In This Issue
• Alex Thomson ceases racing in the Vendee Globe
• Moonlight Serenade
• Vendee Globe: Expert Analysis on Week 3 from Conrad Colman
• The Ingrid Abery Sailing Calendar 2021 is now available!
• The Boat To Beat - America's Cup Defender Analysis
• 18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 2
• Prada America's Cup World Series Auckland and Prada Christmas Race Format Announced
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• 2022 ORC/IRC World Championship to be in Porto Cervo
• America's Cup: 'Substantial penalties' for coordinated practice as Team New Zealand raise concerns
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Botin TP52 - INTERLODGE VI
• • Black Pepper Code 1
• • TP52 - GLADIATOR
• The Last Word: John Waters
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
Alex Thomson ceases racing in the Vendee Globe
After incurring damage to the starboard rudder of his boat, British sailor Alex Thomson has ceased racing in the Vendee Globe and is now sailing his boat towards Cape Town.
Thomson last night disconnected the starboard rudder and has since been sailing the yacht with just one rudder. After assessing the situation today, the skipper and his team have decided that the only course of action is to cease racing and sail the boat to Cape Town.
Thomson said: "Unfortunately, a repair is not possible. We therefore accept that this will be the end of the race for us. Myself, my team and our partners are of course deeply disappointed. We believe the best was yet to come in this race".
The incident occurred on what was Thomson's 19th day of racing in the round-the-world Vendee Globe yacht race, which began on Sunday 8th November from Les Sables-d'Olonne on France's west coast.
Alex Thomson is currently approximately 1,800 nautical miles from Cape Town and it is expected to take the skipper around seven days to make the journey. He'll do so without the use of his starboard rudder and so will proceed safely and cautiously. Thomson's technical team will travel to Cape Town to meet the yacht upon arrival.
Moonlight Serenade
After more than twenty days of sailing, the pecking order is becoming clearer with the leader Charlie Dalin expected to pass the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope on Monday. The South Atlantic has not been very kind for more than ten days, but the weather pattern concerning the St. Helena high is now allowing the two groups of chasers not to lose any more ground. The first Southern low-pressure system is meanwhile developing off Cape Town…
The Cape of Good Hope is coming up for the leaders at least. They are now wondering how to tackle this headland which is never the most welcoming. This is the first of the three capes in the round the world voyage before Cape Leeuwin (S.W. Australia) and the Horn (at the southern tip of South America).
After more than three weeks of racing to round South Africa, the leader has not smashed any records, as the reference time between Les Sables d'Olonne and the Cape of Good Hope is still held by Alex Thomson with a time of 17 days 22 hours and 58 minutes since 2016. But just four years earlier in 2012, it took Armel Le Cleac'h almost 23 days to reach the tip of Africa…
Top ten at 29 Nov 2020 - 21h (UTC)
1. Charlie Dalin - APIVIA, 17974.9 nm to finish
2. Thomas Ruyant - Linkedout, 274.28 nm nm to leader
3. Kevin Escoffier - PRB, 296.26 nm
4. Jean Le Cam - Yes We Cam!, 300.66 nm
5. Yannick Bestaven - Maitre Coq IV, 338.83 nm
6. Louis Burton - Bureau Vallee 2, 354.64 nm
7. Sebastien Simon - Arkea Paprec, 368.59 nm
8. Boris Herrmann - Seaexplorer - Yacht Club De Monaco, 393.66 nm
9. Damien Seguin - GROUPE APICIL, 469.55 nm
10. Giancarlo Pedote - Prysmian Group, 523.28 nm
www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking
Vendee Globe: Expert Analysis on Week 3 from Conrad Colman
Seventeen days into the 2020-21 edition of the Vendee Globe solo nostop yacht race around the world and there has been no let up in the on the water action or the drama befalling some of the solitary skippers.
Writing exclusively for Yacht Racing Life past-Vendee Globe competitor Conrad Colman gives his expert insight into the happenings in this third week of the race.
The breaking news of the day, however, is that Thomas awoke to a large bang this morning and saw that the structural shaft of his port foil is severely damaged. He doesn't yet know the cause, but the consequences are certain. He will either have to chop it off or cast it loose to avoid it breaking under load later on.
Meanwhile, Damien Seguin amply demonstrated how difficult repairs can be at sea when a relatively minor task turned into a drama. He was doing a small repair on a piece of rope and slipped with his knife, plunging it into his arm.
All Vendee Globe sailors complete a specialised offshore medical training course but spare a special thought for Damien as he only has one good hand at the best of times (he was born with only one hand).
I consider the South Atlantic to be the single most challenging part of the race from a navigator's perspective and this edition certainly hasn't disappointed.
A couple of days ago it looked like the leading trio of Apivia, Linked Out and Hugo Boss, could slide down the eastern face of the cold front moving eastwards across the South Atlantic basin.
However, between the lighter than expected winds, and technical problems, they succumbed to the calms. Even Charlie on Apivia, the only member of the erstwhile leading trio to still be operating at 100 per cent has been caught in light, and increasingly unfavourably upwind conditions while those behind are catching a break.
Conrad's analysis in Yachtracing.life
The Ingrid Abery Sailing Calendar 2021 is now available!
Recently awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society, photographer Ingrid has hand-picked twenty five artistic, dramatic, modern and classic regatta images. Popular events featured include the 35th America's Cup, J-Class, Classics at Les Voiles de St Tropez, IRC Championship Cowes, TP52, J70 World Championship, St Barths Bucket, SailGP, Superyacht Cup, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup plus a smidgen of carnage.
Opening up to A2 each month boasts two striking images. Every page has a direct QR code link to the image on Ingrid's site and date boxes to note regattas. All calendar pages are displayed online. £20 + p/p.
And for corporate logo print runs please contact here.
The Boat To Beat - America's Cup Defender Analysis
If there's one hard fact in a sea of uncertainty, this is identifying the team that needs to be beaten to win the America's Cup, the current Defender representatives, Emirates Team New Zealand. Their new second boat took many by surprise as it was rolled out into the open for the first time. This is a bold, aggressively styled AC75 that is a long way from their first boat. Such a big departure has raised plenty of questions so, in our Defender analysis Matt Sheahan explains what this means for both the Kiwis and the competition.
18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 2
Click on image for photo gallery.
Sydney Harbour: Fresh North West winds over 20-knots, with gusts up to 40-knots prior to race time, cast doubt over the Australian 18 Footers League being able to stage Race 2 of the NSW 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today, and finally the race was abandoned when the wind conditions finally became too strong for even the most experienced teams.
As the scheduled race start time approached, a number of the rookie teams were concerned by the conditions and elected to stay ashore for safety and damage reasons.
Soon after more experienced teams, including the Race 1 winner and current Australian champion tech2 team, also decided not to risk damage to their skiffs and also elected not to hit the water.
Only three teams managed to reach the vicinity of the start line in Rose Bay but the wind was so fierce that even the three experienced teams were unable to cope with the worsening conditions.
Yandoo, skippered by 2000 JJ Giltinan champion John Winning, was first to arrive, followed by Winning Group, skippered by seven time Giltinan champion skipper Seve Jarvin.
The third team was Smeg, skippered by three-times Giltinan champions Michael Coxon, which was in the vicinity of the start line but fell foul of the conditions and was forced to accept assistance to get back to the rigging Area.
Wind gusts were certainly 40-knots, or more, and there were reports that the wind at nearby Sydney Airport was up to 50-knots.
No decision has been made as yet regarding the re-sail of the race.
Race 3 of the NSW Championship will be conducted next Sunday, December 6. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd
Prada America's Cup World Series Auckland and Prada Christmas Race Format Announced
In less than three weeks four international teams from New Zealand, Italy, United States, and Great Britain will line up for the first time on their second generation of flying AC75's for the PRADA America's Cup World Series Auckland and the PRADA Christmas Race (December 17-20).
The event will see current America's Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, the Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, INEOS TEAM UK and New York Yacht Club American Magic facing each other during four days of match racing on the Waitemata Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf widely regarded as 'The jewel in Auckland's crown'.
The first race will start few minutes after 3pm on December 17 and will see Emirates Team New Zealand against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team. The second pairing will be American Magic versus INEOS TEAM UK.
With each of the teams interpreting the AC75 design rule differently there are marked differences between all four boats launched so far and therefore great anticipation to see them race for the first time.
The racing format for the four days of racing has now been finalised. For the first three days of the PRADA ACWS Auckland (17th-19th of December) there will be four races per day of Round Robin competition when all of the four teams will race each other twice.
The fourth day (20th of December) the PRADA Christmas Race will kick off and will be comprised of two knock out stages, the first stage consists of two head to head match ups, the winners of each will progress to the final, the losers to a 3rd & 4th match which will help decide the final rankings. The pairing of the Christmas Race Semifinals will be decided by the results of the PRADA ACWS Auckland double Round Robin.
The races will be held on a windward-leeward racecourse with an upwind start and last around 25-30 minutes each.
Racing is scheduled for 1500 – 1800 each day weather permitting. The race course will be communicated on racing days by the Race Management depending on wind direction, intensity and tides. The permitted wind range is between 6.5 and 21 knots.
Seahorse December 2020
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Only the best is enough
When Armel le Cleac'h won the 2016-2017 Vendee Globe race he did so wearing all-Musto technical clothing. Time to go for the back-to-back win then in 2020...
Update
(Scientific) poetry in motion, quite the week, full marks to Genoa, despite that virus, building for the times. Plus a change of steed. Guillermo Parada, Jack Griffin, Carlos Pich, Terry Hutchinson, Marcus Stamper, Patrice Carpentier
It's about confidence
Like many previous advances progress towards greener boatbuilding requires changing the established mindset
Rod Davis - The long game
So why did you go out sailing today?
ORC - Embracing the future
Andy Claughton and Dobbs Davis try to rate those tricky-to-catch flying foilers...
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2022 ORC/IRC World Championship to be in Porto Cervo
The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) are pleased to announce the next biennial ORC/IRC World Championship will be held in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy. Dates for the event are to be 18-26 June 2022.
The event will be the second World Championship held using both of these two World Sailing-recognized international rating systems since this year's event planned to be in the USA at New York Yacht Club had to be cancelled due to pandemic restrictions. The first combined ORC/IRC Worlds was held in 2018 in The Hague, Netherlands and attracted 85 yachts from 15 nations.
The choice of YCCS has been accepted and approved by the ORC Offshore Classes and Events Committee and the IRC Board, so now the planning of details may begin on the format, scoring and other topics once a Working Party is formed from members representing ORC, IRC, and YCCS.
As in previous planning for the combined Worlds, three full-crew classes segregated by size and speed will be competing for three World Champion titles. A Notice of Race is expected to be issued in mid-2021, about one year in advance of the start of racing.
America's Cup: 'Substantial penalties' for coordinated practice as Team New Zealand raise concerns
America's Cup teams have been warned they face "substantial penalties" for coordinated practice after a concerned Team New Zealand took the issue to the arbitration panel.
With all four teams now fine-tuning their second generation boats on the Waitemata Harbour, the prospect of syndicates working together to gauge speeds and set-ups has become very real, especially on the tight courses being used.
Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand wanted the arbitration panel to "provide guidelines" on what was considered "sailing or testing … in a coordinated manner" and felt the opinions of regatta director, Australian Iain Murray, could prove helpful.\
The Kiwis claimed "there is currently a difference of opinion amongst the competitors on what is permitted".
For his part, Murray came up with three rules he would implement, if he was allowed to:
1. Yachts must not sail within 100m of each other on the same approximate heading for more than 30 seconds.
2. Yachts will not sail a measurable course at approximately the same time.
3. Yachts may share practice marks subject to point 2 and where they do not round or pass the marks within 30 seconds or each other. -- Duncan Johnstone
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The Last Word
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