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
Tight Inshore Racing Worth The Wait
A long postponement today was worth the wait in Day Three of the 2014 ORC World Championship, as an 8-10 knot easterly seabreeze built up in the afternoon from being flat calm in the middle of the day, allowing race managers from Kieler Yacht-Club on all three courses to conduct three races each.
On Course A among 29 boats in this class Claus Landmark in his Landmark 43 Santa from Norway continued his perfect record by winning the first two races of the day and a second in the third race to thus vault into a commanding lead in the class.
In Class B among its 58 entries there is no such domination of the results, with numerous ties in corrected time (the second race today had actually two ties) and race winners spread among many teams. These included Lars Ive's Danish XP 38 Soldier Blue, Mati Sepp's Estonian X-41 Premium, Ralf Lessig's German XP 44 Xenia, Holger Streckenbach's German X-42 Imagine, and Ola Sandel's Swedish First 40 Karukera, who won two races on the day.
And in Class C, it is a similar situation for the 66 boats in this class, but with corrected times that are among the closest in the event/
The best team of the day in Class C was Giuseppe Giuffre's modified M37 Low Noise from Italy, reigning ORC European Champion who came up from Valencia as well, in having two second places and one first today.
11 Nations To Race Around Britain And Ireland
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing, the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race will start at noon Sunday 10th August from the Royal Yacht Squadron line, Cowes, Isle of Wight.
The fleet will set off down the Solent to the east and turn west around the south side of the Isle of Wight. After that the course is simple: leave Ireland and Great Britain to starboard all the way to the northern tip of the Shetland Isles, a point known as Outer Stack just north of Muckle Flugga, then return down the eastern side of the UK back to where the race started in Cowes, a non-stop 1800 mile race. The fastest yachts may complete the course in under a week. For the slower yachts, nearly two weeks is likely.
This year yachts flying the flags of 11 nations will be taking part: China, France, Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Oman, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.
roundbritainandireland.rorc.org
The latest news updates and press releases as well as information from the race course will be found on the site. Images from the fleet and blogs from the boats themselves are all part of an initiative to make the race more interactive for family and friends and those following the fleet.
Race Tracker: roundbritainandireland.rorc.org
Musto And Dongfeng Race Team Announce Their Partnership For The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15
MUSTO, the world's leading offshore sailing brand, and Dongfeng Race Team, the Chinese entry into this year's Volvo Ocean Race are proud to announce their partnership. MUSTO will be supplying Dongfeng Race Team with technical clothing and lifestyle apparel. The Team fan wear range will be available in September from www.MUSTO.com and at the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover Villages.
MUSTO, who is also the official supplier of sailing apparel and footwear for the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race, is now the official supplier of technical clothing and lifestyle apparel for over 50% of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet - with Team Alvimedica and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing also choosing to wear MUSTO as they compete across 38,739 nautical miles in the world's toughest ocean race.
To celebrate these partnerships, MUSTO is inviting fans to share images of themselves encapsulating the sailing spirit in and around water or, simply, just messing about in boats whilst wearing their favourite MUSTO gear. Fans are invited to post their images between 1st and 10th August on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, using the hashtag #rulethewaves.
The best 13 images per day will be featured on www.MUSTO.com, with an overall daily winner receiving a Volvo Ocean Race Large Crew Bag (RRP £85).
Danes Dominate
Title-holder Camilla Ulrikkeholm of the Royal Danish Yacht Club just continues to win and win in the Lysekil Women's Match. Now she's on 12 wins after as many sailed matches.
The Wednesday in Lysekil, the sailing metropolis on the Swedish West Coast, offered great sailing conditions, with the sun beaming over the event and a quite stable westerly breeze, enough for no less than 30 matches to conclude the first round robin and get half ways into the second. Reigning World Champion and local hope Anna Kjellberg has had a somewhat untoward opening of the Lysekil Women's Match, the third stage out of five of the Women's International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). She did, however, conclude her Wednesday with three straight victories, taking her to a third place on the scoreboard.
Standings in the Lysekil Women's Match, the third stage of the 2014 WIM Series, after the second day of a double round-robin (skipper name/nationality/wins - losses):
1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm, DEN, 12 - 0
2. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 8 - 3
3. Anna Kjellberg, SWE, 7 - 4
3. Stephanie Roble, USA, 7 - 4
5. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 6 - 6
6. Linda Rahm, SWE, 4 - 7
7. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN, 4 - 8
8. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 3 - 8
9. Claudia Pierce, NZL, -1 - 11 (points deduction due to boat damage)
www.wimseries.com
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
Copa Del Rey - Day 3
Palma de Majorca: Todays race was the "coastal" race. This meant sailing a few laps around the bay of Palma. The conditions continued the same as all week, sunny, hot and 10 knots of wind from the south-southwest.
We did not have a great start and were last at the first mark of the course. Bella Mente had the lead since the start and never relinquished it. The boat was going well so we were patient and found some opportunities. We managed to get into second place about half way through the race.
The marks for the coastal race are variable and not in place at the start or even when you start a given leg. Sailing up the 3rd windward leg, our team misunderstood the range and bearing to variable mark 2 which is communicated by radio. We had understood 225 while the actual position was 205. We sailed for the 225 position and therefore "over stood" the mark by a quarter of a mile. The loss of distance put us back into 4th place.
This sprung Bella Mente even further into the lead and let Alegre out into second.
Fortunately Shockwave was not having a great race, (we might have had something to do with that), and they finished 3rd while we finished 4th.
So at the half way mark in the regatta, Shockwave is leading with 10 points, Robertissima is tied with Bella Mente for second on 14 points, Alegre is 4th with 15 and Spirit of Jethou is 5th on 22 points.
Needless to say, that very frustrating to give away so much distance and a very good score. However, we are sailing well and pretty fast. So we need to carry that with us into the last 6 races.
Tomorrow 2 races are on the card. Forecast is the same. -- Paul Cayard, www.cayardsailing.com
TP52 Series: Back To Basics Means Back In The Game
Over a long, hot coastal race at the Copa del Rey Mapfre on the Bay of Palma, Ran Racing proved the value of their back-to-basics approach when they took the winning gun to return themselves to second place in the overall standings as the six day, 11 race regatta approaches its midpoint.
A couple of frustratingly inconsistent opening days for Niklas Zennstrom's crew prompted a serious debrief Tuesday night - the afterguard in particular concluding that they needed to return once again to doing the basics well, looking at their processes leading up to decisions rather than simply deconstructing and rueing mistakes.
Their reward came today when they lead through the leeward gate after the first short upwind-downwind circuit in a modest sea breeze and from there they built an initial margin which they held on to through the next three hours of racing, a series of upwind and downwind circuits in the west of the Bay of Palma.
The winning crew were pleased to have bounced back after what navigator Steve Hayles described on the dock as one of the most disappointing days he can recall with the team.
Standings BARCLAYS 52 SUPER SERIES - Copa del Rey MAPFRE
Overall after 5 races
1. Quantum Racing, USA, (Doug De Vos USA) (2,1,2,2,6) 13 points
2. Ran Racing, SWE, (Niklas Zennstrom SWE) (1,7,6,3,1) 18
3. Azzurra, ITA, (Alberto Roemmers ARG) (3,5,4,1,5) 18
4. Gladiator, GBR, (Tony Langley GBR) (DNF/8,2,1,5,3) 19
5. Phoenix, BRA, (Eduardo de Souza Ramos BRA) (6,3,3,6,2) 20
6. Paprec, FRA, (Jean Luc Petithugenin FRA) (4,6,5,4,4) 23
7. Provezza 7, TUR, (Ergin Imre TUR) (5,4,DNF/8,DNS/8,7) 32
Coastal Race In Variable Winds Tests Gazprom Swan 60 Teams
The coastal race on day 3 of the Gazprom Swan 60 World Championship at the Copa del Rey MAPFRE tested the Swan 60 crews with 30 nm around the Bahia de Palma before finishing in front of the stunning Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma. With a steady wind direction of 220 degrees it was the gear changes that were the key to success as the wind increased from 10 knots at the start to 13 - 14 knots during the race before dropping on the final beat to 11 knots.
The mid-week prize giving for all classes at Copa del Rey MAPFRE saw Bronenosec (RUS) collect the trophy with a 7 point lead over second placed Petite Flamme (RUS) with competition for third place fierce as three boats, Tsaar Peter crewed by the Gazprom Youth Sailing Challenge, SGM crewed by the German Offshore Challenge representing the NRV and Spirit of Europe (BVI) are all tied on 21 points.
Provisional Results:
Bronenosec (RUS): 1 - 4 - 3 - 1 - 1 - Total 10
Petite Flamme (RUS): 3 - 7 - 1 - 3 - 4 - Total 17
Tsaar Peter (RUS): 2 - 1 - 5 - 7 - 6 - Total 21
SGM (GER): 6 - 2 - 2 - 4 - 7 - Total 21
Spirit of Europe (BVI): 4 - 6 - 6 - 3 - 2 - Total 21
Windward (CHN): DSQ - 3 - 4 - 6 - 3 - Total 24
Vertical Smile (DEN): 5 - 5 - 7 - 5 - 5 - Total 27
Seahorse September 2014
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
(A fine) case study - Part I
No stone was left unturned to ensure that Ran 5 was the lightest IRC Mini Maxi built to date, as build manager Jason Carrington explains
The view... from halfway up the mountain
With seven new TP52s already in the pipeline you'd think he'd be satisfied... but there's so much more to do, says Rob Weiland
Phase one... tick
James Boyd looks at how development is advancing in the new Imoca Ocean Masters series
Sailor of the Month
A couple of battlers... and champions
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Kiwi Wislang Back For Third Time Lucky On Board Azzam
Alicante, Spain: Daryl Wislang will be returning to the Volvo Ocean Race onboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Azzam with a point to prove after being named in Ian Walker's race crew on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old New Zealander's call-up coupled with the appointment of Matt Knighton as Onboard Reporter completes Abu Dhabi's line-up for ocean racing's toughest test which begins in Alicante on October 4.
The pair have come through trial periods with flying colours and will make their first official appearances this week when the team pits its Volvo Ocean 65 in the Artemis Challenge race at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week on August 6.
Wislang finished in the top three overall in both of previous two appearances in the Volvo Ocean Race. He was third with Telefonica Blue in 2008-09, second with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew in 2011-12.
A Perfect Day For Optimist Sailing
Solid sunshine with 8 to 14 knots of consistent breeze made for perfect Optimist sailing on day four of the Volvo Gill Optimist British National & Open Championships.
Sailors were challenged with shiftier conditions than earlier in the week. The Senior Fleet (Main) took to the outer harbor course where both the gold and silver fleets completed three races. Four general recalls indicated the fleet is stepping up the level of competition for the final few days of the Championships.
The final race today proved to be the most problematic for the Senior Fleet (Main). Sailing under the black flag saw two boats caught out at one mark followed by another six to eight. The international sailors remained strong at top of the fleet, especially the Dutch, Spanish and Norwegian sailors.
The Junior Fleet (Main) raced in Weymouth Bay where the conditions were wavier with gentle surf. The gold and silver fleets also managed three races each and managed to push hard enough that the fleet had their first general recall of the week.
Tomorrow Sir Ben Ainslie will be making a special appearance at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy to do a short talk for all sailors followed by starting the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation Fun Run.
www.kbsuk.com/optimist/iocaevents/
Leaderboards Take Shape At Aquece Rio
The leaderboards across the ten events on show at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 are starting to take shape following four days of competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Medal Race places have been decided in the Men's and Women's RS:X fleets whilst the top batch of Olympic sailors have cemented their spots in the top places of the remaining fleets. Tuesday's rain was replaced with sunshine and a cool 15 knot breeze across the five race areas. The waves remained on the outside courses whilst shifty conditions on the inside courses was present, ensuring firm tests of tactical nous.
Racing resumes at 13:00 on Thursday 7 August. Four races are scheduled in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 with three in the remaining fleets.
www.aquecerio.com/en/competicoes.php
www.sailing.org/2014-test-event.php
Star Eastern Hemisphere Championship
Brunnen, Switzerland: The "Switzerland Starfleet LUV" (Luzern-Vierwaldstattersee) will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2014. It will mark the occasion by organizing the "Star Eastern Hemisphere Championship" that will take place from the 7th to the 13th of August on the Lake Lucerne.
Italian Diego Negri, second one month ago at the Star Worlds racing with Sergio Lambertenghi, has gained the SSL Skipper ranking leadership and he's also the 2013 Eastern Hemisphere Champion, and he is one of the men to beat in Brunnen. Other top ranked skippers include greeks Emilios Papathanasiou with Antonis Tsotras, George Szabo from USA with the swiss Serge Pulfer and the European Champions from Germany Hubert Merkelbach with Gerrit Bartel.
The best regional sailors will also be present, including the 2012 vice-champions of Europe Lorenz Zimmermann/Markus Koy as well as the 2010 Swiss champions Urs Hunkeler/Hans-Peter Schaffner, and the 2004 Swiss champions Philipp Rotermund/Nils Hollweg.
Attractive innovation and suspense: the races will be retransmitted every day in live on YouTube (Star Eastern Hemisphere will be included in the Star Sailors League channel). Thanks to 3D Virtual-Eye technology, it will be possible to follow in real time the position, speed and direction of each boat, as well as the laylines and distances between the competitors on the water.
swiss-star-class.ch/em-brunnen-2014
live.starsailors.com
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