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
International Moth World Championships
Hayling Island Sailing Club, UK: The Moth Worlds fleet woke up to a glorious day at Hayling Island. The wind was blowing a steady 15 knots, the sun was shining and it was 23 degrees by 10am - perfect sailing conditions. The Gold fleet went out into Hayling Bay, while the Silver fleet headed off East to Bracklesham Bay.
Two races where held for the Gold fleet, where the Brits took a clean sweep of the podium (Chris Rashley 1st, Ben Paton 2nd, Dylan Fletcher 3rd) in the first finals race, only for the Australians to come back fighting with their own clean sweep in race 2 (Nathan Outteridge 1st, Rob Gough 2nd, Josh Mcknight 3rd).
The Silver fleet managed three races before the wind shut off, both fleets were then sent ashore. The race committee hoped to get another Gold fleet race in, but soon raised the AP over A to signal that was it for the day.
Overall, this has given Chris Rashley the outright lead after Robert Greenhalgh had a poor day by his standards to drop to 5th overall. Nathan Outteridge has moved up to 2nd overall after a 4th and 1st, staying just 3 points off Rashley's score. Josh Mcknight has moved up to 3rd with consistent top 5 results, but the big mover of the day was Ben 'The Patonator' Paton, who moved from 9th to 4th on the leaderboard with a 2nd and a 5th today.
Racing has been brought forward an hour for Thursday; Gold fleet are set to start at 10am with Silver scheduled for 10.30am.
Unlucky Race Four
Day four of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup was one Principal Race Officer Stuart Childerley and his team would prefer to forget.
With the best wind forecast for early morning, the 27 boats in nine teams started an hour early from a line off Peel Bank. The plan was for them to sail north to the North Ryde Middle mark and then east out of the Solent and into Hayling Bay onto a windward-leeward course.
Childerley recounted: "The boats started reaching out towards the Forts and there were a few big holes there and then six of the boats got to St Helens [mark in Hayling Bay]. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet was being affected badly by big holes in the wind, so we had a situation where probably over half of the fleet wouldn't have finished within the time limit. So we had to abandon that one."
There followed a long wait for the boats in the Solent to reach the new start area in Hayling Bay before a second attempt at race four of the series could be made - this time a windward-leeward in an offshore northeasterly breeze of 6-7 knots. Unfortunately as the boats were approaching the leeward mark the wind shifted hard right, by more than 90.
"It was just pretty unsatisfactory," said Childerley. "We have had one race in this series when there was a bit of a shut down. I am trying at all costs to avoid that again."
Unfortunately conditions for the next two days are not looking much better.
No Wind Or Racing On Day Three Of The Six Metre European Championship
Falmouth, UK - The forcast for the third day of the Six Metre European Championship was for strong sun, high temperates and little or no wind, and unfortunately it was not wrong! Despite everyone's best efforts no racing was possible for the second day running.
Chris Hadden and his Race Committee started by taking the fleet out towards the entrance of the Helford River, as they had a nice light sailing breeze in that area at the time the boats were leaving the dock. Sadly by the time they arrived on the start line it was dying and soon the Sixes were lolling airless on the swell.
Only two races have been completed so far and at least five races are required to constitute the championship, so the race committee has confirmed the regatta will be extended into Friday's reserve racing day. Advance notice has also been given that the committee is considering bringing the first warning signal for Friday's racing forward to 08.55; a final decision on this will be made after racing tomorrow once the forecast and number of races completed to that point is known.
Overall results after two races remain Valhalla (Paul Smith, GBR) and Blade Runner (Don Martin, CAN) tied for the lead of the Modern Division with three points each and Notorious (Claes Henningsson, SWE) third on 9.5 points. In the Classic Division Titia (Andy Postle, GBR) leads on four points with Gallant (Rainer Muller, CAN) second on seven points and Nada (Peter Harrison, GBR) third on nine points.
Wind permitting, racing is scheduled to commence at 10.30 tomorrow and the regatta continues until Friday 25 July, when no warning signal can be made after 12 noon.
Dubarry Crosshaven - Comfortably The Best Performer
Volvo Ocean Race teams have chosen Dubarry's Crosshaven in every edition of the race since the boot was developed with Green Dragon in the 2008 edition. There are several reasons for that.
First, the innovation that impressed the Green Dragon guys most: the integral gaiter. Made of lightweight, hard-wearing, water-resistant fabric and cinched up with a drawstring, this gaiter means you can kneel down and work on the foredeck without suffering the dreaded 'bootful of green' that kills comfort for the rest of the passage.
And when you're dodging icebergs in the Southern Ocean as winter's teeth snap at your vitals, you'll appreciate the 350g GORE-TEX® Duratherm membrane and thermally insulated footbed that will keep your feet, at least, toasty.
Then there's the award-winning grip of Crosshaven's non-slip and non-marking sole. If you're trying to stay vertical on deck, and several tonnes of water traveling at 30 knots is trying to persuade you that you might be more comfortable lying down, you need your feet to stay planted.
We can all benefit from experience, but it comes at a price. Lucky for you that Green Dragon footed the bill, and the benefit is all yours.
Dubarry Crosshaven - Born at sea
Barcelona and Parnu Chosen for 2015 ORC Championship Events
Barcelona, Spain: The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) confirms the appointment of the Real Club Nautico de Barcelona (RCNB) as organizer of the 2015 ORC World Championship, to be held in Barcelona over June 27 to July 4, 2015.
The major events of the ORC Circuit have been highly successful in the last several years, including the ORC European Championship three weeks ago in Valencia and the upcoming ORC World Championship in Kiel in two weeks, where over 150 entries are expected.
The dates of this offshore World Championship (June 27 to July 4), sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), have been carefully selected to fit in the global yachting calendar in order to minimize conflicts and maximize participation. And like all ORC World Championships in the last several years, over 100 entries are expected to participate from around the world.
Another major event on the ORC Calendar for next year is the 2015 ORC European Championship, to be held over August 10-16, 2015 in Parnu, Estonia. Organizers from Parnu Yacht Club and Kalev Yacht Club have been in the planning phases on this event for nearly a year already, and have also made dates available which best match the needs of both the regional and international sailing calendars.
www.barcelonaorcworlds2015.com
www.rcnb.com
www.orceuropeans2015.com
orc.org
Red Sails At Royal Cork
Record numbers attended the Mirror Southerns event at Royal Cork Yacht Club last weekend, 19 and 20 July 2014. 46 sailors in 23 boats - with helms ranging in age from 14 to 50+ and crew as young as five writes Celine McGrath.
Mirrors haven't sailed out of Royal Cork Yacht Club since 2005 and a few ex Mirror sailing members of the club, that have matured and have children of their own, decided it was time to dig out their old boats for some competitive family fun. There was some last minute sail swapping in the boat yard on Saturday morning and all boats, old and new, were ready for the first gun.
With changeable winds and changing tides the racing proved to be quite a challenge for the visiting boats, while the Royal Cork sailors knew their fate.
Results -
Gold and over all 1st. Mirror Sail No. 70428 from Sutton Dinghy Club. Helm Shane McLoughlin and Crew Oscar Langan
Gold 2nd. Mirror Sail No. 70622 from Lough Ree Yacht Club. Helm Tiarnan Dickson and Crew Alex Leech.
Gold 3rd. Mirror Sail No. 70580 from Sligo Yacht Club. Helm Beth Armstrong and Crew Luke McGrath of Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Silver 1st. Mirror Sail No. 70036 from Schull Harbour Sailing Club. Helm Rory MacAllister and Crew Lughaidh Croasdell of Lough Ree Yacht Club
Silver 2nd. Mirror Sail No. 69683 from Sligo Yacht Club. Helm Helen Smith and Crew Sarah Nicholson.
Bronze 1st. Mirror Sail No. 21645 from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Helm Richard McGinley and Kelly Williams - on their first ever Mirror event.
2014 29er Worlds
Kingston, Ontario, Canada: The CORK facilities in Kingston, Ontario, Canada will play host to 102 teams representing 14 nations for the 2014 29er World Championship. Participants will include 10 ISAF Youth World teams fresh from Tavira, Portugal including gold medalists Brice Yriex & Loic Fischer-Guillou (FRA) and silver medalist crew Riley Gibbs (USA). Such is the precedent with top ISAF Youth World competitors vying for the 29er Class World title.
The 29er is an open class for both age and gender, yet with ISAF announcing separate boys and girls fleets for the Youth Worlds beginning in 2015, 68 of the registered teams are youth teams (18 or under) with 17 all-female teams, ready to hone their skills on the world stage and possibly also with an eye on the 2020 Olympics in skiffs.
Racing begins on Monday, July 28 with the finals to take place July 31 and the prizegiving on August 2.
Some America's Cup Questions
Dana Johannsen in the New Zealand Herald with some pointed questions...
If the guys who signed off on the Protocol can't put a challenge together, what hope do the rest of them have?
What must the Protocol's first draft have looked like if the version released was the middle ground?
What are the chances of Russell Coutts ever admitting that perhaps Grant Dalton's complaints over the delay in nominating a venue might have had some merit?
Who will be the next challenger of record?
Can they make it their first job to come up with a shorter name?
Do Oracle have a back up lapdog challenger in their hip pocket?
Will the new challenger of record be strong enough to renegotiate the Protocol on more acceptable terms for the remaining challengers?
Given there have to be at least four teams entered before a challenge is officially accepted, what happens if another team pulls out?
If there are only four challengers, does that mean there is no longer any need for a multi-staged challenger series?
Bermuda? Really?
Was Ernesto Bertarelli really all that bad?
www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/
The Myth Of The "Commercially Sustainable" America's Cup
According to Forbes Magazine's list of the 50 richest Australians, Bob Oatley is sitting in 33rd place with an estimated fortune of US$830 million, as of January 2014, which at the current exchange rate is approximately €615 million.
Nevertheless, there is a tremendous difference between being very rich and being able to finance an America's Cup campaign, and this is something that, apparently, Bob Oatley and his son Sandy, misjudged when they filed their challenge for the 35th America's Cup last September.
It's difficult to conceive how such an accomplished businessman wouldn't see nearly a year ago that with an estimated cost of more than €100 million to run a competitive campaign and have a serious chance at beating Larry Ellison, it is financially a no-brainer. One cannot spend a sixth of one's fortune on a yacht race, regardless of its appeal and the resulting status achieved, as well as the bragging rights. In fact, there were a number of knowledgeable people that, off the record, would also express their bewilderment during the 2013 Sydney Hobart race.
Most probably, the Oatleys thought they would be able to gather around them more wealthy Australian businessmen and corporate groups that would fund a national drive to take back the America's Cup to Sydney. It is interesting to remind ourselves of the budgets the four teams had last time, according to Bruno Trouble: Oracle Team USA spent €250 million to successfully defend the America's Cup. Artemis Racing had a budget of €160 million, Luna Rossa had at its disposal €100 million while Emirates Team New Zealand reached the finals with €80 million. -- Pierre Orphanidis in VSail.info
Kito De Pavant At The Start Of The Rhum
Thanks to some new partners, Kito de Pavant will be taking the helm of the Class 40' Otio-Bastide Medical, a 2012 Verdier design, which belongs to his friend Bruno Jourdren. As such he'll be competing in the Route du Rhum, the start of which will be given in Saint Malo, northern France, on 2 November.
Kito has opted to get straight to the point. Indeed, setting sail from Roscoff, Brittany, on Thursday, he's treating himself to a 1,800-mile (3,300km) solo jaunt to Port Camargue in southern France, which will likely take a dozen or so days and will serve as an official qualifier for the race.
EUROSAF Match Racing Open European Championship
The Polskie LNG, EUROSAF Match Racing, Open European Championship, 2014, took place from 9 - 13th July in Swinoujscie Poland.It was the first occasion in the history of Swinoujscie when the Port Authorities agreed to permit the organisation of a regatta using the main commercial navigation channels.
Twelve European teams came to Swinoujscie to compete for the Match Racing Open European Championship title, which was sailed using a fleet of TOM28 keelboats, provided by Polish Match Tour.
In the petite finale Johnie Berntsson (SWE) won against Tomislav Basic (CRO) and took third place and the bronze medal of the 2014 EUROSAF Match Racing, Open European Championship.
The final was the first to three wins and after four races the result was 2-2. In the fifth and final heat of the final it was Italian crew of Simonne Ferrarese, who took the initiative and went on to win and become European Champion, with Eric Monnin as the runner up. -- Magda Makowska
Final results of the Polskie LNG, EUROSAF Match Racing, Open European Championship:
1. Simonne Ferrarese, SWE
2. Eric Monnin, SUI
3. Johnie Berntsson, ITA
4. Tomislav Basic, CRO
5. Mati Sepp, EST
6. Arthur Herreman, FRA
7. Antii Luhta, FIN
8. Marek Stańczyk, POL
9. Felix Ochme, GER
10. Niklas Deckhammar, SWE
11. Przemek Tarnacki, POL
12. Philip Bendon*, IRL
*Philip Bendon qualified as the Winner of the 2013 EUROSAF Match Racing, Youth Open Championship, held on Lake Konstanz, Germany
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The Last Word
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