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
Canfield and Williams First Into Argo Group Gold Cup Quarter Finals
Photo by Charles Anderson. Click on image to enlarge.
Hamilton, Bermuda: Taylor Canfield (ISV) US One, top seed in Group 2, is the first skipper to qualify for the Quarter Finals in the 2014 Argo Group Cup. Canfield lost his first match in Day 1 racing against Chris Poole (USA) Riptide Racing. Since then the #2 skipper on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour has sailed to seven straight points. He will sail Mathieu Richard (FRA) LunaJets in the final flight Friday.
Second to qualify is Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar, top seed in Group 1. By press deadline he reached a score of 7.5 points with 8 wins, but a ½ point deduction for the collision on Wednesday. The first pick for the Quarter Final automatically goes to the top qualifier from Group 1. Williams could face a challenge from Hansen when they meet in the final flight of Group 1 on Friday.
Three of the next 4 skippers in Group 1 may also qualify for the Quarters… Pierre Morvan (FRA) Vannes Aggio Sailing Team, Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Sailing Team, Keith Swinton (AUS) Team Alpari FX and Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Stena Sailing Team.
Group 1 teams who will not make the cup include RBYC Commodore Somers Kempe’s team Raymarine/Ocean Electronics, David Storrs (USA) Pequot Racing Team, Arthur Herreman (FRA) Match the World.
Group 2 has finished sailing their Thursday flights and none of the teams except Canfield in Group 2 is safely out of the Qualifying session and into the Quarter Finals yet. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team is in 2nd place after 10 of 11 full Flights with 5 points. He along with 5 skippers sitting on 4 points can go through or go home.
Skippers on 4 points with one flight left in Qualifying include David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour, Eric Monnin (SWI) Swiss Match Racing Team, Nathan Outteridge (SWE) Artemis Racing.
Skippers on 4 points, but with two flights left to sail, are Mathieu Richard and Marek Stanczyk (POL) Henri Lloyd Rainmaker Racing. He has sailed one less race after a crewman was injured in flight 8 and they missed their flight 10 match.
Junior Gold Cup
Hamilton Bermuda: First day jitters marked the start of the 12th annual Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup. Racing featured strong performances from a trio of nordics including Christian Spodsberg of Denmark now leading the race with three points, Mainio Ormio of Finland with 9 points and Kasper Nordenram of Sweden who is in the top 10.
In second place, Adam Larson of Bermuda has 7 points and had a great day on the water today. Larson, whose family is still without electricity after Hurricane Gonzalo, said he has been getting to bed a lot earlier these days and feels that the conditions also favored his performance today.
For Denmark’s Christian Spodsberg who had a second and first place consecutively, he was careful to start in the middle and hang back a little on a crowded line. “There was nice wind and I was very pleased with the way I sailed today. It was great.” -- Laurie Fullerton
Artie's Heroic Return
Artie was the first Maltese boat to finish the race and is the provisional winner of IRC 4 and ORC4. 72 yachts are still racing, however Artie's corrected time, which decides the overall winner is unlikely to be beaten by any of the remaining competitors.
Lee Satariano was asked before the race if the record entry of 122 yachts and the fact that Artie is a J/122 was an omen? "I am not superstitious anymore!" commented Lee just after stepping ashore. "It was a very very tough race. The crew have worked around the clock from day one and the race didn't start well for us but during day two we started to get our the shifts right and co-skippers Sebastian and Christian Ripard did a great job on the tactics and the end result was a a series of correct decision that put us in a good position before the storm arrived."
Buy A Piece Of Kingfisher... Charity Auction
One of the guys at Future Fibres, Dale Fisher, is doing an ironman this weekend for charity ( justgiving.com/Dale-Fisher/ ). He has also arranged to auction a piece of Kingfisher's original rigging (which we have had lying around for years at work) through the Ellen MacArthur trust...
Deadline Sunday www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111487829103
Lucy Hutchinson was married to Riff (production manager at FF for 10 years), Tom's brother, and she passed away from cancer in Feb this year only 6-8 months after being diagnosed with Cancer.
Want to buy a piece of history and support Cancer Research through the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust?
BID at www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111487829103
CONTRIBUTE: justgiving.com/Dale-Fisher/
Ian Walker Speaks Out On Safety Training
Ocean Safety's Sea Survival training sessions with the Volvo Ocean Race teams, might seem a distant memory to the crew members as they prepare for departure, but how much of what they learnt will stay with them?
Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, talked to Ocean Safety during training.
"The training sessions help us to come away with practical ideas and ways in which we might change our equipment, how we're going to organise ourselves or what we do in the event of certain situations arising.
Sea survival training provokes thought, discussion and self improvement. The course is good for team building, being in the pool together and boarding liferafts.
When you're confident that you're going to be safe, you can then sail the boat faster because you're not worried about danger and risk becauseyou're managing that at the same time.
To read the full interview go to bit.ly/1uyfqYq
Looking Forward To A Pint In Dingle
Canadian sailor Erkan Gursoy, who recently navigated the Northwest Passage solo, says he's looking forward to a pint once he reaches Irish waters, as RTE News reports.
The 67-year-old boat builder from Vancouver is currently some 500km off the west coast in his 11m yacht Altan Girl after riding out the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo that brought heavy winds to Ireland in recent days.
And despite the initial concerns of the Irish Coast Guard, he's "not in any difficulty" as he makes slow but steady progress across the Atlantic bound for port at Dingle.
Besides, he's faced his share of bigger challenges since setting out on his epic voyage earlier this year, such as getting stuck in Arctic ice for 10 days in July - during which time he had to fend off the advances of dangerous polar bears.
From Afloat magazine:
afloat.ie/sail/offshore
Article in RTE:
www.rte.ie/news/2014/1022/654207-erkan-gursoy/
Looking Forward To A Pint In Dingle
Canadian sailor Erkan Gursoy, who recently navigated the Northwest Passage solo, says he's looking forward to a pint once he reaches Irish waters, as RTE News reports.
The 67-year-old boat builder from Vancouver is currently some 500km off the west coast in his 11m yacht Altan Girl after riding out the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo that brought heavy winds to Ireland in recent days.
And despite the initial concerns of the Irish Coast Guard, he's "not in any difficulty" as he makes slow but steady progress across the Atlantic bound for port at Dingle.
Besides, he's faced his share of bigger challenges since setting out on his epic voyage earlier this year, such as getting stuck in Arctic ice for 10 days in July - during which time he had to fend off the advances of dangerous polar bears.
From Afloat magazine:
afloat.ie/sail/offshore
Article in RTE:
www.rte.ie/news/2014/1022/654207-erkan-gursoy/
Time To Fly
Photo by Lloyd Images. Click on image to enlarge.
Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) took to the water for the first time from their temporary base in Southampton, sailing their foiling AC45. The boat originally raced under BAR colours during the America's Cup World Series in 2012-13, and has subsequently been modified to fly on hydrofoils.
Team Principal and Skipper, Ben Ainslie commented, "Ten months ago we had nothing, so to be out there today foiling in one of these boats - after such a short time frame - is the result of a huge amount of effort from all of the team, especially the shore team and the designers.
For us sailors it's a real privilege to get out there and sail one of these boats. It's been a great first day and it's a good start, but it's only a start and we have a lot of work to do over the coming months."
RORC Transatlantic Race Fast Approaching
Start: Lanzarote: 29 November 2014 to Grenada
A varied and international fleet ranging from 40 to 100ft (12.19 to 30.48m) will set off for Grenada on Saturday 29th November from Lanzarote, the most eastern in the Canary Islands chain, in the Royal Ocean Racing Club's new offshore race.
After a week of preparation and social events hosted at Puerto Calero Marina, the inaugural RORC Transatlantic Race will see competitors from several countries weave their way through the historic archipelago before making landfall 2,800 nautical miles away where they will be welcomed at Camper & Nicholsons' Port Louis Marina.
A number of boats will be vying for line honours including the largest boat in the fleet, the 100ft (30.48m) Finot-Conq maxi, Nomad IV (MLT), the Southern Wind 94, Windfall and Baltic 78, Lupa of London.
Jeremy Pilkington's 78ft maxi, Lupa of London (GBR) will be sailed by Daniel Stump with a top crew, including Isle of Wight-based solo sailor and project manager, Jonny Malbon, and young solo offshore Artemis Offshore Academy graduate and top British 'rookie' in the 2013 Solitaire du Figaro, Jack Bouttell on board.
The Spirit of Canada Ocean Challenges Team is delighted to have completed a successful first year on the Volvo 60, Spirit of Adventure (CAN). A season that included the RORC Caribbean 600 allowed 91 individuals, from 27 to 77 years old, to take up the opportunity to sail on the grand prix yacht with two round the world sailors, Derek Hatfield and Chris Stanmore-Major, who between them have more than 400,000 ocean miles and five circumnavigations.
Four young sailors from Oakcliff Sailing's training and coaching centre based in the North Shore of Long Island, Oyster Bay, NY have been given the opportunity to compete in the RORC Transatlantic Race thanks to the generosity of their newly donated Class40.
ISAF World Sailing Conference
The annual bunfight that is the conference of the world governing body for sailing, the International Sailing Federation(ISAF) gets under way at the start of next month in Palma, Majorca.
Over 400 blazers (including a 13 - strong delegation from the Irish Sailing Association) will gather to discuss the burning and not so burning issues of the day, with a system developed in Ireland looking set to be the hottest topic on the agenda. Back in the days when Cork Week grew to be the most popular (if not the most populous) major keelboat regatta of its type in the world, it became clear that there was a demand to distinguish between those who sailed for fun and those who did so for a living. At the heart of the issue were the shouts of "unfair" from the largely amateur crews who saw a creeping influence of contracted-in sailors with a background in sailmaking, high performance events and marine industry related professions.
Responding to this unrest, the Royal Cork Yacht Club, led by Donal McClement, developed a system for excluding such "pros" from certain classes of racing. The result was the increasing adoption of the system by race organisers until ISAF decided to call it the "Classification Code" and enshrine it in their regulations where it has been ever since, updated to reflect trends in yacht racing. While it is not perfect, it does have widespread acceptance, so it was quite a shock to ISAF members to discover that submission 025-14 proposes to remove it altogether as an ISAF regulation. It is believed that this is being championed by ISAF President Carlo Croce, under pressure from elements within Italian sailing, where the use of the code is less popular.
ISAF, formerly the International Yacht Racing Union, has a governing process more akin to an old style Soviet politburo than to modern democracy. An executive committee implements the policy decisions of a 40 member Council, which are subject to review at the Annual General Meeting, where the voting body is the member national authorities (MNAs) of each ISAF country. It was this little know wrinkle in the ISAF constitution that allowed the MNAs to overturn Council's decision to include kitesurfing in the 2016 Olympics the 2012 AGM in Dun Laoghaire. Confused? Well you should be, because simple it ain't.
Full article in Afloat magazine's blog:
afloat.ie/blogs/water-rat/
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston: 'I'm No Ancient Mariner'
For he is returning to his solo ocean racing roots when he takes part in the French single-handed classic, the Route de Rhum from St Malo across the Atlantic to the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.
At 75 he is the oldest entrant. His yacht is called Grey Power.
Will I win it? No! Of course not,' he laughs. 'But I shall have loads of fun participating in it.'
But then the smile fades and his eyes twinkle. 'But you know, once I'm out there I shall get rather competitive.'
Why come out of retirement? 'I have never retired,' he fires back. 'Yes, I'm 75 now, but age has absolutely nothing to do with it.
'You are what you feel, not what you're counted as bureaucratically and I'm not anything like my age.
'I've been incredibly lucky. I've got a strong body. I'm fit.'
Industry News
Next month, Terry Greenwood of British Cycling will be speaking at the 13th International Sailing Summit (ISS). He will reveal the concept behind the triumphant revival of British Cycling as inspiration of an ambitious future for the sailing industry.
Taking place on 17 November 2014 the Summit will address a global marine audience with innovative ways to engage an all-inclusive audience and generate business success. Terry Greenwood will identify lessons from the cycling industry as his contribution to the theme 'Waking up the sailing industry - how sailing needs to modernise, diversify and develop to attract and retain participants'.
Since 2009 British Cycling, in partnership with Sky, has inspired over 1 million people to cycle regularly.
The Summit is organised by British Sailing, a group association of the British Marine Federation (BMF). Taking place in Amsterdam the day before the world-renowned Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS), the event is expected to attract some 150 delegates representing all aspects of the sailing industry.
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After more than 17 years with the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Chief Executive Officer Jerome Pels has decided to pursue other professional challenges.
Managing a complex organization like ISAF is not an easy task at the best of times. With 142 member national organizations; more than 100 ISAF classes; a very professional and dedicated cadre of International Race Officials, ISAF is unique amongst international sports federations and undoubtedly needs the skill demonstrated by Jerome to be efficiently managed. In this task Jerome has always counted on the invaluable support of his colleagues in the ISAF Secretariat.
Jerome stated: "After 17 years I believe I have accomplished most of which an individual can accomplish at any organization. I started in 1997 and leave having been for the last 6 years the highest ranking executive of ISAF. I have made countless friends, visited more places than I could ever have imagined and faced numerous challenges most of which I am pleased to say I was able to overcome. I leave behind a healthy organization and a great staff whom I will dearly miss. I am certain they will continue the outstanding performance which I have always counted on. I wish to thank in particular, my colleagues in the ISAF Secretariat, the Executive Committee who placed their confidence in me, and everyone whom I've been privileged to meet and deal with over the last 17 years. It is time for me to seek new professional challenges"
www.sailing.org/news/39158.php
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With the recent expansion and announcement of "Phase II" at Oyster's Norfolk facility in Wroxham, Oyster staff and their guests were invited to the official opening and launch party held on Friday 17 October, to celebrate the next chapter in the history of this luxury yacht-building outfit.
After nearly 40 years of partnership, in 2012, Oyster Yachts took over the Oyster business of E C Landamores and made it a wholly owned Oyster operation. Now in 2014, the new expansion, which is a conversion of the original building currently owned by Anthony Landamore and managed by Tilia Properties, has created two additional build bays plus a new deck bay to accommodate increased demand. This successful partnership has been the driving force behind the extended factory and in turn has been the catalyst of Oyster's recent recruitment drive.
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Groupe Beneteau today announced its sponsorship of the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider and ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami. Groupe Beneteau, the parent company of Jeanneau and Beneteau sailing yachts and Lagoon catamarans, is the world's leading yacht builder, and will now become a significant presence in high-performance sailing with its support of both the US national sailing team and North America's premier Olympic and Paralympic classes regatta. The partnerships are effective immediately, and will continue through the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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Henri Lloyd will be well represented through out the competing teams in the French single-handed classic race, the Route du Rhum.
Henri Lloyd long term Ambassador and Clipper Round the World Race founder; Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, aged 75, will be the oldest competitor in the race when he competes onboard his Open 60, Grey Power.
Sir Robin will be wearing Henri Lloyd's Ocean Pro Jacket and Hi-fits.
The crew of the Maxi80 Prince de Bretagne have also chosen Henri Lloyd for their race attire, skipper Lionel Lemonchois who has won this race twice previously and his team will be wearing Henri Lloyd's Elite range.
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The first pile has been driven in the Royal Southern's Yacht Club's most ambitious construction scheme to date, the creation of the Prince Philip Yacht Haven. The Royal Southern Yacht Club and its close neighbour, the RAF Yacht Club, have worked together for several years to reach this milestone.
The need for this major construction project arose as a direct result of the deteriorating condition of the Royal Southern's sea wall but, looking to the future, the Club decided to make a virtue of necessity and improve its berthing facilities.
Incorporated into the design are facilities to enable sailors with severe physical disabilities, including those who are restricted to wheelchairs, to have direct access to boats afloat.
This project will also provide improved facilities for the RAF Yacht Club who will now have direct access to their pontoons and rationalisation of land holdings. -- Peta Stuart-Hunt
www.royal-southern.co.uk/PPYH/PPYH-Blog
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The Last Word
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