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
RC44 World Championship Title To Bronenosec
After four action packed days of match racing and fleet racing, near gale force winds and substantial breaking waves on the race course caused the concluding races of the 2014 RC44 Marstrand World Championship to be cancelled.
Principal Race Officer Peter 'Luigi' Reggio explained: "The wind was over our normal limit of 26-28 knots at 2-3m, so at the top of the rigs it would have been 28-30. We were anticipating it dying down, but unfortunately the sea state wouldn't die with it. So ultimately it was down to the sea state. You know the seas are rough when you have to pick the waves you turn the power boat around in and with occasional 3-3.5m swells there is no way the committee boat would have held."
After nine races Vladimir Liubomirov's Bronenosec Sailing Team has been crowned the RC44 Marstrand World Champion, finishing six points clear of Nico Poons' Charisma, in turn four points ahead of Chris Bake's Team Aqua in third place.
This is Liubomirov's second World Championship victory in as many weeks, coming to Sweden directly from winning the Gazprom Swan 60 Worlds in Palma last week.
RC44 Marstrand World Championship Overall Ranking (After nine races)
1. Bronenosec Sailing Team, 36
2. Charisma, 42
3. Team Aqua, 46
4. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team, 47
5. Team Nika, 47
6. Artemis Racing, 50
7. Katusha, 62
8. Gazprom Youth Sailing Challenge, 68
9. Bombarda Racing, 68
10. Artemis Racing Youth, 75
11. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 77
12. MAG Racing, 86
Sevenstar: Varuna Takes Overall Lead
Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 51, Varuna crossed the finish line of the 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race at 12.10.32 BST on 17th August 2014. Varuna is now in first place in IRC overall, with a number of yachts still to finish. Varuna's time, corrected under IRC, puts the German yacht in an extremely strong position to win the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.
"This is the first time we have participated in this race, because we normally take part in a transatlantic race from Newport to Hamburg which overlaps with this one," commented Jens Kellinghusen.
Artemis-Team Endeavour, skippered by Brian Thompson, crossed the finish line of the 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race off the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes at 23.00.54 BST on Saturday 16th August 2014 with an elapsed time of 5 days, 14 hours, 00 minutes and 54 seconds, setting a new World Record for Monohulls 60 feet and less (subject to ratification by the WSSRC).
Artemis-Team Endeavour had enjoyed an epic battle with Andrew Budgen and Fred Schwyn's Volvo 70, Monster Project for IRC Line Honours and the Canting Keel Class. Artemis-Team Endeavour crossed the line just over an hour and 20 minutes ahead of Monster Project to win the class on corrected time and set the benchmark for the IRC fleet to try and better.
roundbritainandireland.rorc.org
5O5 Worlds
Former World Champion Howie Hamlin and his crew Andy Zinn put down a strong marker by winning the Pre-Worlds in Kiel, Germany, but now it's crunch time as the main event begins on Saturday, the SAP 505 World Championship.
With scores of 1,2,2,1 in the warm-up regatta, Hamlin has been working hard on his speed, something the Americans have been lacking in recent years according to another former World Champion in the 505 fleet, Holger Jess. "It was 12-20 knots for the Pre-Worlds, but with difficult waves and very, very shifty," said Jess, who has been working 100-hour weeks putting together customers new 505s ready for competition. Britain's Andy Smith and Tim Needham from Great Britain were 2nd overall, with USA's Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel in 3rd.
The SAP 5O5 World Championship takes place in Kiel, Germany, from August 16-22.
Top five after 2 races, results from Sunday August 17:
1. Morten Bogacki / Lars Dehne, GER, 3 points
2. Andy Smith / Tim Needham, GBR, 7
3. Mike Holt / Rob Woelfel, USA, 8
4. Stefan Bohm / Gerald Roos, GER, 8
5. Stefan Kochlin / Andreas Achterberg, GER, 16
Win A VIP Racing Experience With Emirates Team New Zealand From Gill
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The prize includes a 'guest sailor' spot aboard the Emirates Team New Zealand Extreme 40 for one race and includes access to the VIP Extreme Club hospitality area, where you will get the best view to catch all the action on the water in comfort and luxury, for Act 5 of the Extreme Sailing Series 2014 in Cardiff on Saturday 23rd August.
All you need to do to be entered into the free prize draw is tell us the answer to this question:
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Hurry! Competition entries close on Wednesday 20th August at 9am.
For full terms & conditions visit www.gillmarine.com/gb/news/
Newport Stand-By Ends For Spindrift Racing
The wait is over for Spindrift racing. On stand-by since the beginning of June, Dona Bertarelli, Yann Guichard and the rest of the team will abandon their attempt to break the Crewed North Atlantic Record on August 15th and prepare to sail home to France. Since their arrival in Newport, an unusually powerful anticyclone located at high latitudes has starved them of any opportunity to take on the record.
Spindrift racing must now focus on the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe, which will depart from Saint-Malo on November 2nd. Technical staff in Newport are already hard at work, configuring Spindrift 2 for single-handed racing to ensure that everything is ready for Yann Guichard to set sail alone.
Spindrift 2 will leave Newport on August 19th. Yann Guichard will use the return trip as preparation for the upcoming Route du Rhum.
Canfield Wins Chicago Grand Slam
Chicago, Illinois, USA: Morning fog shut down visibility in the race area enough so that race managers postponed for about one hour until the conditions cleared enough to set up the course and start racing the Semi-Finals and Consolation round to determine 5th - 8th places. The northerly wind at 10-12 knots started building and shifting to the northeast to reach the low teens, with the accompanying sea state also progressing from choppy to lumpy to massively messy.
Through a combination of fearless positioning in the lumpy seas, excellent timing and fast pace, Pierre-Antoine Morvan and his Vannes Agglo Sailing Team first dispensed with their Semi-Final rivals Chris Steele and his 36° Below racing team from New Zealand quickly on a 3-0 score.
Taylor Canfield from the US Virgin Islands and his Team US One had a similar dominance in their Semi-Final matches, never giving rival Sam Gilmour and his Neptune Racing team from Australia a chance off the start line. US One won 3-0, setting themselves up for a Finals Battle Royale with the French
So in the fourth and final flight, Canfield once again came out swinging, forcing Morvan into taking a penalty on a luffing incident, and then taking and extending on an early lead to win the match and the event.
Final Results:
1. Taylor Canfield (ISV)
2. Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA)
3. Sam Gilmour (AUS)
4. Chris Steele (NZL)
5. Maximillian Soh (SIN)
6. Nathan Hollerbach (USA)
7. Don Wilson (USA)
8. Wataru Sakamoto (JPN)
9. David Storrs (USA)
10. Dustin Durant (USA)
11. Steven Lowery (USA)
12. Christopher Poole (USA)
Stealth i14 Out Of China
Click on image to enlarge.
The International 14 class is not short of its fair share of resourceful sailors. For several years, a small group of Australian i14ners, led by an unbreakable class president Stewart Vickery, have tinkered with production-run boats.
The challenge of course has been to settle on a design that will give top end performance and to source a builder who has the systems, resources and ability to build in carbon at prices affordable to a wider audience and not just the well-financed class fanatics.
It would seem the Australians have hit on an attractive formula with the Stealth design and a carbon boat builder in China who has built moulds and refined processes to produce a significantly less expensive, light, strong, quality boat.
The result is a super stiff i14 at approximately $13k (all dollars are in US) for hull and racks clear finished plus approximately $2k for duty and freight; or for $15k you are looking at hull, racks, centre board, rudder, foils, rudder box clear finished; plus duty and freight. This means a saving of more than $10k.
Peter Newman of China New Yachts Ltd says they were using products that were available in China at a competitive price which were thoroughly tested in other boats. The 'other boats' from this builder have included the 44ft Veloce which finished second overall in IRC in the 2013 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
"The designs (eg., B5, K3 and Stealth) within the class now are all that similar, that as long as the hull is light and stiff, that is all you need. The next step in the equation is getting a good rig, which is pretty standard now days and a good rudder and centerboard, which is also very standard.
"The way things are shaping up with the boat at this stage, I would suggest that it will be a great success."
The Royal Geelong Yacht Club has opened online entries for the 2015 International 14 World Championships, which are to be held from 3rd to 17th January 2015 in Geelong, Australia (see www.i14worlds2015.com ). -- Neil Patchett
Practice Over, Athletes Welcomed, Time For YOG Sailing
Opening ceremony. Click on image to enlarge.
Practice is over, the sailors have been welcomed at the Opening Ceremony and it's now time to focus on the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Sailing Competition.
One hundred and one sailors across four fleets have completed registration and are fully prepared for racing on Lake Jinniu in Nanjing.
The Olympic Sailing Venue at Lake Jinniu opened on 13 August with the sailors arriving early to get hold of their supplied Byte CII and Techno 293 equipment. Lake Jinniu has thrown out a mixed bag of conditions in the training days and after honing in their technical skills following equipment distribution the 101 sailors had the chance to test themselves against each other in a practice race on 17 August 2013.
Two race courses will host the 30 boat Byte CII Boys and Girls fleets, the 20 strong Techno 293 Boys pack and the 21 Techno 293 girl's racers.
Racing is scheduled to commence at 11:00 local time on 18 August. The competition time allows racing up until 18:00 local time and with close proximity to the race courses, a literal stone's throw to course A, racing can happen at quite short notice.
The four YOG Sailing events are:
Boy's Windsurfer - Techno 293
Girl's Windsurfer - Techno 293
Boy's One Person Dinghy - Byte CII
Girl's One Persona Dinghy - Byte CII
The YOG Sailing Competition will consist of an opening series and final race. The format will be fleet racing but slalom racing may be run for the Boy's and Girl's Windsurfers if the weather conditions are suitable.
www.sailing.org/events/youtholympicgames/index.php
18s Blow Back Into The Bay
The beach remains but the bleachers are gone, along with the giant catamarans (apparently long gone) that shared the restless waters during San Francisco's summer of the 34th America's Cup last year.
But the lively little boats that for a decade helped to set the stage for spectacular beachfront sailboat racing will be back on the bay Monday, Aug. 25, through Saturday, Aug. 30, for the 13th annual 18' Skiff International Regatta, hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club.
The competition will include USA veteran Howie Hamlin of Long Beach, Calif. who has won the event six times, along with two victories in the class's world championship---the JJ Giltinan in Australia---and world titles in the 505 and International 14 classes, also challenging and almost as fast and feisty as an 18-footer.
New Zealand's Alex Vallings, winner the last two years, will not compete, but the Kiwis will have a strong representation with veteran Graham Catley, who finished fourth to Hamlin's third in the recent European championships; Catley's son Nick, a member of the Waka match racing team ranked No. 4 in the world, and Brett Van Munster, actually an Australian sailing a New Zealand entry.
The boats will launch off the beach bordering Crissy Field west of the club. The schedule calls for a total of 10 races, two per day starting at 1 p.m., except a 4 o'clock start Thursday preceding the traditional 5.3-nautical mile Ronstan Bridge to Bridge Race when they'll join a variety of boats and kites for a 5:30 start under the Golden Gate. -- RIch Roberts
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* From David Le Pelley: The organising committee is pleased to announce the finalised dates of the HYPD5 conference in Auckland, New Zealand. The conference will take place during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Auckland. In order for delegates to see as much of the action as possible, the conference will take place on 10th - 12th March 2015. Additionally, there will be a welcoming function on the evening of 9th March to which you are all warmly invited.
The venue will be central to the Stopover hub and the boats. Once again, we expect to hold a range of exciting social events. A full programme will be released later in the year.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us - info@hpyd.org.nz
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The Last Word
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