In This Issue
• Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez: Okra wins the Club 55 Cup
• Forward WIP 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Britain's race boat for the 36th America's Cup arrives in New Zealand
• Vendee Globe: Meet Charlie Dalin - the rookie with a winner's attitude
• Barcolana, 1300 Provisional Registrations
• Royal Thames Yacht Club Women's Open J70 Championship
• The Evolution of Sailboat Coaching
• Bray's Droleen Dinghy Will Sail Again from Jurassic Coast Boat-Building School
• A Drink From Hemingway -- the Green Isaac's Special
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Pilot Classic 66
• • Gunboat 62 - Tribe'
• • Rambler 88 - 'Rambler 88'
• The Last Word: Richard Feynman
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
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez: Okra wins the Club 55 Cup
Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget. Click on image for event site photos and video
Such wonderful conditions for a challenge, and surely this one best embodies the spirit of the Nioulargue, which inspired Les Voiles. The historic Ikra, the 12mR helmed this year by Hugues Destremau, challenged The Kid, the prototype inspired by Jean Pierre Dick's Imoca class. Tradition rivalling modernity then. However, with vastly different designs and potentials, skippers Jean Pierre Dick on the one side, and François Morault on the other, came to a gentleman's agreement yesterday evening with regards today's play, which is traditional judged in elapsed time according to the IRC rule. In this way, The Kid set off this morning with a 20-minute handicap. The SW'ly wind was a little shifty offering the crews some real sport and plenty of jockeying for position. Ultimately, Jean Pierre Dick took the win by just over 5 minutes, which meant that victory in corrected time went to… Destremau's Ikra!
Today's challenges
A dozen or so challenges were registered on today's programme in celebration of the history of the Nioulargue from which Les Voiles hails, with duels as well as 3 and 5-way battles as desired. Setting sail just before noon, the P-Class yachts, Corinthian, Chips and Olympian launched onto a hazardous 9-mile sprint with the wind clocking round from the east to south-west and with it some unlikely comebacks and leader changes before Olympian came good and took the win in what looked like a very fun match! Meantime, the duelling TP52s Spirit of Malouen and Freccia Rossa were absolutely neck and neck today in their friendly, but ultimately the advantage went to Stéphane Névé and his Spirit of Malouen who really brought his A' game today.
Period Gaffers:
Rolex Trophy; advantage Eva Gathering together 6 sumptuous gaff rigs dating back over a century, the Rolex Trophy gathers together the oldest competitors at Les Voiles. The battle was particularly fierce today between the duelling Fifes, Viola (1908) and Eva (1906), the latter seemingly at ease at every point of sail and able to counter any attacks with aplomb. The venerable Lulu (1897) is duelling with Nin (Quenel 1913) in the race for third place.
Scud holding court in the P Class in Class A The gaff sloop Scud (Herreshoff 1903) is really showing what she's made of in Saint Tropez in the formidable armada of 31-footers launched in the 1920s. The Swedish 10mR Marga is proving to be a particularly stiff opponent but the competition is nail-bitingly close with all the boats grouped within 6 minutes yesterday.
Period Marconi: Meerblick Classic, the best and worst The German Bermudan sloop Meerblick Classic (Anker 1917) excelled yesterday against the Olin Stephens yawl Comet (1946), but came last in Monday's breezy conditions. Meantime, Skylark 1937 (Olin Stephens 1937), has enjoyed one race victory. As a result, perhaps the win may go to the week's most consistent performance overall…
Varuna of 1939 moves up into the lead in A Among the Large Period Marconis, at the start of the week Eileen 1938 (Anker 1938), Manitou (Olin Stephens 1937) and Ellen(Talma 1931) found their master in Varuna of 1939, a Sparkman design and comfortable winner of the week's first two races in elapsed and corrected time.
Anyone's game in the Period Marconi Cs Andale (Nicholas Potter 1951), Sonda (Mc Gruer 1951) and Rainbow III (Fife 1927) all sailed some fine races this week and the suspense is palpable in this tightly grouped class!
The one's to watch among the Classic yachts:
Classic Marconis: The yawl Hermitage helmed by Lionel Péan is currently champion in the breeze while Baptiste Garnier's ketch Eugenia V (Rhodes 1968) relishes the light so perhaps it's the weather which will select the winner of these imposing craft this week.
Stiren in pole position in B Of the Classic Marconi Bs, Stiren (Stephens 1937) was yesterday's big winner, ahead of another Olin-Stephens design, Palynodie II (1962).
Ikra dominates The iconic 12mR Ikra is pretty much trouncing the Italian Bermudan sloop Il Moro di Venezia (Frers 1976) with two nice, clean wins, which bodes well for the second half of the week and the potential for revenge...
Guest class: Windhover-Josephine, neck and neck The Bermudan cutter Windhover ((Luke 1904) and Bermudan IOD Josephine (Aas 1959) are impossible to separate for now with one victory and one second place each so there's everything to play for in this group.
www.lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr
Forward WIP 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships
Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke moved further ahead in the 49erFX standings after a stunningly consistent performance on day 3 of the Forward WIP 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships in Austria.
Recently selected to represent Germany at next year's Olympic Games, Lutz and Beucke's victory at Kiel Week three weeks ago seems to have unleashed a new level of confidence upon this veteran team. Having twice narrowly missed out on Olympic selection in previous 470 and 49erFX campaigns, the knowledge that they are on their way to Tokyo is enabling them to sail with new-found freedom.
49er OPEN: Another good day for the Fantelas
Šime and Mihovil Fantela scored a 3,1,1 from their qualifying group, moving the Croatians slightly further ahead in the overall standings. The 2018 World Champions are 3 points ahead of the fast-improving Dutch crew, Bart Lambriex and Pim van Vugt, who took 1,3,2, from their side of qualifying. The Dutch team, recently selected for Tokyo 2021, were vigorous in claiming early rights on the pin end of the start line and defending that place with pinpoint precision slow-speed boathandling. In third overall are the Italians Uberti Crivelli Visconti and Leonardo Chistè.
NACRA 17: Greeks enjoy their moments in the sun while Olympic Champions move to the top Day 1 of the Nacra 17 competition was all about keeping your wits about you as the wind blew from the south, then the west, then somewhere in between. Thursday's conditions were much more straightforward, at least in the sense that it was a very one-sided track. What is much less straightforward is how to get to the favoured spot when all 30 boats want to be going the same way. In the 6 to 8 knot breeze, Greece's Iordanis Paschalidis and Myrto Papadopoulou found their way into 2nd place in the second race of the afternoon. A 26th position in the next race showed that the 2nd might have been a lucky one-off.
49er Class Website
Nacra 17 Class Website
Seahorse October 2020
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
(Sunny) reset
A great deal of effort has gone into planning the 2021 Caribbean regattas and the organisers are increasingly optimistic about entry numbers. They deserve your support... And you deserve some Caribbean tradewind fun
Rod Davis - Man up
It all went rather better than expected
TP52 Super Series - Robust supporter
Andi Robertson talks to one of the original founders of the modern Super Series, Quantum Racing skipper Doug Devos
ORC - Let's hunt
A new custom raceboat for the US circuit is much too rare a beast. But it's a start. Dobbs Davis
RORC news - Back in the saddle
And both entries and enthusiasm are flourishing Eddie Warden-Owen
Special rates for EuroSail News subscribers:
Seahorse Print or Digital Subscription Use Discount Promo Code ESN21
1yr Print Sub: €77 - £48 - $71 / Rest of the World: £65 www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/
1yr Digital Sub for £37.50: www.seahorse.co.uk/shop/subs/
Discounts shown are valid on a one year subscription to Seahorse magazine.
Britain's race boat for the 36th America's Cup arrives in New Zealand
The second race boat built by INEOS TEAM UK in their bid to win the 36th America's Cup has landed in Auckland, New Zealand.
The bold new 75-foot boat, code-named RB2, touched down at 20:55PM New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT) at Auckland Airport before heading to the team's newly constructed base in the City of Sails' famous Viaduct, for her final pre-sail fit out.
The long journey started on Friday (25th September) via truck from the team's HQ in Portsmouth to Stansted Airport. RB2 then began her four-day Antonov cargo plane flight on Monday (28th Sept). The flight, which saw RB2 travel over 12,200 miles, included over 24 hours in the air and two stopovers in Dubai and Indonesia.
INEOS TEAM UK CEO Grant Simmer, who welcomed the bold new race boat to the team's base in Auckland, stated:
"Having last seen our new race boat in Portsmouth several weeks ago, it's very exciting for both me and the entire team to finally have her here with us in Auckland. This is a real milestone moment for us in our challenge for the 36th America's Cup which is now only a few months away. We are ready to get to work on RB2 and get her ready for sailing operations to begin. I would like to thank Project Director Dave Endean and the team for getting RB2 built and safely transported to New Zealand on schedule. It's been an incredible effort from the entire team."
Vendee Globe: Meet Charlie Dalin - the rookie with a winner's attitude
Exclusively for Yacht Racing Life Justin Chisholm speaks to Charlie Dalin - the rookie Vendee Globe skipper hoping to upset the pecking order in the upcoming edition of the gruelling solo, non-stop, unaided, around-the-world race.
For a rookie Vendee Globe skipper 36-year-old Charlie Dalin from Concarneau in Brittany conducts himself with an impressive degree of composure and self-confidence.
One-on-one he is affable, open and easy to chat to, but watching him on the Vendee Globe press conference stage in Paris alongside - well actually, at an appropriately socially distanced away from - his fellow solo, non-stop, around-the-world race aspirants, his body language made it clear he has absolutely no doubts in his mind that he belongs up there.
The story of Dalin's route to becoming a Vendee Globe skipper can be broken down into a series of mini-apprenticeships - each of which has added to his skill and experience levels.
Since he earned his degree in naval architecture at Southampton University in 2006 Dalin's only interest has been ocean racing. He cut his teeth in the Mini Transat Class, where he finished second in 2009 in the La Rochelle to Salvador de Bahia race, before in 2011 joining the Finistère Offshore Racing school in Port La Forêt to accumulate the skills he needed to compete on the legendary French offshore proving ground that is the Figaro circuit.
Over the next few years he racked up an impressive series of results, including winning the 2012 Transat AG2R La Mondiale (alongside Gildas Morvan), and being crowned French Elite Offshore Champion in 2014 and 2016 (he was second in 2017, by the way).
Justin Chisholm's interview with Charle Dalin in YachtRacing.life:
Barcolana, 1300 Provisional Registrations
There are 1300 crews on the provisional list of participants for Barcolana52; of these, about 200 must, in order to be admitted, complete the registration with information that is currently missing, and must do so by midnight on Saturday October 3. At midnight on Wednesday September 30, the deadline for signing up for Barcolana, a choice linked to the organization of such a particular edition, has expired, giving an unprecedented "early picture" of the participants, which will now have to be examined in detail in view of the regatta scheduled for October 11.
Barcolana Young - Meanwhile, this afternoon, the Società Velica of Barcola and Grignano decided - because of the weather warning and the forecast with very strong scirocco and libeccio winds - to cancel the "Young", scheduled for Saturday the 3rd and Sunday the 4th of October and dedicated to the Optimist class. "To the young athletes of Barcolana Young" - commented President Mitja Gialuz – "I want to say that I am very sorry, but the conditions are really prohibitive for Saturday, and even on Sunday the wind of libeccio would make the organization of the event very complex. We are sailors, and we know when it is necessary to stay in port, and strong scirocco and strong libeccio wind in Trieste are definitely not adequate conditions for a nice and safe Optimist regatta".
Genova-Trieste Regatta 2020 - Meanwhile, the first edition of the Genoa-Trieste regatta 2020 kicks off this evening at 9 p.m. Italian time on virtualregatta.com for the first edition of the Genoa-Trieste regatta 2020, which has had an unexpected success in terms of subscribers. The e-sailing event sees more than 13,000 digital sailors for its start and connects the Genoa Boat Show, inaugurated today, and the Barcolana.
From an organizational point of view, registrations are closed from today, and for all owners who have already registered but have not completed all the information, there will be ways to do so until Saturday, October 3.
Royal Thames Yacht Club Women's Open J70 Championship
Nine skilled women's teams competed at the Royal Thames Yacht Club Women's Open J70 Championship, which took place over the weekend of 19th - 20th September, in champagne sailing conditions.
The standings at the end of day one saw Katie Greenland's RTYC team of Katie Ward, Nicky Muller and Jo Elliott in the lead with an impressively low score of 7 points from 5 races.
Day two saw four more races sailed in similar conditions to day one. Overnight leader Katie Greenland was hot out of the gate winning races 6 & 7. She finished the day with 3rd place in both races 8 and 9 giving her overall victory with a total of 15 points This resulted in her team winning the Lochan Challenge Cup and some coveted stash from sponsors North Sails.
Sarah Allen finished second overall with 5,2,2,2 on day two giving her a total of 29 points to win a month's supply of Kollo, liquid marine collagen; boosting skin, hair and joint health. A scratch crew helmed by Hannah Muskett, showed the greatest improvement over the weekend steadily climbing their way up the fleet to take 4th in both races 6 and 7 and win the last two races to place third overall.
Next year's event will be held in Cowes on Saturday the 18th and Sunday 19th September 2021.
The Evolution of Sailboat Coaching
Over the past six months, the landscape of both professional sailing and coaching has changed significantly. Most people haven't been able to get out racing as much and very few events have even been happening, but what hasn't changed is peoples thirst for knowledge and wanting to improve.
"Throughout the recent lock-down with travel essentially ceasing, I have been busy responding to sailing friends and clients with an appetite for sailing knowledge but the inability to go out sailing. So I have been doing a lot of remote coaching, something I've been doing for a few years anyway. I've helped teams remotely in Australia, the USA, Asia and Europe but it's been fairly ad-hoc and also quite time consuming. Then a few months back I became aware of SLOCOACH and the fit came at a perfect time.
"The SLOCOACH platform is very impressive and it's not about one-size-fits-all, generic advice. It provides me with the analysis tools to deliver high-quality feedback to sailors in a very convenient, professional and innovative format. The sessions I've done with sailors so far have been enjoyable and satisfying. It's great to have a tool with a wide reach, where sailors from anywhere and at any level, have such easy access to top coaching. Anything that helps sailors to be their best and to enjoy the process of improving, has got to be good for the sport of sailing.
"Whilst SLOCOACH has been conceived to help people at all levels from all across the world, two earlier adopters are a team of double-handed high profile sailors. Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson needs no introduction. She has recently embarked on a double-handed sailing campaign with Henry Bomby and asked for some guidance on the set up of their Sunfast 3300 keelboat. Paul Ward is the reigning J70 World Champion and is embarking on an Etchells campaign. He too has already seen the benefit of the SLOCOACH platform."
Below are some quotes from the sailors about the experience -
Paul Ward - "Great analysis. Andrew always explains in great details, works incredibly hard on each session and makes all of the time we spend together useful and relevant. Huge amount of knowledge, great communicator. Coaching right at the top of our sport and always has time to help!"
Shirley Robertson - "By far the best 100 bucks we've ever spent. We could have gone through all season trying to find the best way forward on our own. Dog is unquestionably THE supercoach, one of the most sought after coaches at the very top end of the game. His help was clear and engaging, full of personal experience and anecdotes yet also really analytical in his approach. There was no 'waffle' and he left us with definitive next steps....we'll be back!!"
There are several coaching sessions available through the platform. These include specific skills like helming, starts and manoeuvres to an open session for a set price of AUS$100 or around €60. There's also a racing bundle, which gives you 3 sessions with a $50 discount.
So whether you want to win against the local rockstar who's been beating you every week in the sailing club or are trying to win a World Championship, check out www.sailing.dog or https://www.slocoach.com for convenient and cost effective professional coaching using a state of the art platform.
Bray's Droleen Dinghy Will Sail Again from Jurassic Coast Boat-Building School
When small boat sailing enthusiast W Ogilvy of Bray in County Wicklow persuaded seven of his friends to join him in 1896 in creating a new 12ft sailing dinghy class to his own design for local beach use, even the most casual observer could see that the eight Droleens ("Wrens") that resulted diverged significantly from the world-pioneering Water Wag One-Design dinghies.
The Water Wags had first made their appearance nine years previously a couple of miles to the north, sailing off the beach at Shankill. But by the time the Droleens were having their first full season in 1897, the Wags had long since moved their focus to Kingstown Harbour, where by this time they were numbered in the dozens.
The nearest they now got to Bray was an annual picnic cruise to Dalkey Island. Yet for those who had an opportunity to compare each boat type, it looked as though Ogilvy had set out to create a boat as different as possible from that specified by the Wags' founding father, Ben Middleton.
WM Nixon's full article in Afloat
A Drink From Hemingway -- the Green Isaac's Special
Your humble narrator stumbled across this in his inbox, from liquor.com:
Invented by Ernest Hemingway, one of the 20th century's most celebrated and prodigious drinkers, the Green Isaac's Special first appears in the writer's novel "Islands in the Stream": "Where Thomas Hudson lay on the mattress his head was in the shade cast by the platform at the forward end of the flying bridge where the controls were and when Eddy came aft with the tall cold drink made of gin, lime juice, green coconut water and chipped ice with just enough Angostura bitters to give it a rusty, rose color, he held the drink in the shadow so the ice would not melt while he looked out over the sea," writes Hemingway.
As it happens, I don't have to venture out anywhere for any of the ingredients, all in the pantry and liquor cabinet, and I consider coconut and lime to be essential food groups...
Ingredients
2 ounces London dry gin
4 ounces unsweetened coconut water
1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Garnish: lime wedge or peel
Steps
Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
Pour, unstrained, into a highball glass.
Garnish with a lime wedge.
This recipe is taken from Philip Greene's "To Have and to Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion," which mixes recipes, anecdotes and biographical information about the famed novelist.
Enjoy your weekend!
Featured Brokerage
Pilot Classic 66. 1,595,000 EUR.
A supremely elegant timeless Hoek design of which 2 have been built, they are equally at home cruising or competing at the many Classic regattas such as the Voile de St Tropez. Easily handled by a couple but able to accommodate 8 plus crew in comfort they are the ultimate mini superyacht. Yachting World commented ‘Performance Classic Yachts are objects of desire and have the ability to turn heads anywhere.’
Within the standard specification comes full carbon construction, carbon rig package, carbon rudder, generator, electric winches and bowthruster.
The standard layout comprises of an Owners cabin forward, two aft guest cabins and a crew cabin forward all with en suite. A spacious saloon and galley together with a dedicated forward-facing nav station complete the interior. Other layouts are available.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Mark Speirs
mark [AT] pcyachts [DOT] net
+44 7818 119 656
-----------------------------------------
Gunboat 62 TRIBE. POA USD.
TRIBE is the original Gunboat- the trailblazing, iconic Gunboat, a timeless beauty with rock-solid construction and enviable performance, ready for her next owners’ adventures!
For full details go to... Gunboat Brokerage
Contact
sales [AT] gunboat [DOT] com
-----------------------------------------
2014 Rambler 88. POA. Located in Port Royal, SC - USA.
The iconic RAMBLER 88 is now on the market. One of the most iconic racing yachts on the planet is available to take line honours all over the world. Not only is she very adept at line honours, she is also very capable under handicap.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Telephone: +44(0) 1590 679222
ben [DOT] cooper [AT] berthon [DOT] com
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Nature's imagination far surpasses our own. -- Richard Feynman
Editorial and letter submissions to editor [AT] eurosailnews [DOT] com
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: gb [AT] beesonstone [DOT] com or see www.eurosailnews.com/advertise.html