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
The 34 Copa Del Rey MAPFRE Crowns Its Eight Champions
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Eight teams from four different nationalities were crowned today winners of the 34 Copa del Rey MAPFRE, the edition with the most entries ever. 135 teams from 23 nations enjoyed a week of extraordinary competition which confirmed the reputation of the Bay of Palma as an excellent race course and the Real Club Nautico de Palma as an organizer of high level events. H.R.H. King Felipe VI competed onboard "Aifos" and will be presenting the trophies to the champions tonight.
The winners of the 34 Copa del Rey MAPFRE are: Americans "Ran V" (Gaastra IRC 0) and "Quantum Racing" (TP52 Super Series), Japanese "Mamma Aiuto" (Rias Baixas IRC 1), Italian "BMW Sail Racing Academy" (BMW ORC 1), and Spaniards "Noticia IV" (Singular Kitchen Soto 40), "Movistar" (BMW ORC 2), "Red Electrica de Espana" (Air Europa X-35) and "Ono Polaroid Tressis" (Herbalife J80).
Seamanship for Jacinto
The Seamanship distinction will open the prize giving ceremony. The regatta and the Real Club Nautico de Palma want to recognize the crucial work performed by the Maritime Rescue Services, the Air Force and the sailboat "Sea Hawk" rescuing Jacinto Rodriguez, owner "Duende 52", after falling overboard on their delivery to Palma.
The 34 Copa del Rey MAPFRE is organized by the Real Club Nautico de Palma and it was held from August 1st to the 8th.
Final top three overall for the 34 Copa del Rey MAPFRE:
(Position / Boat / Country / Skipper / Total Points)
Gaastra IRC 0
1. Ran V (USA), George Sakellaris, 9
2. Artic Energy (RUS), Stanislav Orlov, 22
3. L4 (MLT), Joern Larsen, 25
Rias Baixas IRC 1
1. Mamma Aiuto (JPN), Naofumi Kamei, 15
2. Otra Vez (USA), Willian Coates, 18
3. Team Vision Future (SUI), Mergui Mikael, 42
TP52 Super Series
1. Quantum Racing (USA), Doug DeVos, 27
2. Azzurra (ITA), Alberto Roemmers, 30
3. Platoon (GER), Harm Muller-Spreer, 36
Singular Kitchen Soto 40
1. Noticia IV (ESP), Jose Torcida, 21
2. Glen Ellen (FRA), Cadric Pouligny, 24
3. Bigamist (POR), Afonso Domingos, 24
BMW ORC 1
1. BMW Sail Racing Academy (ITA), Simone Ferrarese, 38.5
2. Elena Nova (GER), Christian Plump, 39
3. Earlybird (GER), Hendrik Brandis, 39
BMW ORC 2
1. Movistar (ESP), Pedro Campos, 20
2. Elite Sails (ESP), Ignacio Coello, 29
3. L'Immens (ESP), Alex Laplaza, 34
Air Europa X-35
1. Red Electrica de Espana (ESP), Alberto Viejo, 20
2. Lelagain (ITA), Alessandro Solerio, 37
3. Grupo Ceres (ESP), Daniel Cuevas, 40
Herbalife J80
1. Ono Polaroid Tressis (ESP), Daniel de la Pedraja, 30
2. Marbella Team (ESP), Javier Padron, 37
3. Herbalife (ESP), Jesús Amaliach, 41
Fifth Consecutive Danish Win In Lysekil
World #1 Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby today secured her fifth consecutive victory in Lysekil Women's Match, the 2nd stage of the 2015 Women's International Match Racing Series (WIM Series). In the final the Dane defeated Stephanie Roble of the USA with a 3 - 1 record, after first having beaten Swede Anna Ostling with the same score in their semi final
World #2 Anna Ostling of the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club ended top placed Swede, after winning the matches for third prize against fellow club member Caroline Sylvan 2 - 0
Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby gets 11 500 USD, a third of the total prize purse, for her fifth victory in Lysekil Women's Match. She also advances to the very top of the WIM Series leader board, ahead of Stephanie Roble and Anna Östling. The next event on the WIM Series is Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, USA, in mid September.
Results in Lysekil Women's Match 2015, the 2nd stage out of four in the Women's International Match Racing Series (skipper, nationality, WIM Series points, prize money):
1. Camilla Ulrikkeholm Klinkby, DEN, 11 500 USD
2. Stephanie Roble, USA, 5 400 USD
3. Anna Ostling, SWE, 20, 4 500 USD
4. Caroline Sylvan, SWE, 16, 3 500 USD
5. Anne-Claire Le Berre, FRA, 15, 3 000 USD
6. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, NED, 14, 2 700 USD
7. Alexa Bezel, SUI, 13, 2 200 USD
8. Pauline Courtois, FRA, 12, 1 500 USD
9. Annabel Vose, GBR, 10, -
10. Johanna Bergqvist, SWE, 8, -
11. Juliana Senfft, BRA, 6, -
12. Sanna Häger, SWE, 4, -
www.wimseries.com
www.lysekilwomensmatch.se
Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week
The second day of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week delivered perfect conditions, with bright sun and decent winds. A west-south westerly breeze built gradually through the day to give gusts approaching 20 knots by early afternoon. With 30-degree wind shifts at times, accompanied by big gusts and lulls, there was plenty to challenge competitors.
For competitors in the early starts on the two fixed lines a strong west-going tide made it imperative not to start early. This was accentuated for White Group dayboats starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, as the outer distance mark, Aberdeen Alpha, was two boat lengths on the course side of the line.
In White Group, the J/70 class is one of the fastest growing at the regatta, with entries up more than 300 per cent over the past two years. The 27-strong fleet made a clean start in their first race today, which proved to be a closely-fought battle in which the first eight boats finished within 69 seconds. David McLeman's Offbeat took the winner's gun 10 seconds ahead of Charlie Esse's Darwin Property Investment. Third place went to Ben Gratton's team of youth sailors on Royal Thames 1.
The J/70s' second race today was started from a committee boat line, with windward-leeward legs before finishing on the Shrape finish line off East Cowes. This time Esse pulled out a three-minute lead on the fleet to take a convincing win ahead of Simon Ling's Team RAF Benevolent Fund. Young sailor Jack Davies on Jugador took third.
The Etchells fleet is renowned for tight racing and today proved no exception, with all but the final three boats finishing within 180 seconds. Exabyte V was first across the line, just six seconds ahead of Mark and Jo Downer's Moonlight, while Andrew Coopers Ice followed 11 seconds later in third place.
Today was Family Day at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. Like many other classes, the Etchells has many members of the same family spread through the fleet. Mark's brother Kevin is helming another Etchells, Ray of Light, and between them the Downer brothers have nine children, half of whom have regularly sailed in the Cowes fleet.
Tomorrow promises a generally stronger and more consistent wind, although there will be more cloud cover. It is also UKSA day, in which attention will be focused on the regatta's official charity, which uses sailing and watersports as a catalyst to transform young people's lives
Full results for all classes:
www.aamcowesweek.co.uk
Monster Project Racing Charter Has 3 Places Left For The Rolex Fastnet
MONSTER PROJECT, formerly Team Russia's Volvo Open 70 from the Volvo Ocean Race Round The World, is in high gear for the iconic Rolex Fastnet Race 2015.
The boat, is very avant-garde in her design, in near new condition, has a large sail wardrobe and is already setting records both inshore and offshore on the Mediterranean, Transatlantic and Caribbean circuit as Formula-1 racing charter.
Skipper Andy Budgen is caping her racing campaign this year with the the 90th Anniversary of the Rolex Fastnet Race 2015 and he has moved fast and drawn together an international team. He brings a wealth of offshore and in-port racing skills to the table.
Fastnet has always stirred a passion amongst sailors, stoking the fires for offshore sailing and focusing the mentality from "why can't we do that" towards "let's do that".
Fastnet has exceptional take up and has produced a conveyor belt of offshore talent and for more information to get onboard MONSTER PROJECT and to see her roar as she takes on sailing heavyweights such as Comanche, Hanuman, Rambler 88, and Leopard - all with one thing in common, a winning mentality!
To Get On Board Contact: www.volvo70charter.co.uk / info@volvo70charter.co.uk
2015 Zhik 29er World Championship
Pwllheli, Wales: The conditions improved after a rainy night providing exciting racing for the 193 entrants at the Zhik 29er Worlds. As the drizzle faded, the wind increased and provided stellar conditions on both courses. The sailors were split for qualifying into four fleets and raced on two courses off Pwllheli. For some the conditions were a challenge but for others it was what they have prepared for. David Campbell-James, Race officer stated, "we had 3 races today on both courses with 12-18 knots and relatively great sea state for the southerly breeze. The weather is to be much the same for tomorrow but with 4 races scheduled."
After three races, mere points separate the top spots. James Wilson/Oscar Gunn (NZL) and Juho Kotiranta/Akseli Keskinen (FIN) have 4 points both with two wins and a second. A three-way tie for second stands with Tam Lindsay/William McKenzie (NZL), Christopher Williford/Wade Waddell (USA) and John Cooley/Simon Hoffman (AUS) all with 5 points total.
Tomorrow's four races will offer more challenges as the fleets will be reshuffled.
Racing for qualifying continues on Monday, August 10 with the finals to start August 12 and the prizegiving on August 14. -- Jerelyn Biehl
American Rich Wilson Preregistered For The Next Vendee Globe
Good news for the internationalisation of the Vendee Globe: American sailor Rich Wilson has officially preregistered for the next solo round the world race without stopovers. With this in mind, he's already training aboard the ex Mirabaud, a 2006 Owen Clarke design with which Dominique Wavre finished 7th in his last Vendee.
If he manages to balance the budget, Rich Wilson will, at 64 years of age, likely be the most senior figure of the 2016/2017 event. His primary aim will be to finish the race, as he did in 2008/2009, securing 9th place after 121 days at sea. However, that's not his only goal. "I hope that with everything we're doing the race's notoriety will extend right across the USA and that we'll see an increasing number of Americans in the race as a result," he explains.
Quantum Key West Race Week Offers Alternate Racing Formats
Organizers from the Storm Trysail Club are pleased to announce new features to Quantum Key West Race Week 2016 to increase the event's flexibility to accommodate more sailors and classes to enjoy this world-class international sailing event.
Firstly, a one design or handicap class that can organize a minimum number of 8 entries may consider using an alternative format being offered of three days of racing starting on Wednesday, January 20th, 2016 and concluding on Friday, January 22nd. This will be in addition to the standard format of racing held over Monday, January 18th through Friday, January 22nd. Classes competing in the standard format will be ineligible to also compete in this alternate format.
Those that opt to race on Wednesday-Friday will receive the same high-quality race management being provided to the other classes at the event, and may be included in course areas provided for other classes during the week, or given their own courses, depending on their needs.
Classes interested in this alternate format will have to register their interest and commitment by September 1st in order to have an amendment made to the official Notice of Race.
Secondly, in addition to the return of IRC and HPR rating systems, Quantum Key West Race Week 2016 is pleased to offer handicap scoring using the ORC system. Boats with either ORCi or ORC Club valid certificates may enter, with classes formed for each.
Thirdly, event managers are prepared to add short navigational races to the format for Performance Cruising classes that have expressed interest in participating at Quantum Key West Race Week. This is a style of racing popular for the casual and/or shorthanded sailing teams, who wish to be part of the larger event but typically enjoy just one race per day.
DSS Gives You Wings
With the sailing world going 'foil-crazy', stock prices are rising for Dynamic Stability Systems and Infiniti Yachts, one of the chief exponents of the patented DSS foil system. After all, why should multihulls and Moths have all the fun? Sticking a foil out down to leeward that generates lift and piles on righting moment when it is needed delivers one of the biggest performance enhancements you can make to your racing yacht. The point is finally sticking home, having morphed from a fringe eccentricity to a head-slapping 'why didn't we think of that years ago?' And with his latest design, DSS creator Hugh Welbourn has proved it is now even possible to make a keelboat fly.
Following on from the DSS-equipped Infiniti 36 performance daysailers, the first Infiniti 46R is currently midway through construction at Infiniti Yachts at the URSA Shipyard near Istanbul. Due for launch this September, the first 46R, designed by DSS creator Hugh Welbourn, has been developed as an offshore racing yacht for the classic 600-mile races such as the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Fastnet Race, Middle Sea Race and Newport-Bermuda. Hull no1, Maverick, will debut this November on the RORC Transatlantic race. The boat has been engineered by Gurit to withstand the rough conditions these races can deliver and is built using Gurit pre-preg carbon fibre with an M-Foam core.
In line with many owners' wishes, the Infiniti 46R has been designed to be sailed relatively shorthanded with a crew of just six and is fitted with a canting keel to provide added power upwind to compensate. The keel is canted with a single Cariboni hydraulic ram while a single canard forward minimises leeway.
Who Will Win The Fastnet?
With a record-sized fleet of 335 in the running, the question 'who will win the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race on handicap is a tough one writes James Boyd.
As ever, the corrected time prize is raced under IRC, which this year aims to equalise a fleet as diverse as Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze Clark's VPLP-Verdier 100 Comanche (with a IRC TCC of 1.975) to the modest Contessa 32 Hurrying Angel 4 of Lucinda Allaway (TCC of 0.872); from state of the art carbon fibre racers, such as the new IRC 72 Mini Maxi Momo, to Matt Brooks' classic Dorade, the 52 footer which won the Fastnet Race outright in 1931 and 1933 under young designer-skipper Olin Stephens. In between are every imaginable flavour of cruising yachts, cruiser-racers to out and out performance machines.
The winner will be partly determined by the weather. If the race has a strong start and a light finish then it is typically a 'big boat' race. If the opposite is true, and the wind only fills in later, then it is a 'small boat' race as occurred in 2005 when one of the smallest and slowest boats in the race, Jean-Yves Chateau's Nicholson 33, Iromiguy, claimed the victor's Fastnet Challenge Trophy.
Whichever boats wins, IRC seeks to ensure that it is among the best sailed in the fleet.
Battle Of The Giants
Fall is shaping up to be the battle of the giants. Two of the biggest racing sailboats are gearing up for one of sailing's toughest challenges; a non-stop lap of the planet to claim the Jules Verne Trophy, or by it's real name Le Trophee Jules-Verne.
Francis Joyon, the humble French sailor who currently holds the record for the fastest solo, non-stop circumnavigation will sail the 105-foot VPLP-designed trimaran IDEC, while Yann Guichard and Dona Bertarelli are readying the 131-foot VPLP-designed trimaran Spindrift.
Each team is seeking to break the existing record of 45 days, 13 hours, 22 minutes, and 53 seconds set in 2012 by Loïck Peyron and his crew aboard Banque Populaire V ... the boat now branded as Spindrift.
It's a high stakes game that involves big money, but like many things it started as an idea, on a barge, on the Seine, in Paris. Where else?
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3 cabins, large salon with settee and nav station, galley, two bathrooms, heating, electric anchor windlass and one electric winch.
Great boat for racing and for crusising.
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Contact:
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Am Felde134
22765 Hamburg
+49 40 450 60 784
service@vmgmarine.de
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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