Brought to you by Seahorse magazine, 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
A Near-Perfect Week For Williams At Match Race Germany
Langenargen, Germany: GAC Pindar dropped just one match on the way to victory over Team Alpari FX in the Final
Ian Williams has won Match Race Germany after beating Keith Swinton in a light-airs, one-race final. The GAC Pindar crew from Great Britain put the Aussies on Team Alpari FX under pressure in the final seconds of the pre-start and, when Swinton ran into the committee boat at start time, the resulting penalty put the Perth skipper on the back foot. The four-time World Champion never relinquished his grip, focusing on squeezing every lost drop of speed out of the Bavaria 40 on a light-wind Lake Constance.
For Swinton, 2nd place represents his best finish in Langenargen, and shows a clear sign that the 28-year-old is overcoming his traditional weakness in the bigger boats on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.
Williams and Swinton both made good progress through the Semi-Finals to beat their respective rivals, Mathieu Richard and Phil Robertson, 2-0. In the one-match Petit Final, the French team LunaJets went on to beat the WAKA Racing Kiwis and claim the final spot on the podium.
Overall results of Stage 1 Match Race Germany, Alpari World Match Racing Tour
1. Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar
2. Keith Swinton (AUS) Team Alpari FX
3. Mathieu Richard (FRA) LunaJets
4. Phil Robertson (NZL) Waka Racing
5. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Sailing Team
6. David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour
7. Taylor Canfield (ISV) USone
8. Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Race Team
9. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Luna Rossa
10. Karol Jablonski (POL) Jablonski Sailing Team
11. Carsten Kemmling (GER) SegelReporter
12. Nicolai Sehested (DEN) TRE-For Match Racing
Figaro Snakes And Ladders
Before the sailors left Deauville they knew that the wind transitions would play a significant part in this Solitaire leg, how right they were. This morning saw dramatic changes in the leaderboard as Nicolas Jossier (In Extenso Experts comptables) and Joan Ahrweiller (Region Basse-Normandie) were able to capitalise on their decision to stay offshore when they got to the Isle of Wight.
Top Brit today is Dartmouth's Henry Bomby (Red). At 0800BST he was in 38th, by 0900BST he had charged through the fleet to 5th. The 23 year old has maintained his position with the leaders ever since. He's currently in 4th place, 1.1nm behind first.
It's also been another great day for Irish skipper, David Kenefick (Full Irish). As well as celebrating his 23rd birthday Kenefick must be pretty happy with his leg so far, rarely dropping below 15th in this, his second shot at the Solitaire.
Top ten at 1618 BST on Monday:
1. Nicholas Jossier (In Extenso Experts comptables) 328.6nm to Leg 1 finish in Plymouth
2. Alexis Loison (Groupe Fiva) +0.5
3. Yann Elies (Groupe Queguiner Leucemie Espoir) +1.1nm to leader
4. Henry Bomby (Red) +1.1nm
5. Damien Guillou (La Solidarite Mutaliste) +1.2nm
6. Joan Ahrweiller (Region Basse-Normandie) +1.6nm
7. Jeremie Beyou (Maitre Coq) +1.7nm
8. Erwan Tabarly (Armor Lux) +1.9nm
9. Gildas Mahe (Interface Concept) +2.0
10. Charlie Dalin (Normandy Elite Team) +2.4nm
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World's Third Largest Tall Ship Is Dublin Bay Bound
Straight after a weekend of Tall Ships on Dublin Bay, the Spanish Embassy in Dublin and Dublin Port Company have announced that the world's third-largest Tall Ship, the 370 foot long, four-masted "Juan Sebastian de Elcano" will visit Dublin from Saturday, 7th until Thursday, 12th June.
The impressive steel-hulled schooner will be met by two Dublin Port Company tug boats and a flotilla of yachts from local sailing clubs in a ceremonial escort to mark the ship's arrival at 7.30am this Saturday in Dublin Bay.
Led by Captain Enrique Torres Piñeyro, the "Elcano" is used primarily as a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy, preparing its Officers for long periods at sea. She will arrive in Dublin carrying 191 crew on board, who will participate in a five-day programme of engagements in the capital to promote Spanish-Irish cultural exchange.
This includes a number of free public open days, when Dubliners and visitors to the city will be able to board and inspect this magnificent vessel up close
1000 Miles To Gibraltar
After a tricky weekend, the IMOCA Ocean Masters New York to Barcelona Race boats are now enjoying some more pleasant downwind conditions. Saturday's fickle winds and the banging and crashing of the first few days were behind them, as at 11:30 UTC the boats were typically making 15-18 knots, as they sped east to the north of the Azores.
With some 30 years of racing in these waters behind him, Marc Guillemot was showing his experience on board Safran, now firmly leading. The French skipper admitted that in his winning move on Saturday, he had simply ignored the weather forecast when it had failed to line-up with reality and had continued to push south.
In contrast turning north early en route to the Azores proved very costly for Spanish crew Anna Corbella and Gerard Marin on board GAES, who had dropped back to 142 miles behind the race leader at 10:30 UTC today.
With a comfortable lead, Safran headed furthest north yesterday evening before gybing east. This has has also set them up ready to be on a faster point of sail when the wind backs into the south - as it is forecast to do.
Anna Corbella hopes that the ridge they have to cross off Portugal on Wednesday-Thursday will provide an opportunity to play catch up. "After that our last hope is Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. We do not have many options otherwise, because we do not have the speed of Safran and Hugo Boss."
Live Tracker: oceanmasters-nytobcn.geovoile.com/2014/app/flash/
Race Round Britain & Ireland On A Volvo 70 - Are You Up To The Challenge?
Record-breaking Volvo 70 racing charter yacht Monster Project is offering amateur sailors a rare opportunity to join our team for the epic Round Britain & Ireland Race, held only once every four years. Racing on a 70 foot carbon fibre sailing machine with a huge square-topped mainsail, twin daggerboards and a canting keel, you'll be lining up against the professionals on Volvo 65s Abu Dhabi, Dongfeng and SCA and competing for line honours on a boat that circumnavigated the British Isles in 2008 in near-record time.
One of the world's most challenging offshore races, the RBI Race is an 1,800 nautical mile circumnavigation that stretches from the iconic Fastnet Rock in the south to the beautiful Shetland Isles in the north.
On Monster Project you can experience the thrill of sailing a high performance racing yacht as an integral part of the crew, pitting yourself against the elements and testing your mettle against some of the world's best professional yacht racers.
Our RBI Race package includes two qualifying races (11-14 and 26-27 July) where you'll be trained by our Professional Crew and Racing Skipper Andy Budgen, before we cross the start line on 10 August and the real adventure begins… Will you be there?
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Rule Clarifications Issued Ahead Of America's Cup Entry Period
The Challenger of Record and the Defender have issued agreed amendments to the Protocol for the 35th America's Cup.
The changes to the Protocol see the responsibility for the appointment of the Regatta Director and his race officials shared by all Competitors, with one vote per Competitor, in line with how the officials are funded.
(As a point of clarification, the Regatta Director will be responsible for concluding an agreement with ISAF, as was the case for the last America's Cup).
The amendments also clarify the appointment and composition of the independent Arbitration Panel, with the chairman to be an arbitrator from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
There is some housekeeping on insurance requirements and clarification on a rule that restricts America's Cup teams from racing - as teams - in events that conflict with the America's Cup.
The changes to the Protocol take effect immediately, ahead of the entry period, which is open from June 9 through August 8, 2014.
To see a full copy of the amendments to the Protocol:
ac.mueva.eu/media/files/m195_ac35-protocol-amendment-1.pdf
Dalton Responds To Spithill
Emirates Team NZ's CEO, Grant Dalton, responded to taunts made on the NZ TV breakfast shows on Friday in an hour long radio interview on NewstalkZB.
Last Friday, in his comments on NZ prime time breakfast TV, Oracle Team USA skipper, Jimmy Spithill, said that if Team NZ were finding it difficult to run a campaign for less money that was spent in the 34th America's Cup, then they needed new management. Spithill added that he knew of several people, who were winners, who could step into the shoes of the current management.
Earlier when launching the Protocol for the 35th America's Cup, Oracle Team USA produced a promotional video which featured comments from several challengers, but not Team New Zealand.
Dalton said on Sunday that omission was a deliberate ploy. 'We're not going to blow smoke up Oracle's ass', was his retort.
In response to claims that the latest Protocol was more commercial than those that had gone before, Dalton commented that there was nothing new in the Protocol in terms of commercial ideas, and that all had been tried before.
Responding to jibes from Spithill as to the amount Team New Zealand management and others were earning, Dalton put an 'educated guess' on Spithill's annual income from Oracle Team USA at 3-5 million dollars per year.
'Dean Barker earns a fraction of that,' Dalton added. He also outlined the office and management staff employed by Team NZ, saying that only he and COO Kevin Shoebridge were on a full time basis, there were others in the sailing, design and support teams, who were on modest retainers. He also said that wing trimmer, Glenn Ashby, had received a substantial offer from Team Australia to join the Challenger of Record. -- Richard Gladwell in Sail-World.com
From Some Kiwi Editorials...
Ellison's new self-serving America's Cup rules, unveiled this week, stink. The cup is in danger of becoming an event defined by match-fixing, rather than "match racing".
Yet another sad chapter in its history of lawyered-up rich nobs fighting it out through the courts, rather than on the water.
Frankly, it's time Grant Dalton and co packed up the Team New Zealand sails and walked away from the sham cup. It is now a complete and utter farce.
Team NZ needs to pull the pin and tell Ellison and his bottomless pit of money that we're not interested anymore.
And without the very real and raw talent of the Kiwis, the event loses so much appeal - if not all of it.
Ellison is totally screwing the scrum. This isn't sport as we Kiwis know it and it's certainly not yachting. The cup is now firmly entrenched in disrepute - if it wasn't before.
The rules Ellison revealed this week for the next America's Cup make it so much harder and much more expensive just to compete. -- Duncan Garner, Dominion Post
* Team New Zealand should not enter the next America's Cup.
Considering the Kiwi syndicate's long association with the event, and how agonisingly close Dean Barker and his crew got to snatching the Auld Mug away from Oracle last September, that is not an easy statement to make. But scouring the 78-page document released yesterday outlining the rules for the next America's Cup, it is difficult to find a compelling reason for Emirates Team NZ to be involved.
The terms imposed by defenders Oracle Team USA are among the most self-serving rules that have been tabled in the 163-year history of the event. Team NZ, and the other potential challengers should not play any part in it...
...The biggest deterrent for challengers is the structure of the next event, which will be staged in four parts. The new set-up means the challengers will have to commit resources to designing, engineering and testing the new class of boat knowing there is a chance they may not even make it to the big show.
Those that do make it through to the playoffs will have to ensure they design a boat to meet the conditions of two potentially very different venues, with the timing of the America's Cup qualifiers suggesting a Southern Hemisphere venue, while the playoffs and Cup match will be held at a yet-to-be-determined venue in the US or Bermuda.
The defenders, meanwhile, have the luxury of being able to build and test two boats, insuring them against a catastrophic failure. -- Dana Johannsen in the New Zealand Herald
Team Alvimedica Arrives In Newport
Team Alvimedica with American skipper Charlie Enright of Bristol, RI, at the helm, sailed into Newport Harbor this afternoon following a challenging 10-day crossing of the Atlantic. A flotilla of local vessels welcomed the Volvo Ocean Race team at the Castle Hill Light entrance to Newport Harbor. The fleet blasted horns of welcome and guided Team Alvimedica to the pontoon at Newport Shipyard where family, friends and local supporters gathered at dusk to cheer on the hometown team.
The young team is preparing for its first Volvo Ocean Race and this test session is critical to Team Alvimedica's readiness for the toughest and longest around the world race and adventure that starts in October. The team will continue its training and crew selection process this month in Newport.
Enright, 29, and Mark Towill, 25, Kaneohe, HI, and the rest of the crew, replicated "race mode" on board throughout the transatlantic crossing.
Americans trying out for a spot on the crew are Rhode Islanders Nick Dana of Newport, Jesse Fielding of North Kingstown, and George Peet of Grosse Pointe, MI. Amory Ross of Newport was on board to document the journey in words and images.
International crew on board for the transatlantic leg included: Berkcan Arat of Istanbul, Turkey; Alberto Bolzan of Trieste, Italy; Ryan Houston of Auckland, New Zealand; Will Oxley of South Townsville, Australia; and David Swete of Southampton, United Kingdom. Volvo Ocean Race veteran Stu Bannatyne of Auckland, New Zealand sailed as the crew's mentor in part of an ongoing program to prepare the young crew to be race-ready in October.
www.facebook.com/TeamAlvimedica
www.volvooceanrace.com
Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
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* From Eddie Mays: As a further footnote to Davis Munge's comment in Monday's column. I find it interesting that 66 out of the 83 competitors at the Sail for Gold regatta were British, including three classes that had an all GBR cast. Following on from the Laser Europa Cup event that was held the weekend before at Weymouth when only a stray Omani helm managed to find his way to the South Coast in an entry of 66 it would seem to be that we (GBR) are not a favourite holiday destination for our Continental cousins.
I am sure many of your erudite readers could compose something very witty using 'le Manche' and 'Mal de Mer' but foreign tongues have never been my strong suit. (Like all our leading politicians since 1974) and it is too early in the morning.
* From Tom Chant, International Development Manager, British Marine Federation & Superyacht UK: All your contributors on keeping the fun in youth sailing are on the right track. They are all singing unknowingly from what most UK sport governing bodies are signed up to - the Long Term Athlete Development Plan. This gives an overview of the type of activities and training that should be provided to young people in differing age groups. Coaching provided by the sport governing bodies should conform to the principles below to guide the development of young people in sport.
1. FUNdamentals - This phase is appropriate for boys aged 6 to 9 and girls aged 5 to 8. The main objective should be the overall development of the athlete's physical capacities and fundamental movement skills
2. Learning to train - This phase is appropriate for boys aged 9 to 12 and girls aged 8 to 11. The main objective should be to learn all fundamental sports skills.
3. Training to train - This phase is appropriate for boys aged 12 to 16 and girls aged 11 to 15. The main objective should be the overall development of the athlete's physical capacities (focus on aerobic conditioning) and fundamental movement skills.
4. Training to compete - This phase is appropriate for boys aged 16 to 18 and girls aged 15 to 17. The main objective should be to optimise fitness preparation, sport/event specific skills and performance.
5. Training to win - This phase is appropriate for boys aged 18+ and girls aged 17+. The main objective should be to maximize fitness preparation and sport/event specific skills as well as performance.
6. Retirement & retainment - The main objective should be to retain athletes for coaching, officiating, sport administration etc.
A quick Google of "Long Term Athlete Development Plan" will give you a plethora of information if you want more to read. Great to see some of the stories about mucking about on boats reminds me of past days on the water in pursuit of leisure.
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The Last Word
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