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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
A Broken Strop and Power Problems
Javier Sanso (Acciona 100% EcoPowered) two days ago reported that he has only needed to use his hydro-generators three times since the start and is predominantly operating at 100% charge due to his extensive array of solar panelling. Questioned today on the Vendee Globe LIVE Mike Golding (Gamesa) responded with a pragmatic perspective. "I think you will see more boats using a combination of systems. The solar power is very good, but we have a little bit of both, the panels I am using are the same make as the ones that are on Acciona and they are custom, but they are extremely expensive. Acciona will not be a cheap boat to equip such a large array of panels. For sure, it is a solution now. It is strange because solar power was good for a time, but the panels were very inefficient, but the panels we have now are extremely effective." Said Golding. Then he dropped a bombshell, revelaing that he himself had been without functioning hydro-generators for around three weeks. "Well, I can't tell a lie. Ours aren't working either! I have two very good hydro generators that are working extremely well, but the little box of tricks that does the conversion has fried itself. To be honest, it nearly caused a fire. I nearly had a fire onboard, so I wasn't that impressed with that. The irony is that I have two very effective hydro-generators both fully attached to the boat, functioning correctly, but I can't use the power." * Stamm soldiers on... Cheminees Poujoulat is still studying every solution to supply some fuel to Bernard Stamm. However, it has been decided that it will be done after the Cape Horn. * Four years on... Today, four years ago, on the 58th day of racing a dramatic event occurred. January 6 at 2:40 am, VM materials, Jean Le Cam's Open 60 lost its keel bulb and capsized 200 miles from Cape Horn, not far from the current position of Jean Le Cam onboard SynerCiel. He waited patiently for endless hours in his survival suit in the hull of his upturned boat. At 3:21 p.m., Vincent Riou arrived on the scene and was able to contact Jean by throwing a packet of butter at his boat. At 19:00, he decided to leave his boat on his own. A chilling expedition in cold water of around 5 degress through a submerged exit hatch. Jean plunged into the cold, weightless in the water, then popped outside and clung to one of the boats rudders. It took four attempts before Riou managed to recover hime aboard PRB. During the rescue, the outriggers of PRB broke and Riou had to abandon the race after passing the Horn for the second time. Jean Le Cam is expected to round Cape Horn sometime tomorrow afternoon. Top Ten Rankings as of Monday 07 January 2013, 20h00 (FR)
1. MACIF, Francois Gabart, 5503.1 nm to finish
Fastest Fastnet Entries
Between 12:00 and 12:01, 20 boats had entered with Blondie, Henny Abbenhues' First 42s7, the first to enter only 7 seconds after entries opened. Within 10 minutes there were a total of 121 Rolex Fastnet Race entrants. Now, at 16:30, this has crept steadily higher to the current list of 235 boats. To place these numbers in context one must look back to 2011 when the limit of 300 boats was reached after 10 days of the entry system opening. This year it looks like the limit will be reached much earlier than in previous editions and the Royal Ocean Racing Club would encourage anybody considering a Fastnet campaign to get their entries in soon! For more information about the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Rolex Fastnet Race, please visit www.rorc.org or fastnet.rorc.org
Private Navy Takes On Somali Pirates
As successful ship hijacking continues , the private navy, which is Britain's first in almost two centuries, has been set up to take on the Somali pirates who are terrorising a stretch of the Indian Ocean along the east coast of Africa. Anthony Sharp, chief executive, Typhon, told The Sunday Times: "They [Royal Navy, NATO and the European Union Naval Force] can't do the job because they haven't got the budget. Deploying a billion pound warship against six guys [pirates] with US$500 of kit is not a very good use of the asset." Funded by shipping firms, Typhon's fleet will include a 10,000 tonne mother ship and high speed armoured patrol boats which will be led by an ex-Royal Navy commodore and 240 former marines and sailors. Its fleet will sail under a sovereign flag, which gives their vessels the legal right to carry weapons into harbour.
From Boating Business:
Sunday Times:
Marinepool Revolution NX Racing Top - Introducing A New Generation Of Sailing Clothing
Impossible? Too good to be true? Well, not any longer! The new Revolution NX top by Marinepool combines all the above mentioned highly regarded qualities in one new revolutionary garment with Dermizax NX technology. This high-tech and high-end racing top is one of the stars in the Marinepool 2013 collection. The Marinepool design team and Toray, the producers of the Dermizax NX fabrics have been working behind the scenes to bring this new product to market, while the world class athletes on the Marinepool Racing Team put the gear through a thorough testing programme. Their feedback was inspiring the name of this racing top: Revolutionary! Never before has a racing top ticked off the boxes like Revolution NX with unrivaled comfort, ease of movement and a breathability at 30,000g/m2/24h - 50% higher than any other product in our comprehensive product range. Athletes who turn every stone to reduce weight and who always are in pursuit of a competitive advantage will look no further: Revolution NX
"I Think There Is A Chance To See More Capsizes"
On measuring up against the opposition (all teams with two boats) with his one-boat campaign: "We started a year after all the others, but we've already passed Artemis Racing and ORACLE TEAM USA, even if we started one year after them. I want to be honest, I feel pretty strong with our position, with where we are now. Looking what happened to the others, especially to Artemis and Oracle, could happen to us tomorrow. (But) what I'm saying is, look at Oracle – they never stopped from the last campaign. They had a two-boat campaign, but now they're down to a one-boat campaign. Yes, they probably fixed their first boat, but it's a compromised boat. They're not going to do the Cup in that boat. So in the end, I don't think they're going to sail more than us, they're probably going to sail way less than us. And Artemis, probably the same. They were supposed to launch in July... In the end, if you had to look at what we did, I think I'm honestly really happy. The doubt is that if we capsize, we're probably out of the game..." On racing on San Francisco Bay: "I think we have to see still what is going to happen next year. I think it is going to be really tricky to see (the AC72s) sailing on San Francisco Bay in those conditions. I think there is a chance to see a couple of more capsizes."
Aberdeen Asset Management Farr 40 Tasmanian Championship
Sailing Transfusion, the former Farr 40 world champion from Sydney surfed to victory before an 18 knot seabreeze in the final race, with series leader Voodoo Chile, helmed by Hobart yachtsman Lloyd Clark, third across the line. Transfusion's win levelled the pointscore and it also gave the Sydney yacht the vital total of three wins to two by the Hobart boat. However, he was speaking in broader terms of the success of the Tasmanian championship which is part of the Eastern Seaboard Circuit of championship events for the Farr 40 class sponsored by Aberdeen Global Asset Management, which also sponsors the famous Cowes Week in England. Ironically, a second place in the last race by Tilford Auto Group, chartered for the regatta by Andrew Hunn, co-owner of Voodoo Chile, cost Lloyd Clark the Tasmanian championship win. A second place, rather than a third, would have given the title to Clark and Voodoo Chile. "Finishing second to a world champion on a countback and winning the Corinthian trophy was a great reward…we pushed the Transfusion team all the way in what has been a fantastic regatta," Clark said after the race. Final results, first five boats:
1. Transfusion (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, RSYS, MHYC) 6-2-2-3-2-1, 14 points
Laser Australian Championships
The 23-year-old Western Australian won nine of the 11 races, finishing with the river again swept by strong northerly winds, gusting to 35 knots and bringing 40 degrees of extreme heat. Brown, a member of Perth's Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and the Fremantle Sailing Club, dominated the 71 boat Laser Radial throughout the regatta, run by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania. In the qualifying series, in which the fleet was split, he had six wins and two seconds and yesterday he won all three gold fleet races to decide the final placegetters. World No 1 ranked Laser sailor Tom Burton, from Gosford Sailing Club in NSW, won the first two races today and with the Standard Rig title in his grasp, did not finish the final race as winds strengthened again to 30 knots and more. Burton finished with a net 13 points with second place overall going to another NSW sailor, Ashley Brunning on 19 points with Queenslander Ran Palk third on 31 points. First youth sailor was West Australian Matthew Wearn who has moved up the Olympic class Standard Rigs this season. In the Laser 4.7 class Victorian Jack Felsenthal continued the winning form he has shown at the Audi Showdown, Sail Melbourne and Sail Sydney, winning six of the 11 races for a net 14 points, 18 points clear of WA sailors Conor Nicholas and Christopher Charwood. -- Peter Campbell
Charter An Open 70
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Sint Maarten Yacht Club
Every year, the club helps the entire island host the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, a mega event that brings together high-end racing boats of all sizes and as well as roughly 100 charter sailboats for a long weekend of "Serious Fun." The clubhouse is perched on the edge of the cut between the well-protected Simpson Bay Lagoon and Simpson Bay itself on the island's south side, where most of the racing starts or finishes. The open air bar, naturally, has a ringside seat to the array of megayachts that line up for the scheduled drawbridge openings...none more exciting than when the fleet of 200 boats heads to the starting line at the same time! Although the Yacht Club can't hold all 2500 sailors and 1000 support volunteers, its decks and docks can hold more than you might think as the club hosts parties on both nights of registration. As a result, I have no doubt that in this year's contest, the club's high profile, raised further by 30 years of sponsorship by Heineken, helped it earn votes from an international cast of sailors and thereby edge out the Navi Bar of Glucksburg, Germany. I should add that for the other 51 weeks of the year besides regatta week, the St. Maarten YC's location as the first dock on the right when entering Simpson Bay Lagoon is also a key to its No. 1 status. And if you stop in at the bar in 2013, you'll no doubt find evidence that Favorite Bar contest sponsor Wight Vodka has a rising profile as well. Look for the bottle with five code flags on it, spelling W-I-G-H-T. -- John Burnham * The club's Petra Gilders sent us a note: When we found out that the Sint Maarten Yacht Club had been nominated as a contestant for the Wight Vodka's Favourite Yachting Bar Award - we were absolutely delighted! The Bar and Restaurant is leased out to a third party - Brian LeBlanc, who is also locally elected as best bartender of St.Maarten. Naturally we work very closely together - and this nomination was a wonderful bonding of SMYC membership and the visiting yachtsmen and sailing lovers of our Bar & Restaurant to prove to the world that we indeed have the very best Yachting Bar! An emailed memo to our membership asking them to vote, and through our Facebook page, Sint Maarten Yacht Club, going viral kept the momentum and enthusiasm going. It was fun and exciting to keep tabs on the percentages the other Bars were getting - and seeing ourselves consistently in the lead - and it is with pride that we informed our membership that our Bar had won this award.
Mikey Clancy
The Dubliner, who was just 22 years of age, competed on the PWA World Windsurfing Tour and had just returned to the world windsurfing stage in 2012 after being sidelined for most of 2011 by a serious ankle injury. According to website Surfdock, Clancy was nominated by Outsider Magazine for their People of the Year Awards recognising his strong comeback, including a year-best 13th place at the Cold Hawaii Classic in Denmark last October - and this 25-foot monster wave he ripped off the Donegal coast last March. As recently as a week ago the young windsurfing talent shared his thoughts with windsurfing website Continent Seven on the year past and his hopes for 2013 on the waves. Afloat magazine: afloat.ie
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Complete listing details and seller contact information at
The Last Word |
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Scuttlebutt Europe #2753 - 8 January
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