Scuttlebutt Europe #2772 - 4 February

Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, 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

ACCIONA 100% ECO Powered Capsizes
This Sunday morning 3rd Feburary around 1049hrs UTC two distress beacons of ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered, skippered by Spanish solo sailor Javier Sanso were triggered. The alarms were received at 1052hrs UTC.

At 1049hrs UTC the boat was positioned at 31° 59.00 N 27 26.24 W, so 500 miles west of Madeira and 360 miles south of the Azores island of Sao Miguel

Weather conditions in the area that Sanso was sailing were a NE'ly wind of 15kts. The boat was racing upwind in a moderate trade winds swell. Prior to the incident all was reported to be well on board, only minutes before Sanso had e-mailed a daily report to Race Direction.

At 1110hrs UTC (1210hrs local time Les Sables d'Olonne, France) Vendee Globe Race Direction were alerted by Ricardo Maldonado, the manager of ACCIONA sailing team, who informed Vendee Globe Race Direction that MRCC Madrid had received the warning that two EPIRB distress beacons (COSPAS/SARSAT) had been activated.

Immediately Race Direction in Les Sables d'Olonne, the MRCC Ponta Delgada (Azores) and CROSS Griz Nez tried to contact the IMOCA Open 60 ACCIONA but received no reply.

MRCC Ponta Delgada then requested an aerial reconnaissance of the area by plane. A C295 plane was on zone by 1630hrs UTC. On arrival they found Javier Sanso in his liferaft. Sanso made hand signals and smoke signals (smoke hand flare) next to his capsized boat.

At 1650hrs UTC this information was confirmed to Race Direction by MRCC Ponta Delgada.

At 1750hrs UTC an EH101 helicopter was dispatched from the Azores island of Terceira heading to the zone to effect the rescue of Javier Sanso and is expected to be in the area by 2300hrs UTC.

* Jean-Pierre Dick left his mooring in Saint Cyprian Sunday morning at 0720hrs setting off on his final 290 miles to Les Sables d'Olonne. Winds are only light thanks to the high pressure and so it will be a gentle return to the course for Virbac-Paprec 3, which is ideal when you have no keel.

His ETA is 4PM on Monday.

No penalty assesed against him:

When mooring up in the morning of January 31, JPD usedengine taken for 3-4 minutes to facilitate the maneuver.

VP3 remain moored until February 3, 7:20 Z deciding to sail again towards the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne.

Conclusion

The skipper made ​​all docking maneuvers and starting on his own and did not receive outside aid.

In breaking the seals then using the engine at its mooring to a buoy, VP3 violated Articles 13.2 and 13.3 of the Notice of Race.

Using the engine only to secure the docking maneuver and during a very short time (3-4 minutes), the skipper acted as good seaman and did not benefit from his breach of the articles cited above.

The jury concluded that VP3 is a minor offense.

Rankings as of Sunday 03 February 2013, 20:00 (FR)

1. MACIF, Francois Gabart, Arrival : Sunday 27 January 2013, 14:18:40 TU
2. Banque Populaire, Armel Le Cleac'h Arrival : Sunday 27 January 2013, 17:35:52 TU
3. HUGO BOSS, Alex Thomson Arrival : Wednesday 30 January 2013, 07:25:43 TU
4. Virbac Paprec 3, Jean-Pierre Dick, 218.0 nm
5. Gamesa, Mike Golding, 822.1 nm
6. SynerCiel, Jean Le Cam, 883.7 nm
7. Mirabaud, Dominique Wavre, 1085.1 nm
8. AKENA Verandas, Arnaud Boissieres, 1197.9 nm
9. Votre Nom Autour du Monde avec EDM Projets, Bertrand de Broc, 1897.2 nm
10. Initiatives-coeur, Tanguy De Lamotte, 2635.0 nm
11. Team Plastique, Alessandro Di Benedetto, 3339.9 nm
12. ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered, Javier Sanso

vendeeglobe.org

ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami
Click on image for photo gallery.

On the final day of racing at ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, USA won 13 medals: five gold, three silver and three bronze.

Nacra 17- Making its debut in World Cup competition is the mixed multihull. Americans swept the top three positions with Newberry and Casey taking top honors. Second and third, respectively were Sarah Streater (Flagler Beach, Fla.) and Matthew Whitehead (Panama City, Fla.), and Taylor Reiss and Sarah Lihan (New York, N.Y.).

49er FX - Anna Tunnicliffe (Miami, Fla.) and Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) maintained their second overall in the new Olympic skiff class, with Kristen Lane and Molly Carapiet (both Tiburon, Calif.) in third.

470 Men's - Gold went to Stuart McNay and David Hughes, who went into the final day with a nice lead on the fleet.

Laser - In the 78-boat Laser class, Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) went into the medal series with a shot at gold. However, things didn't go quite according to plan. "Three double-points races meant a lot of points on the table," said Buckingham. "There was a lot to be gained or lost, and the plan was to sail on my own and then see where the points were from there. We were going to go off of what happened and it just happened I was over and go ninth. That put me behind right off the boat.

"I had a good second race, placing fourth. I was having a good last race, everything was going to plan to get silver, but I had a shocker last upwind leg and go too separated with the pack. They got a shift I didn't and I got passed by four boats and dropped to third overall. It was a bummer going into the day winning, but at the end of the day I still go a medal."

Final top three by class

2.4
1. Megan Pascoe, GBR, 18 points
2. Allan Leibel, CAN, 21
3. Bruce Millar, CAN, 22

49er
1. Strammer / Brown, USA, 4.0 points
2. Pesch / Burd, USA, 5.0
3. Oestling / Torlen, SWE, 10.0

470
1. Stuart McNay / David Hughes, USA, 22
2. Matthias Schmid / FLorian Reichstaedter, AUS, 27
3. David Bargehr / Lukas Mahr, AUS, 57

Finn
1. Caleb Paine, USA, 20
2. Greg Douglas, CAN, 34
3. Jorge Zarif, BRA, 43

49er FX
1. Martine Soffiatti / Kahena Kunze, BRA, 2.0
2. Anna Tunnicliffe / Molly Vandemoer, USA, 5.0
3. Kristen Lane / Molly Carapiet, USA, 8.0

Laser
1. Jesper Stalheim, SWE, 46
2. Karl-Martin Rammo, EST, 50
3. Charlie Buckingham, USA, 54

Laser Radial
1. Paige Railey, USA, 20
2. Tuula Tenkanen, FIN, 34
3. Isabella Bertold, CAN, 40

Nacra17
1. Sarah Newberry / John Casey, USA, 22
2. Sarah Streater / Matthew Whitehead, USA, 27
3. Taylor Reiss / Sarah Lihan, USA, 35

RSX Men
1. Ivan Pastor, ESP
2. Nick Dempsey, GBR
3. Dorian Van Rijssbelberghe, NED

RSX Women
1. Maayan Davidovich, ISR
2. Tuuli Petaja-Siren, FIN
3. BLannca Mancon Dominguez, ESP

Sonar
1. Wang-Hansen / Solberg / Kristiansen, NOR, 19
2. Fisher / Hersey / Levinson, USA, 28
3. Doerr / Kendell / Freund, USA, 29

Complete results for all classes at mocr.ussailing.org/index.php/results/

US 17 Relaunch Imminent
Click on image for photo gallery

Oracle Racing to another step towards getting back on the water as they wheeled out the rehabbed US 17 and stepped the replacement wing this AM for dock side load testing.

The operation ended just about mid day and the rig was disassembled and wheeled back into barn as they analyze the loads and ready for a return to the water.

The bad new of the day, the folks fundraising monies to host the Americas Cup here in San Francisco far short of the $20 Million they have sought, and Ed Lee, the Mayor has taken the reigns in a last ditch effort to pull in the cash needed to cover the City's cost. If they fall short, th city will be on the hook and the taxpayers will foot the bill...stay tuned. -- Erik Simonson in Pressure Drop

www.pressure-drop.us

Seahorse March 2013
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

Update
Terry Hutchinson’s diary is filling up rewardingly fast, Wouter Verbraak explains how Gabart got the jump, Don Street sticks up for ‘amateur’ crew, Josh Hall’s all new Global Ocean Race and Rob Cook has words of caution for rail-hangers

World news
That Francois Gabart back-story in full, Bernard Stamm’s self-inflicted injury, our man gets onboard the ETNZ, Oatley’s tenacity and the bureaucrats’ convergence. Dobbs Davis, Blue Robinson, Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins

IRC
And a handful of very key words. James Dadd

Editorial
Andrew Hurst

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Final Day Blown Off at RC44 Oman Cup
3rd February, Muscat Oman: The Shamal, the wind that blows over the Persian Gulf states, put paid to the final day of racing at the RC44 Oman Cup presented by Oman Shipping Company, the opening event of the 2013 RC44 Championship Tour.

The teams were sent out onto the race course, but with gusts of 38 knots and the wind averaging 27, the 13 teams were quickly dispatched ashore. Some may have thought Oman would be a light wind's venue, but this week has seen 20 knot days down to 4 knots.

With no racing, Gennadi Timchenko's Katusha were crowned the RC44 Oman Cup winners. It has been an excellent event for the Russian team. With new tactician Andy Horton at the helm the team were undefeated on the match race day, Steve Howe then took over for the fleet racing, winning four of the eight races, leading from start to finish.

The RC44 Championship Tour now moves to Trapani, Sicily from 30th April to 5th May.

Overall Fleet Race Results
RC44 Oman Cup 2013 presented by Oman Shipping Company
Final results after eight races

1. Katusha, 28
2. Team Aqua, 38
3. Artemis Racing, 40
4. Team Nika, 41
5. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 53
6. RC44 Team CEEREF, 57
7. Ironbound, 60
8. Aegir Racing, 61
9. RUS7 Sail Racing, 62
10. Lunajets Aleph Racing Team, 63
11. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team, 67
12. Team Italia, 77
13. MAG Racing, 83

Match Race Results
RC44 Oman Cup 2013 presented by Oman Shipping Company

1. Katusha, 6
2. Aegir Racing, 4
3. Lunajets Aleph Racing, 4
4. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 4
5. Team Aqua, 3
6. Artemis Racing, 3
7. RC44 Team CEEREF, 3
8. MAG Racing, 2
9. Peninsula Petroleum Sailing Team, 2
10. RUS7 Sail Racing Team, 1
11. Team Italia, 1
12. Team Nika , 1
13. Ironbound, 1

rc44.com

ETNZ Launches Second AC72
Photo by Chris Cameron, www.chriscameron.co.nz. Click on image for photo gallery.

Emirates Team New Zealand today unveiled its second AC72 with a low-key ceremony at the team's Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, base.

Barely six months after the team's first AC72 catamaran started testing the second boat was ready for the water, another significant milestone accomplished as the team prepares for its challenge for the 34th America's Cup.

Auckland's weather today did not co-operate. After weeks on bright sun and light winds, the city was overcast, wet, cool and windy.

The brisk north-easterly breeze was gusting to 28 knots and the team decided not to risk lifting the boat into the water after it was blessed by Ngati Whatua o Orakei.

Managing director Grant Dalton said: "We were ready to launch but the weather wasn't. Even though we didn't lift the boat we met another of our self-imposed deadlines.

"America's Cup rules did not allow the launch of a second boat until last Friday, February 1 (San Francisco time), effectively Saturday in New Zealand. We settled for a Monday launch for the second boat three months ago."

"With the gusts making the wing lift difficult this morning, it was prudent not to risk damage at the start of a busy testing programme.

"Tomorrow the test programme gets underway with load testing and the new boat will be sailing later this week."

"The last of the America's Cup world series regattas will be held at Naples, Italy, starting on April 16. That will take some of the sailing team, shore crew, logistics and admin people out of play for a couple of weeks.

"We will be sailing the AC72 in San Francisco towards the end of May. Racing starts on July 7."

emiratesteamnz.com

Running The Rhumblines
A strong bond of important fellowship exists with the happy members of the Whitsunday Sailing Club.

They have been encouraged to develop the guidelines of what they can do for the club rather than accept what the Club can do for them.

This has been the primary reason behind the tropical sailing destination gaining national recognition as the friendly place to sail.

Club flag officers and the management committee already have plans in place to aging roll out the welcome mat when they host the 2013 Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week later this year.

Commodore Rob Davis supported by long term volunteers and club life members Jim Hayes and Ian Davies have already been guaranteed support from a willing group of club members who are prepared to roll up the sleeves to make sure the 2013 Tropical Shirt regatta is another succuss for the Airlie Beach community.

This popular winter regatta held annually in the tropical sailing paradise of Pioneer Bay and the Whitsunday Islands is expected to again attract a strong representation from owners who have already made plans to escape the torment from the cold latitudes.

Last year successful Sydney businessman and former Rolex Sydney Hobart race winner Geoffrey Ross who had heard glowing reports about the friendly racing destination of Airlie Beach finally decided to become a first time competitor.

After a week of sailing with the high performance Tp52 Yendys skipper Ross and his experienced crew left Airlie Beach with a suntan the major IRC championship trophy. While interest continues in who will be on the start line later this year skipper Bernie Van't Hof has focused his attention on gaining important knowledge of the tricky racing conditions with his Swan 45 Tulip.

He is determined to be prepared to defend his come from behind class championship win in 2012 with Tulip showing good form to outsail her 1.222 rating to score a light wind win in the WSC Sprint race series.

However while Bernie Van't Hof was impressed with winning the line and corrected time double he understands that the Tulip crew will need a favourable nod for the regatta handicapper to have the chance of winning back to Back championships during Telcoinabox Airile Beach Race Week 2013 in August. -- Ian Grant

Fireball Beats a Fleet of 210 at the Tiger Trophy
Click on image to enlarge.

Ian Dobson and Sam Brearey have sailed their Fireball to victory at a windy John Merricks Tiger Trophy. A fourth place in Sunday's no-discard pursuit race was good enough to give the Fireball sailors victory over a fleet of 210 boats in the fifth event of the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series. 

Brearey is the reigning Fireball World Champion, having crewed for Tom Gillard at the 2012 Worlds in Australia. And it was his fellow World Champion Gillard who won the pursuit race crewed by Simon Potts, a good finish to their Tiger weekend but with only one result in the top 10 from the Saturday's three handicap races, they weren't consistent enough to challenge for the overall prize.

The Saturday had been 420 weather, with gusts up to 30 knots. But Sunday's pursuit race was a little lighter, gusting up to 20 knots but mainly in the 10 to 15 knot range for the majority of the race. Overnight leaders Craig Dibb and Matt Wallis failed to replicate the strong-wind form from Saturday, the leading 420 sailors getting a 12th in the pursuit race to slip to 3rd overall.

For full results from the Tiger Trophy 2013, go here:
events.sailracer.org

This weekend's event was set to be the finale of the GJW Direct Sailjuice Winter Series, and as such was made a non-discardable event from the best-four-of-six series. But the snow and poor conditions of late January forced the Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy to be postponed until Saturday 23 February.

While entry for the Steve Nicholson Trophy was filled up well in advance, the rescheduling of the event has meant not all the original entrants will be able to make the 23 February event. So if you still want to get in on the action, further entries will become exclusively available  at www.SailJuiceSeries.com

Online entries will reopen on Tuesday 5 February and will be allocated strictly on a 'first come, first served' basis. 

Storm Challenges Oceanbridge Sail Auckland Competitors
Conditions on Auckland harbour were less than obliging for the competitors on day three of Oceanbridge Sail Auckland, allowing only six of the fifteen classes to get on the water.

Three races were sailed by the Lasers, Laser Radials, 470, 420, Finn, while the kiteboards sailed four in winds of 20 knots gusting to 30.

There were capsizes a plenty today, even the likes of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, and the NZL Sailing Team Men's Olympic 470 sailor Paul Snow Hansen went for a swim. Gear breakage from that capsize in the second race forced Paul and crew Chris Dawson to retire from the last two races of the day, and the Korean 470 team Kyoung Duk Kim and Ji Won Kang suffered a similar fate; a ripped jib prevented them from finishing any of the three races.

The kiteboarders lapped up the strong winds today with every board competing on the race course, and they loved the cameras too. Tauranga's Torrin Bright won all four of the fifteen minute races today, and just three are left for tomorrow.

The windsurfers, Paralympic classes, skiffs and multihull stayed ashore.

Racing resumes on Tuesday at 11:00am on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Tuesday is the final day of racing. Winds are expected to stay strong with a chance of thunderstorms although it shouldn't be quite as rough as Monday was.

Full results can be viewed online the Oceanbridge Sail Auckland website: www.sailauckland.org.nz

18ft Skiffs Australian Championship, Race 5
Click on image for photo gallery.

Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel took out Race 5 of the Australian 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today, but the runner up Gotta Love It 7 became the 2012-2013 National champion in the series.

The Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel crew of Jack Macartney, David Witt and Mark Kennedy were superb with their #2 rig in the 20-knot SW-SSW winds to take out the race by 1m14s.

After an early race incident which cost the team many positions, Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage and Peter Harris recovered strongly to bring Gotta Love It 7 home in second place behind Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel.

Last week's winner Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips and Dave Ewings) finished a further 1m15s back in third place today for an overall second in the championship.

For the defending champion Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, and series leader going into today's  race, it was a disaster as the skiff finished 11th for an overall third place.

Pure Blonde (Tom Clout) and Mojo Wine (James Dorron) were two other skiffs which performed well on the day and they fought out a close battle right to the finish for seventh and eighth

A video coverage of the race can be seen on www.18footerstv.com

Don't forget 'Pick the Podium' again this season with prizes to be won by just making some selections on which teams you think will fill the placings in Sunday's race.  For full details go to  http://www.18footerstv.com/18-promo

The club's regular spectator ferry will follow next Sunday's Race 5 of the Australian Championship, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.15pm. -- Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League

www.18footers.com.au
www.flying18s.com
www.18footerstv.com

Featured Brokerage
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This is a beautiful, privately owned (not chartered), well maintained example with the right specification for some serious cruising...

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Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com

The Last Word
Some are born great. Others have greatness thrust into them. -- Hawkeye Pearce, MASH

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