodge after winning the 1971-1972 Australian 12ft Skiff Championship with Yandoo and the 1974-1975 Inter-dominion 12ft Skiff Championship for the TraveLodge company.
In the 18s, he won the JJ Giltinan world Championship in 2000 when he skippered AMP Centrepoint to victory with teammates Euan McNicol and Anthony (Jack) Young, and has won the Australian Championship as well as international 18ft Skiff championships in Europe, the USA and New Zealand.
'Woody' was also runner-up to the legendary 18 Footer champion Iain Murray in two JJ Giltinan world and three Australian 18 Footer championships, and his record would have been even greater had he not taken several years away from the 18s to concentrate on his business commitments.
John's international 18 Footer championships record includes three European championships (2001, 2004 and 2011), Mark Foy Trophy with Yandoo at Sonderborg, Denmark in 2011, the San Francisco International Championship in 2004 and the ANZAC Regatta at Auckland in 2010. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
Full article in 18footers.com.au
Team Rockwool Racing Takes Line Honours In Kiel Week Welcome Race
Kiel, Germany: Team Rockwool Racing bounced back from its abandoned Round Fyn record challenge by taking line honours in the famous Kiel Week Welcome Race - and came close to matching the all-time course record.
Racing in its foiling GC32 catamaran, the team completed the 27 nautical mile course in 1 hour 52 minutes, just five minutes short of the best ever time recorded in the regatta, 1 hour 47 minutes by Oman Sail on a MOD70 in 2014.
The line honours victory marked the end of an intense 24 hours for the Danish team - a collaboration between ROCKWOOL and the Denmark SailGP Team athletes - following the decision to call off the Fyn circumnavigation for safety reasons after colliding with an unidentified object in the water.
That incident caused minor damage to the team's starboard daggerboard, meaning that a replacement was necessary, and sparked an impressive effort that saw the boat delivered to Kiel last night, and a new foil delivered overnight from Norway.
"A special thanks go to Xela Racing Team Norway for the helping out by lending their daggerboard so that we could compete in this morning's race. It was a fantastic team effort from everyone involved" said helmsman Nicolai Sehested.
Moonen Yachts Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race Postponed until January 2022
It is with great disappointment that the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron announce the postponement of the Moonen Yachts Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race, until January 2022.
The anticipation of an ocean race of 1250nm between these two sailing cities, a first for almost everyone, was as much of a drawcard as was the spectacle of the 36th America's Cup, however, we understand that many were looking forward to ring side seats for the racing of these spectacular flying machines and the other events surrounding the 150th Anniversary of the RNZYS.
The idea of an offshore circuit in the southern hemisphere has proven very exciting. The clubs expect interest in a combination of the 2021 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, the 2022 Sydney to Auckland Race, a return race to Australia or via New Caledonia, finishing off with Hamilton Island Race Week to continue to generate international entries.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our major sponsor for the 2021 Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race, Moonen Yachts. With the support of Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club members Matthew and Louise Baxter, owners of Moonen Yachts, we were able to promote the race internationally and we trust that this profile will add to the success of the rescheduled race in 2022.
The Committee would also like to thank those who entered the race, plus the wider yachting community for their support and interest in the race. We look forward to seeing a great fleet on the start line in January 2022.
Featured Brokerage
2007 Oyster 655 - ROULETTE. 950000 GBP. Located in Lymington, UK
Performance Oyster from the board of Humphreys with carbon rig and sailors' set up. Stunning maple innards and has the kerfuffle for blue water.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
+44 (0) 1590 679 222
ben [DOT] cooper [AT] berthon [DOT] co [DOT] uk
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2001 85Ft Racing Sloop TAHIA. 389000 EUR. Located in La Rochelle, France
Under the name of Adrien with Jean Luc Van den Heede as skipper, she has been holding the record single handed non stop around the world since 2004, in 122 days from East to West against the wind. Since she was sold to Maud Fontenoy who achieved a fantastic non stop single handed voyage.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
info [AT] bernard-gallay [DOT] com
+33 (0)467 66 39 93
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Soto 48 - 'Kuankun Too'
After building a first custom Soto 48 carbon boat cruiser-racer KUANKUN, the owner decided to build a new full racer custom Soto 48 KUAN KUN TOO. Perfectly maintained by a professional crew from launching, with a complete set of sails, she is ready to go racing and optimized for ORC.
KUANKUN TOO is a full racer boat built in carbon and Nomex, Pre-peg. Designed by Javier Soto-Acebak and built by Mboat (Argentina) with objective to race ORC. Won several years the Peruvian championship and participate to several international races. Mast Southern Spars with carbon Future Fibers rig, B&G H3000 electronic and large set of NS sails.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Please email for full details rgindre [AT] globe-sailing [DOT] com
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. -- Benjamin Franklin
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