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Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe 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@scuttlebutteurope.com
Golding Down But Back Up Again It was an even more frightening moment on reflection for Golding as he was keenly aware that it was almost four years to the day and probably only 300 miles away from where he dismasted in the last Vendee Globe. "There was certainly a point where I thought, 'Here we go again, please, not another Christmas in Perth'," Golding said. "But I am reasonably sorted now, I am not going to go mad. I just have to consolidate with the boat a bit and accept that I wont have my best day. Otherwise there is the propensity to get right into that downwards spiral and that's when bad things start to happen." "I'm back on course now. The Code Zero is a bit of a mess with all the sheets inside it. I'm in repair mode now and have to sit and stitch the cover back on the furler line. I have not had a chance to really inspect the line, but I am certainly hoping the damage is only to the cover and none of the core is gone. That would make life difficult. "I am a bit out of sequence now [behind in his sail change pattern to match the wind forecast] so I need to get to the Solent and two reefs and just not go mad. The main thing is I am now down to the line of Jean Le Cam, so I need to consolidate now. "When all this was going on I had the flashback to four years ago. It is so dangerous now because you have 20kts and are lulled into a false sense of security and then suddenly there is a big 35kts gust." Golding, in seventh place, has slipped back to 170 miles behind Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) and 1,700 behind the leader, but he was back to over 17 knots by midday. * Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, the West Pacific ice gate, located almost in the centre of ocean between New Zealand and Cape Horn, was moved to 180 miles to the north. It is now on a latitude of 49 degrees south, instead of 52 degrees. Like previous changes it was driven by the presence of icebergs towards Cape Horn. The Vendee Globe race office, Richard Silvani from Meteo France, and CLS, (the body responsible, among other things, for identifying icebergs along the route of the Vendee Globe), gather satellite photos of the oceans. Their goal: to assess the position of the drifting ice and avoid the skippers crossing a white minefield, if necessary by changing the position of safety gates. They must warn the skippers at least two gates before any changes, so their routing strategy is not so affected That was the reason for this latest change, with the race leaders three thousand miles from the West Pacific gate. It was moved three degrees north - forcing the skippers north as they must pass through one end of it - after icebergs were identified at 54 degrees south, the road the sailors would potentially have gone down. The leader Francois Gabart (Macif) and Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire) are passing south of Australia at 53 degrees south at the moment. Rankings as of Monday 17 December 2012, 05h00 (FR) 1. MACIF, Francois Gabart, 12830.1 nm to finish Russians Hold While Young Guns Close The Gap
In a first-class display of tactics and crew work, sailing wunderkind Ben Saxton and his Great Britain team closed the gap on the clubhouse leader with a bullet in today's only race. Saxton's Bango Powered by SLAM is now seven points off the leading Team Russia. Australia's Glenn Bourke and his Club Marine crew have held onto third overall but lost their grip on the countback that had them on equal points with Saxton at the close of racing yesterday. "There were a couple of opportunities we didn't grab with both hands but in the light airs we are not unhappy with our sixth today," said Bourke, the CEO of Hamilton Island. Ian Brown's One Design Sailing has moved into fifth overall. Dual Olympic gold medallist Malcolm Page, who is on the mainsheet, said "Conditions today were fickle. When you got it wrong you paid big. There's a lot to play for, and a lot to lose." Tomorrow is the one and only layday for the SB20 sportsboat fleet contesting their world title. Racing will resume on Tuesday and conclude on Thursday, December 20. Top five after 5 races: 1. Team Russia, Rodion Luka, RUS, 16 points Results at worlds2012.sb20class.com and www.hamiltonisland.com.au/sb20-worlds-2012/ Key West Is Calling! Enter now and save late fees and last minute scrambles. Quantum Key West 2013 is sure to be a great week for all. Entries and details: www.premiere-racing.com EFG Bank Becomes Title Sponsor for Sailing Arabia The Tour The 2013 'Sailing Arabia - The Tour' has a new title sponsor from the financial services sector. EFG International Bank will get naming rights for the event which visits several key centers in the region. EFG International will also participate directly in the race with its team EFG Bank Monaco, named to reflect the "EFG Bank Sailing Academy" partnership with the Monaco Yacht Club, and pointing to the bank's business presence in 30 locations around the world. Starting in Bahrain on 10 February and finishing in Oman's capital city Muscat on 25 February, EFG Bank Sailing Arabia - the Tour 2013 is expected to attract a good sized fleet. From YachtRacing.biz: Event site (English and Arabic): www.sailingarabiathetour.com Return To Southern Ocean for 'Cannonball' Guo Guo set sail from Qingdao in his Class 40 boat on November 18 and the first Chinese sailor to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race has just sailed east of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. His 21,600-mile journey should take him around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope before he reaches the Indian Ocean. He is expected back in Qingdao some 125 days after his start. Guo Chuan trained for two years to learn how to handle alone his 13-meter boat - a different approach from the Green Dragon entry led by Ian Walker in 2008-09. An aircraft controller by trade, he made the career move into sailing at the age of 33. Now aged 47, he is still three months away from the finish line but declares he is very confident. WSSR Rules 2013 New items for 2013 are printed in red. Perhaps of interest to intenting offshore record competitors, is the introduction of the new "doublehanded category" - see rule 20.b. This reflects the interest and increasing incidence of doublehanded offshore races. John Reed 39270 - The Official Pictorial Record of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 12 From intense racing to the high emotion of life onboard and the festive atmosphere of the race villages, this magnificent fleet captured the imagination of millions through the media. 39270 provides the ultimate hard-copy keepsake of this global spectacle. Published for an international audience with text translations in English, Spanish, French and Chinese, this book documents one of the all-time great adventures by compiling the very best photography from all angles of this global event, to tell a visual story more vividly than every before. 39270 - the official pictorial record of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 12 Available from www.southatlanticpublishing.com Running The Rhumblines The combination of warm temperatures and a reliable sailing breeze blowing across Pioneer Bay provides the Whitsunday Sailing Club's Tropical shirt sailors with a welcome escape from the 'summer blues'. However the wind failed to reach a peak gust of 8 knots when the competitive fleet faced the start for the first race of the Edge's Boat Yard aggregate point series on a near windless Pioneer Bay. It is rare for the crews to race in a soft and tactically testing breeze; however they were forced to bring their light wind skills out to play. As to be expected the race proved to be a supreme test of concentration to produce the required all angle sailing speed to outsail their respective corrected handicaps. Some mastered the challenge while others including the Craig Piccinelli skippered Wobbly Boot which recorded a runaway win in the Edge's Boat Yard yacht of the year for 2012 finished eighth 15 minutes and 25 seconds astern of corrected handicap winner the John Galloway skippered Queensland Marine Services. Skipper John Galloway and crew did no harm to their respected reputation when they became locked into a duel with the higher handicapped Swan 45 Tulip (Bernie Van't Hof), and the Charles Wallis helmed Murray, Burns and Dovell designed Reignition. The Tulip crew progressively secured a firm grip of the line honours by selecting the best options from the breeze that blew over the deck and her owner skipper remained confident of steering the sloop to a rare line and handicap win after they handed the fleet a light wind sailing lesson with a runaway 7 minute 8 second line honours win over Reignition. As the seconds ticked away it seemed that the Tulip crew had outpaced their 1.180 time correction factor but the Queensland Marine Services crew spoilt the post race celebrations for the Tulip crew when they managed to record the faster corrected course time with 2 seconds to spare leaving skipper Bernie Van't Hof to hold the second best handicap result 1 minute 2 seconds ahead of Reignition. -- Ian Grant Submit Your Recipe to the Boats.Com Holiday Cheer Cocktail Guide In some parts of the world, the holidays are chilly. In others, the boating season is full speed ahead. Wherever you're located at this time of year, we want to know what you like to put in your glass at the end of the day, whether the resulting liquid is high-test or virgin state. What is your favorite? Among our editorial team, an informal poll suggests rum, vodka, and beer are preferred ingredients, but by no means the only ones. Checking in with two of the bars in the running for the 2012 Wight Vodka Favourite Yachting Bar, we noted that the Original Painkiller is the specialty drink at The Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. And the Gladstone's "Queen" Mary, reputed to be "As majestic as the ship herself" is at Gladstone's in Long Beach, California. Submit your recipe here: And VOTE for the 2012 Wight Vodka Favourite Yacht Bar here: Read more: blog.boats.com * Editor: At press time the top three bars are: Sint Maarten Yacht Club With a total of 2312 votes cast so far, and 10 days to go... 18ft Skiffs NSW Championship, Race 2
Provisional results at this time have Lumix (Jonathan Whitty, James Hozack, Aron Everett) as winner of Race 2 in the NSW title, Fisher & Paykel (Gary Phillips, Ewan Duckworth and Tim Baraclough), winner of Race 8 of the AEG 3-Buoys Challenge and Pure Blonde (Tom Clout, Rob Bell and Matt Wark) the overall winner of the 3-Buoys Challenge. Aside from the provisional results, the rest of the day was something to rember as we were treated to the most unusual finish anyone could remember. While the day in Sydney started out with brilliant sunshine and a nice Nor'Easter, things deteriorated to a point where the race was delayed due to a lack of wind. The fleet finally got away in a light Nor'Easter but a variety of wind pressures and directions kept all teams on their toes over the first two laps of the course. Just when things looked normal and reigning Giltinan champion Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage and Peter Harris) held a 1m50s at the final windward mark, nobody could have foreseen what was still to come. As the champion Gotta Love It 7 team raced under spinnaker to the wind mark off Shark Island, the wind dropped while the rest of the fleet came down to join '7', which was 'parked' near the buoy. With just the final short spinnaker run to the finish off Double Bay, there were 10 boats all in a single line Lumix, featuring a radical new wing mast, and Mojo Wine (James Dorron, Ricky Bridges and Mike McKensey) were the first to pick up the new breeze and resulted in Lumix taking the honours by 18s. A video coverage of the race can be seen on www.18footerstv.com There will now be a three weeks break from racing. The season will resume on 13 January with Race 1 of the Australian Championship. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League www.18footers.com.au International Rolex Regatta The event features IRC and CSA (Caribbean Sailing Association) handicap racing, as well as one-design racing, in a beautiful setting. The distance race from Cowpet Bay to Charlotte Amalie Harbour and back showcases the coastline and offers competitors a great view of St. Thomas' beautiful capital. NOR and other information at www.rolexcupregatta.com/index2.php Desmond Scott To Lead Cruising Association Mr Scott has been an active member of the CA for the past 15 years and has also served on Council, a number of CA committees and has been a Vice President of the Cruising Association on two occasions. Living in Somerset he sails his Rival 32 from London and keeps a 44 ft motor cruiser in the south of France. According to a CA spokeswomen : 'He believes the sea is in his blood and joined the Association in 1997 when he gave up ocean yacht racing to become a cruising sailor.' Judith Grimwade stands alongside Desmond as the Association's Vice President and new Chair of Council. Ms Grimwade joined the CA in 1986 and with her husband Mark, has been cruising the coast of Western France for 10 years. Their sailing base is Rochefort-sur-mer. Yachting Monthly: www.yachtingmonthly.com Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com * From Michael Brown: It is not often that I agree with Mike O'Hagan but on the subject of sponsorship I am with him wholeheartedly. You only have to read the "blurb" about the Yacht Racing Forum to realise that "they" think they run the world of Yacht Racing, where is the representation of the over 3 million amateurs? Sponsorship of events great but individuals & their yachts no. Let the professionals have their own World Match Racing, Vendee Globe, Volvo/Whitbread & America's Cup, although the latter two were, in my opinion, much better when one took part as an amateur. In my experience when both are in the same crew the professionals remain arrogant in spite of frequently being carried by the amateurs & I have yet to meet one who will buy his owner dinner for the privilege of being allowed to sail on the yacht. * From Tom White: Sponsorship allows a group of self-serving individuals - known as "professionals" to make a living. The trickledown effect of professional sailors and their "advances" to general sailing does not advance sailing except in their own minds. Boats are faster not safer is the 1st thing that comes to my mind. Keels falling off, rigs falling or failing - sails last for 3 races. I have been sailing competitively for 45 years (self-financed) and have yet to want or have the desire to purchase the next generation anything. BS I say - "professionals" are a bunch of self-serving pigs at the corporate money trough - taking far more FROM sailing than what they give back - and I dare say "ruining sailing". Who about getting attention - "the professional" wants it - I do not or even care. Featured Brokerage GOR Race winner, up for sale post large refit and new paint job. Yacht will be sold absolutely ready for another lap. Brokerage through Berthon International: www.yachtworld.com/berthon/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at The Last Word |
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Scuttlebutt Europe #2740 - 17 December
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