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
Six Teams For 35th Americas Cup
Six teams have entered the race for the 35th America's Cup:
ORACLE TEAM USA (USA), the defending champion
Artemis Racing (SWE)
Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR)
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA)
Team France (FRA)
The 35th America's Cup begins in 2015 and 2016 with the America's Cup World Series, raced in venues around the world. This feeds into the main events in 2017, which will narrow the field to just two: the top challenger and the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA, who will then face each other in the America's Cup Match.
Teams will be given the opportunity to host America's Cup World Series events at a venue of their choosing, while the final venue for the 35th America's Cup will be either Bermuda or San Diego, with the selection to be made before the end of the year.
Under the rules of the event, late entries may be accepted at the discretion of the America's Cup organizers.
The teams for the 35th America's Cup will be introduced at a press conference in London, England on September 9.
* The Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) sailing team will look for a new title sponsor for its inaugural 2017 America's Cup campaign after the incumbent, financial services company JP Morgan, decided not to continue past 2014.
It is understood that New York-based JP Morgan, which has been the title sponsor of Ainslie personally since 2007, and the main global partner of BAR since the team's launch in January 2012, feels an alignment with a British team against American competitors would not match its brand image.
The team is now looking for a title sponsor on a three-year contract, from 2015 to 2017.
A title sponsor will receive naming rights to the team, 60 per cent of branding on the boat, the largest proportion of team hospitality at up to eight events per year in 2015 and 2016, behind-the-scenes access to the team base, sailors and technicians, and the chance to create content from this.
The team is currently speaking to brands from the financial services, insurance, airline, watchmaking and information technology sectors about the title position.
Zhik International Topper Class Words
Photo by Peter Newton. Click on image for photo gallery.
Club Hwylio Pwllheli, Wales, UK: The final day of racing at the Zhik International Topper Class World Championships provided excellent racing conditions. The Race Officer, Peter Saxton, hoped to run at least three races so that the second discard could come into play. With the weather looking good the sailors were off the shore without delay once the release flag was raised. The Topper 5.3m2 sailors now split into Gold and Silver fleets, for the final series of races.
For the third race of the day the wind settled in direction and increased to 19 knots,with competitors describing champagne sailing conditions at last. After a recall for the Gold fleet Callum Rosie (GBR) rounded first with Tom Walker just behind and these two battled for line honours with Tom eventually cross ahead and Oliver Blackburn (GBR) in third place.
With superb sailing conditions the Race Officer requested a fourth race for the day and what an exciting race it turned out to be. Calum Rosie pulled out a huge lead, only to be pegged back as the race continued, chased by Bella Fellows (GBR) and Geoff Power (IRL), these three crossing in that order for the final race of their day and it had a big effect on the final results with just one point separating the first three.
Overall results International Topper 5.3m2 Gold fleet:
1. Calum Rosie, GBR, 27 points
2. Adam D'Arcy, IRL, 27
3. Tom Walker, GBR, 28
4. Bella Fellows, GBR, 32
5. Oliver Blackburn, GBR, 37
Overall results International Topper 5.32m2 Silver fleet:
1 Elliot Kuzyk, GBR, 169
2 Jethro Brophy-Tintinger, GBR, 192
3. George Coles, GBR, 194
4. Charlotte Watson , GBR, 196
5. Andrew Mitchell, IRL, 196
Overall results International Topper 4.2m2:
1. Daniel Thompson, GBR, 8
2. Jenna McCarlie, IRL, 23
3. Rachael McCluskey, GBR, 26
4. Haken Digby, GBR, 28
5. Jundet Cartoon, THA, 40
www.itcaworld.org/2014-international-topper
Gilmour Leads Detroit Cup
In the first of four days of match race sailing at the 2014 Detroit Cup, Australia's Sam Gilmour and his Neptune Racing Team from Australia have taken the early lead. Gilmour leads a field of twelve teams from six countries racing here through Sunday in this ISAF Grade 2 event in this second stop of the USA Grand Slam match racing series.
Gilmour has six wins and only one loss thus far for an 86% success record, an impressive feat for a first-time competitor to this event, which is raced in Bayview YC's fleet of equally-matched Ultimate 20′s. Gilmour is the second-highest ranked skipper at 11th on the ISAF Open Match Race Ranking List, behind Pierre-Antoine Morvan of France who is ranked at 7th in the world. -- Scuttlebutt, www.sailingscuttlebutt.com
Day One Standings
Sam Gilmour (AUS), 6-1
Matt Graham (USA), 5-1
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA), 5-2
Ian Hollerbach (USA), 4-2
Chris Poole (USA), 3-3
Maximilian Soh (SIN), 3-3
Wataru Sakamoto (JPN), 4-4
David Storrs (USA), 3-4
Peter Holz (USA), 2-4
Dustin Durant (USA), 2-5
Chris VanTol (USA), 2-5
Shane Diviney (IRL), 0-6
www.detroitcup.com/detroitcup/
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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Six Teams In With A Shout For The Five-Oh World Title
The pressure is rising for the final race of the SAP 505 World Championships in Kiel, with the prospect of the trophy going either to the USA, Great Britain, Australia or Germany.....
After a day of races at the SAP 505 World Championship somehow Mike Holt and Rob Woelfel have managed to cling on to a slender 2-point lead in Kiel, Germany. In the first, medium-airs race it was the up and coming Aussies, Pete Nicholas and Luke Payne, who once again demonstrated an uncanny knack of sniffing out the tricky breeze and ploughed a lonely furrow out on the left-hand side of the track.
"We're going fast in the 12-18 knot wind range, and we backed ourselves to find something good on the left," said Payne. The Australians, professional sailors who compete on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, did indeed hook into some good breeze to round the first mark in the lead. Even with the five-time World Champion Wolfgang Hunger and Julien Kleiner in hot pursuit, the Australians held their nerve and their lead to the finish, with the Germans in 2nd place.
The final race is scheduled to start at 12pm on Friday, with a live broadcast of all the action. -- Andy Rice, www.sailingintelligence.com
Top five after 6 races:
1. Mike Holt / Rob Woelfel, USA, 19 points
2. Andy Smith / Tim Needham, GBR, 21
3. Peter Nicholas / Luke Payne, AUS, 24
4. Dr. Wolfgang Hunger / Julien Kleiner, GER, 26
5. Ian Pinnell / David Shelton, GBR, 28
Ramsgate Week - Round The Goodwin Sands
First race of the Ramsgate Week series and one to remember for the epic close racing in wind and wave conditions that tested yachts and crews to their limit. This was highlighted by a call out to the RNLI lifeboat to attend a race crew with head and shoulder injuries at the end of the Ramsgate harbour approach channel shortly after the race start.
22 yachts in a westerly 25 knot wind started from a committee boat start approximately 1 Nm offshore and heading in towards a turning mark and then out towards the Goodwin Knoll. Once round the East Goodwin buoy and heading south, the wind increased with gusts up to 35 knots as they passed the East Goodwin Light Vessel and eventually turning past the Southwest Goodwin buoy homeward past the South Brake buoy and finishing at the St Georges buoy off Ramsgate. First across the finishing line was Oystercatcher XXX - Richard Mathews - in a corrected time of 3 hours 29 minutes,probably one of the quickest times for the race.
This last leg was also the most destructive with a yacht taking structural damage to the mast shroud fastenings partially pulling through the deck and disabling the rig whilst the falling spinnaker pole hit one of the crew members on the head and required another callout of the Lifeboat.
IRC Overall top three finishers:
1. Oystercatcher XXX - Richard Mathews, West Mersea Yacht Club - 3:29:21 hours
2. Slingshot - Rod Oates & Gavin Magee, Royal Temple Yacht Club - 3:43:04 hours
3. Vanilla - Niek Spiljard, WV Arne - 3:49:24 hours
J/111 World Championships - The Bigger Breeze Arrives
Photo by Rick Tomlinson, rick-tomlinson.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Cowes, Isle of Wight: The morning race was a windward-leeward starting in the region of Fastnet Marine Insurance mark to the east of the Bramble Bank. The race was started on time in 12 knots of wind from 250 degrees, this matched the forecast.
The second race of the day, race four in the series, was scheduled as a longer distance race of 21 miles. The course was an extended windward-leeward from Fastnet Marine in the eastern Solent to the Quod Possumus mark near Lymington, with a few realignment reaches thrown in.
Overall tonight McFly and Jitterbug are equal on 11 points, Shmokin Joe remains in third on 16 with Xcentric Ripper moving up to fourth.
Tomorrow PRO Simon van der Byl has scheduled three windward leewards. If it's windy the Dutch will be happy and Jitterbug will undoubtedly wind their rig down, as their tactician, the Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers, felt that insufficient rig tension had cost them dear in race four.
Sponsors include Hudson Wight Performance Sailwear, Grapefruit Graphics, Wight Vodka, Spinlock and North Sails.
Top five after two races:
1. Jitterbug, Cornel Riklin, GBR, 3
2. Shmokin Joe, Duncan McDonald, GBR, 6
3. McFly, Tony Mack, GBR, 7
4. Journeymaker 11, Chris Jones & Louise Makin, GBR, 8
5. J Lance 9, Frederic Bouvier, FRA, 10
https://www.rys.org.uk/event/j111-world-championship/
Fourteen Times A Shellback
Ever since Joshua Slocum became the first person to sail alone around the world in the late 1890s, the challenge of solo circumnavigating has stood as the ultimate challenge for self-sufficient sailors. But few would even consider doing it in a boat smaller than Slocum's Spray, a 36-footer.
One who has accepted that challenge, however, is five-time (mostly solo) circumnavigator Webb Chiles, now 72. As reported earlier, Webb's choice of boat for this rounding is the venerable Moore 24, Gannet.
Such ambitious voyaging is certainly not for everyone. But if anyone is cut out for the challenge, its Webb. Self-sufficient to the core, he doesn't believe in carrying an EPIRB, reasoning that if he gets into trouble it's his own fault, and he wouldn't want anyone to risk his or her life trying to save him.
Final Round Of The Garmin Summer Series
GJW Direct SailFest heads to the Southern promontory of the New Forest this weekend with 3 fleets using the event as their National Championships - the Byes, ISOs and 18ft Skiffs. The strong coaching bias to the event sees a training day supported by North Sails One Design on Friday with continued coaching support throughout the event. Within the spirit of the SailFest, on the water tips are allowed and there will be a morning briefing to discuss tides and weather conditions each day. After racing, footage from the Garmin VIRB cameras around the course will analysed by the coaches in a daily post-racing debrief. Experienced Laser coach James Royston will be focussing on the Laser and Byte classes throughout Saturday and Sunday. Expanding the coaching element this year also sees Nutrition Consultant and sailing fanatic Gareth Edwards join the proceedings. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear the views of a sailor with a contagious enthusiasm for nutrition who has been studying and prescribing performance related eating plans for over 20 years, unaffected by fashion and whims.
In addition to racing and coaching there will be activities ashore during the day and into the evening, making use of Calshot Activities Centre's awesome facilities. The RNLI have a routine exercise on Sunday morning and there is also the 16th Century Calshot Castle (run by English Heritage) to explore, plus plenty of beaches and the New Forest. Southampton's Maritime festival takes place on Friday and Saturday and hopefully the Spitfire and Hurricane fly-past at 2.30pm on Saturday will be clearly visible from the shore and race-area.
The fleet will be split into 3 or 4 starts for the handicap racing on Saturday and Sunday and GJW Direct SailFest culminates on Monday with the all-in North Sails One Design Long Distance Pursuit Race.
GJW Direct SailFest runs from Friday 22nd to Monday 25th August 2014, with the regatta racing from Saturday to Monday. The regatta represents the final round of the Garmin Summer Series, also supported by Gul and Trident.
For The Record
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of a new World Record:
Record: Outright Around Britain and Ireland
Yacht: "Oman Sail-Musandam. MOD 70 Trimaran.
Name: Sidney Gavignet FRA and a crew of 6
Dates:. 11th to the 14th August 2014.
Start time: 09;10;00. 11/08/14
Finish time: 12;42;36. 14/08/14
Elapsed time: 3 days 3 hours 32 minutes and 36 seconds
Distance: 1773 NM
Average speed: 23.48 kts
Comments: Current record: Banque Populaire 5. Loick Peyron FRA. July 11. 3d 3h 49m 14s
John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
sailspeedrecords.com
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* From Jonathan Harley, this correction on our story on the Artemis AC Team and its new coach:
Rod Davis won Silver in the STAR class in Barcelona 1992, not the Finn. Brian Ledbetter won Silver in the Finn.
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The Last Word
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