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
Holt's 25-Year Dream Finally Comes True
Mike Holt has spent most of his life dreaming about becoming world champion and today it came true with victory in the final race of the SAP 505 World Championship in Kiel. Together with crew Rob Woelfel, Holt went into today's showdown as one of six teams with a chance of winning the title. The British-born resident of Santa Cruz in California had twice gone into the final day of a 505 Worlds only to finish runner-up.
The key decision all week has been when to exit the gate start. The young Australians, Pete Nicholas and Luke Payne, have opted for an early start nearly every race and today did the same. They were joined by Holt, while the other world title contenders waited a few minutes as the pathfinder sailed out to the right-hand side of the course. The two British teams still in title contention, Andy Smith/ Tim Needham along with Ian Pinnell/ Dave Shelton, started late and found themselves on the wrong side of the first shift. The early starters were doing well out on the left, with Holt and the Australians moving into the lead towards the top mark.
With 173 entries, this was the third largest world championship in the 60-year history of the class. To look back through the winning moves you can browse through the SAP Sailing Analytics, and watch recordings of the live coverage of the regatta, all to be found at the official website: www.sap505worlds.com -- Andy Rice, www.sailingintelligence.com
Final top five:
1. Mike Holt / Rob Woelfel, USA, 20 points
2. Peter Nicholas / Luke Payne, AUS, 26
3. Dr. Wolfgang Hunger / Julien Kleiner, GER, 29
4. Andy Smith / Tim Needham, GBR, 29
5. Stefan Bohm / Gerald Roos, GER, 37
Full results: sap505worlds.com
2014 Youth Olympic Games
Nanjing, China: Argentina's Francisco Saubidet Birkner and China's Linli Wu claimed the Boy's and Girl's Techno 293 honours as sailing concluded at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China.
A single undiscardable race brought the Techno 293 racing to a close with the conditions testing the 20 boy's and 21 girl's racers who took to the course. Three knots gusting up to eight knots from an easterly direction made life tough on the race course with those with excellent tactical nous and light wind prowess excelling.
Bernie Chin and Samantha Yom made it double gold for Singapore as they took the Boy's and Girl's Byte CII Youth Olympic Games titles.
Top three by class:
Byte - Men
1. Bernie Chin, SIN
2. Rodolfo Pires, POR
3. Jonatan Vadnai, HUN
Byte - Women
1. Samantha JimYi Yom, SIN
2. Odile Van Aanholt, NED
3. Jarian Brandes, PER
Techno 293 - Men
1. Francisco Saubidet Birkner, ARG
2. Maxim Tokarev, RUS
3. Lars van Someren, NED
Techno 293 - Women
1. Linli Wu, CHN
2. Mariam Sekhposyan, RUS
3. Lucie Pianazza, FRA
British Paralympians Clinch Two Silver Medals and Three Rio Berths at IFDS Worlds
British sailors came away with two silver medals and the maximum three qualifying berths for the 2016 Paralympic Games at the conclusion of the IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships in Halifax, Canada, today (24 August).
Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell missed out on a sixth consecutive world title by the narrowest of margins in the two-person SKUD class, while Helena Lucas claimed silver in the 2.4mR class, just one point from overall winner Heiko Kroeger of Germany.
Their podium finishes, plus a fourth place by the British Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas, ensured that Great Britain earned qualification across the three Paralympic classes for the Rio 2016 Games at the first time of asking.
Defending SKUD World Champions Rickham and Birrell finished their regatta tied on points with the Australian Paralympic Champions Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, but lost on countback after the 11-race series.
Final top three:
Sonar
1. Bruno Jourdren / Nicolas Vimont-Vicary / Eric Flageul, FRA, 21 points
2. Paul Tingley / Scott Lutes / Logan Campbell, CAN, 25
3. Colin Harrison / Jonathan Harris / Russell Boaden, AUS, 26
SKUD 18
1. Daniel Fitzgibbon / Liesl Tesch, AUS, 21
2. Alexandra Rickham / Niki Birrell, GBR, 21
3. Marco Gualandris / Marta Zanetti, ITA, 28
2.4mR
1. Heiko Kroeger, GER, 37
2. Helena Lucas, GBR, 38
3. Damien Seguin, FRA, 39
Kinsale Yacht Club Perpetual Trophy (The Nations Cup)
1. Australia
2. Great Britain
3. Canada
4. United States
5. Italy
6. Spain
7. New Zealand
www.ifdsworlds2014.ca
www.britishsailingteam.com
Morvan Wins Detroit Cup
Detroit, Michigan, USA: Pierre-Antoine Morvan and his Vannes Agglo Sailing Team of Mathie Renault and Steven Liorzou have emerged from four days of battle to be the 2014 Champions of the Detroit Cup. The French team defeated their Semi-Final and Final opponents 2-1 and 3-0 today in front of a spectator crowd lining the Detroit River shoreline in front of the host Bayview Yacht Club.
Race conditions today were excellent, with a consistent 8-10 knot breeze. Morvan and his team excelled at this, always keeping the pressure on their opponents in the pre-starts, and with a slight speed edge upwind they were often able to extend on early leads or catch and pass when behind. This set them up to round the top mark with enough margin to fend off any attacks made downwind.
In the Finals, the action was comparatively tame in the first-to-three point series and penalty-free except for one Poole earned in the pre-start of the second match. Morvan simply out-sailed his opponent to win every start and lead around the course in every match to win the series 3-0.
In Petit-Final action, Graham managed to overcome a loss to Soh in the first match by winning the second, but then lost the third in being called over early at the start and not able to recover.
Final results, 2014 Detroit Cup:
1. Pierre-Antoine Morvan, FRA
2. Chris Poole, USA
3. Maximillian Soh, SIN
4. Matt Graham, USA
5. Sam Gilmour, AUS
6. Ian Hollerbach, USA
7. David Storrs, USA
8. Wataru Sakamoto, JPN
9. Dustin Durant, USA
10. Chris Van Tol, USA
11. Peter Holz, USA
12. Shane Diviny, IRL
Morvan and many other competitors here at the Detroit Cup will continue with ISAF Grade 2 match racing later this week at the third stop of the US Grand Slam series at Manhasset Bay YC's Knickerbocker Cup in Manhasset Bay, NY. More information on the Grand Slam series can be found at www.usamatchracing.com
Varuna Declared Overall Winner 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race
The Royal Ocean Racing Club has declared Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 51, Varuna (GER), as the overall winner under IRC of the 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.
Race sponsors Sevenstar Yacht Transport have also awarded Jens Kellinghusen with a $20,000 voucher to ship Varuna to their selected destination worldwide, which will be used to transport Varuna to Malta to take part in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the final race of the RORC Season's Points Championship.
Although six yachts were still racing as of Friday none of them could better Varuna's corrected time racing under IRC. Jens Kellinghusen was quick to praise his crew for their performance, Varuna has no powered winches and the tough conditions required tremendous physical exertion and long hours hiking out on the rail
Varuna's Winning Crew:
Jens Kellinghusen, Owner, Hamburg, Germany
Tim Daase, Pit/Boat Captain, Wewelsfleth, Germany
Guenter Alajmo, Runner, Hamburg, Germany
Guillermo Altadill, Navigator, Barcelona, Spain
Luke Molloy, Trimmer, Brisbane, Australia
David Blass, Trimmer, Braunschweig, Germany
Fynn Terveer, Pit, Kiel, Germany
Jan Hilbert, Driver, Kiel Germany
Gunnar Knierim, Driver, Kiel, Germany
Peter Knight, Bow, Guernsey, UK
Christian Stoffers, Bow, Kiel, Germany
Alastair Sayers, Bow, Hobart, Tasmania
roundbritainandireland.rorc.org
J/111 World Championships
Day five of the J/111 World Championships dawned with a clear sky, low temperature and no gradient wind. The forecast was for 5 knots at 1030 rising to 8 by noon. With two races left to sail and a 1500 prize giving ceremony, in view of the light conditions it seemed likely that at best only one race would be sailed.
The overnight leader Shmokin Joe owned by Duncan McDonald and Phil Thomas had a strong enough score that if one or less races were sailed the trophy was going home to Brighton with them.
Whilst Shmokin may have felt safe, second place Tony Mack's McFly were under threat from Frédéric Bouvier and his French team aboard J Lance 9. The French had only come together as a team for the event and had gelled as the series progressed to become the boat of the day on day four, the penultimate day.
The Royal Yacht Squadron race team stationed their committee boat to east of the Bramble Bank in the shallow water near Fastnet mark. After two hours of studying a glassy sea, PRO Simon van der Byl took the popular decision to draw the regatta to close. With ten great races completed, no one should feel that they did not have the opportunity to improve their lot.
Thus, following their terrific victory at the J-Cup, Shmokin Joe are the first ever J/111 World Champions.
The J/111 World Championships top 5:
1. Shmokin Joe, Phil Thomas and Duncan McDonald, GBR
2. McFly, Mr and Mrs Tony Mack, GBR
3. J Lance 9, Frederic Bouvier, FRA
4. Black Dog, Stuart Sawyer, GBR
5. Jitterbug, Cornel Riklin, GBR
The 2015 World Championships will be held in June, in Block Island in the state of Rhode Island on the East Coast of the USA.
www.rys.org.uk/event/j111-world-championship/
One Month To Start Of Thousand Islands Race
The last entry discount deadline is approaching soon for joining the 2014 running of the Thousand Islands Race organized by the Sailing Club of Rijeka and Porto Montenegro Yacht Club.
Following measurement and inspection activities on Thursday and Friday, 18-19 September, there is a Crew Party on Friday night followed Saturday by a tune-up coastal race off the starting venue in historic Rijeka, Croatia.
Then on Sunday 21 September will be the start of Leg 1 of the Thousand Island offshore race from the historic harborfront in Rijeka down the Dalmatian coast that has the fleet leaving the islands of Unije, Susak, Premuda, Dugi Otok, Kornat, Vis, Lastovo and Sv. Andrija to starboard. To complete this 300-mile course the entries will have to navigate amongst the myriad of small islands and channels that comprise this beautiful coast before reaching the finish line located in front of the new marina facilities of Porto Montenegro in Tivat, Montenegro.
On Wednesday 24 September there will be a fun "1000 islands + 2 race" in scenic Boka Kotorska Bay in Montenegro, followed by a prize-giving that evening in Tivat.
And on Thursday 25 September the Leg 2 return race to Rijeka will be held as a reverse course of Leg 1, with another prizegiving party held on Saturday 28 September in Rijeka.
Thusfar 12 teams are entered from all over Europe, including Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The largest and fastest boat entered is the 100-foot Super Maxi Esimit Europa 2, who will challenge the current course record for Leg 1 of 28:41:06 and for 46:02:37 for Leg 2 set last year by the Hungarian R/P 60 Wild Joe.
Entries need only be over 9.0 m in length, have an ORC Club or ORC International certificate, and a Stability Index greater than 110. Also accepted are double-handed entries, one-designs or boats of same type or production model raced in separate categories, and there is one multihull division.
How To Win The America's Cup
Winning the 35th America's Cup in 2017 will require navigating a radically different format for the competition.
- The score of the America's Cup Match might be 1-0 before the first race is sailed.
- Fleet racing in non-foiling AC45's will count towards the score in the Match and towards challenger selection.
- The defender will be racing in the challenger selection series and can influence which challenger goes through to the Match.
- Challengers' boats will need to be optimized for conditions in two different venues.
The America's Cup Match - first to seven points
This is not the same as "best of 13." Remember that the 2013 America's Cup Match was "first to nine points." We needed 19 races, since Oracle Team USA started with a score of -2 because of their penalty. For the 2017 America's Cup there could be penalties and also a bonus point - the winner of the "America's Cup Qualifiers" will start with one point if they are in the Match. And, that bonus point could be influenced by the America's Cup World Series. -- Jack Griffin
Full article in Cup Experience:
www.cupexperience.com
SME To Rebrand America's Cup
The America's Cup Event Authority has partnered with SME, Inc. New York to develop a new brand strategy, identity and architecture for the organization and 35th America's Cup. SME's challenge for this assignment is to develop a brand that represents in equal parts the history/heritage of this global sports icon while capturing the innovative aspect of an event viewed by many as 'The World Cup of Sailing'.
"It's great to be working with the fabled America's Cup brand and their leadership team on the brand development of one of the most prestigious and esteemed events in the world," said Ed O'Hara, Senior Partner.
For The Record
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of a new World Record:
Record: Around Britain and Ireland. Monohull
Yacht: Azzam-Abu Dhabi Racing. VO65.
Name: Ian Walker. GBR
Dates:. 11th August to the15th August 2014.
Start time: 09;10. 11/08/14
Finish time: 22;20;28. 15;08;14
Elapsed time: 4 days 13 hours 10 minutes and 28 seconds
Distance: 1773 NM
Average speed: 16.24 kts
Comments:
Previous record: "Groupama". Franck Cammas. FRA. Aug 10. 5d 21h 26m 55s
John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council
Featured Brokerage
2007 IMOCA Open 60. 975000. Southampton, UK
Meticulously maintained and prepared and at the forefront of previous generation design, Gamesa is without question one of the fastest and best maintained boats available today. Bearing in mind the reshaping of the 2014 IMOCA rule, Gamesa is well capable of being developed as a major player in the 2016 Vendee Globe.
Gamesa has some unusual IMOCA and has certain significant competitive and financial benefits over other boats currently available. As well as being one of the fastest of her the generation – the recent rule changes and grandfathering rules (now fixed until 2016) she remains one of the only MOCAs with a race proven/super strong carbon keel blade. The new 2014 rule requires all new boats and also existing boats with pre-existing steel keels to change them for the new (far heavier) IMOCA design prior to Vendee 2016. This represents a significant 400+kg weight penalty.
Contact: info@bernard-gallay.com
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand. -- Kurt Vonnegut
Editorial and letter submissions to editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: gb@beesonstone.com or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html