Scuttlebutt Europe #2791 - 12 March

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

America's Cup Economic Impact $780 Million
The America's Cup will pump approximately $780 million into the Bay Area economy, generate about 5,500 jobs and lead to about $14 million in revenue for San Francisco, according to a soon-to-be-published report.

"This is a good news story," said Stephen Barclay, CEO of the America's Cup Event Authority, who has seen a copy of the Beacon Economics study expected to be released Tuesday.

The numbers are smaller than those first touted by many city leaders when they sought to bring the America's Cup to San Francisco.

A 2010 study by Beacon Economics predicted the event could pump as much as $1.4 billion into the Bay Area economy and generate some 8,800 jobs. That previous study also assumed more than a dozen teams would participate in the America's Cup.

Barclay said that while the impact of the America's Cup may not be as high as originally thought, it still represents a positive turn for the regional economy.

Moreover, he said, the city likely will not have to spend any money on the event. -- Eric Young in San Francisco Business Times

www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco

Seahorse Sailor Of The Month
Last month's winner:

Syd Fischer (AUS)
A lot of influential people have clearly taken note of transatlantic solo racer Mead’s new safety harness and so in spite of (Mrs) Tania Cookson’s admirable efforts the young Brit edged it! ‘Best thing since the EPIRB’ - Mark Thornburrow; ‘Yes, at long last’ - Pat Shaughnessy; ‘Oscar deserves this award as a sign of gratitude from the sailing community... and their families’ - David Franks; ‘Lucky that he got his looks from his mum... he’s even quite useful to have on a boat!’ - Ben Williams; ‘Very proud’ - Laurence Mead.

This month's nominees:

Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA)
It is an unusual record but it’s sadly getting more and more relevant. JP sailed 2,600nm onboard Virbac to finish the Vendée Globe after losing his keel. But the key was that he didn’t charge on regardless - rather he found suitable shelter when bad weather threatened him and simply waited until conditions were more benign, before continuing on. Seamanship can sometimes just mean patience

Rod Johnstone (USA)
Has any other yacht designer had so much influence across such a remarkable range of keelboat sailing? The J/70 prompted the timing, but this nomination was surely long overdue given how many people were introduced to keelboat racing through the J/24 and cruising – and offshore racing – through its bigger sisters. And many of those old J/24s are even now finding a prolific new life as bargain family daysailers

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry & Musto. Who needs silverware, our prizes are usable!

Cast your vote, submit comments, even suggest a candidate for next month at
seahorsemagazine.com/sailor-of-the-month

18 Foot Skiff World Rankings
C-Tech strikes back and gains Lead in the World Ranking again, at least for the next week until Gotta Love it 7 will get to the top for the first time with a clean win of the N.S.W.Championship. A good performance in the backyard of the Australians at the JJ.Giltinan brings Alex Vallings, Josh McCormack and Pete Burling back into the Pole Position of the gliding World Ranking. Best performance since years from Europe brings Team Pica from UK with Jamie and Steward Mears plus Tristan Hutt on a 6th place in the world ranking.

Find out more: www.18footer.org/RealWorldRanking/

Farr 40 Miami Beach Invitational Regatta
The TP 52 fleet has packed up and shipped off to Europe. The Olympic class sailors of the Bacardi Cup have de-rigged and trailered their boats back home. Now the iconic Farr 40 class takes the sailing spotlight on the waters off South Beach.

A typically talent-laden fleet of seven boats has gathered in one of the world's greatest locales to contest the Miami Beach Invitational Regatta, being held March 13-16. This is the second stop on the United States circuit for Farr 40 class, coming two months after Quantum Key West 2013 kicked off the season.

"Miami is one of the few locations you can go and it never gets old," said Geoff Stagg, longtime class manager for the venerable Farr 40 one-design. "It's a spectacular backdrop for sailboat racing and it's absolutely impossible to beat the night life."

Peter "Luigi" Reggio, arguably the world's premier professional race officer, will orchestrate the action with assistance of experience race committee personnel from Coral Reef Yacht Club. Reggio, with numerous America's Cup and world championship events on his resume, plans to complete 10 races during the four-day regatta.

The Farr 40 World Championship was held off Miami Beach in 1998 and the class has been coming here almost annually ever since. Class veteran Jim Richardson has fond memories of Miami, having captured the first of three world crowns at that 1998 event. Richardson has also sailed Barking Mad to victory at this venue during Miami Race Week, the Lewmar Cup and the 10th Anniversary Regatta.

"There is no doubt this is one of the best places in the world to sail. The water is so beautiful, the weather is always wonderful and the breeze is usually quite consistent," Richardson said. "Our team feels very comfortable here. We've enjoyed considerable success is this venue."

Barking Mad is coming off an impressive victory at Quantum Key West 2013, winning two races and placing second or third in six others in totaling 21 points. Richardson and team took the lead on Tuesday and held it the rest of the way to finish five points ahead of defending world champion Flash Gordon.

farr40.org

Normandy Channel Race Act 4
14 April 2013 will see the start of the fourth edition of the Normandy Channel Race. Over 20 duos are expected to step aboard their Class 40s in Caen to complete the 1,000-mile circuit, which will lead them towards the Solent, the southern coast of England, Ireland, the Fastnet and back to Norman shores.

Reserved for the Class 40, the fourth edition of the race is returning to its usual April slot, where it will open the Class' racing season and serve as a qualifier for the Transat Jacques Vabre. There are currently a record 23 entries for this year's race, including Sebastien Rogues, Thomas Ruyant, Bruno Jourdren, Ned Collier Wakefield, Armel Tripon, Fabrice Amedeo, Halvard Mabire, Jorg Riechers, Pierre Brasseur, Louis Duc, Nicolas Jossier, Boris Herrmann and Stephanie Alran, for whom this will be an opportunity to hone their skills and warm up for November's transatlantic race between Le Havre and Brazil.

The forty or so sailors, who will make up the 2013 vintage of the NCR, certainly won't be disappointed as the course for the Normandy Channel Race contains a number of hidden obstacles created by the current and the wind, making for tough, intense conditions, where the scenario is seemingly rewritten every year. -- Translated by Kate Jennings

www.normandy-race.com

A Nice Start
The 52 Super Series 'Media and Virtual Team', small but beautiful, brought the Quantum Key West action live or nearly live to the various platforms we have nowadays. With Andi Robertson reporting live on the water and Dobbs Davis covering the action from the media centre we have the right mix of passion and knowledge to keep keen sailors glued to the screen.

We will bring all six Super Series events live this year, a good step on from the two we did in 2012. The short videos that we post on Facebook, even during the racing, are also proving popular. The future will, I hope, bring an even better mix of virtual and (near) live images. But what we produce right now cannot be that bad - Eurosport have recently asked to broadcast our material… which is both a compliment and also much better than us going to ask them!

But there is no complacency among owners and teams nor with those working behind the scenes to make the Super Series happen. One of the new roads for us to explore is HPR. The concept of HPR, to typeform toward a clear, achievable goal, a fast uncomplicated modern racer, shows more sense of direction from a racing perspective than other concepts claiming to rate everything that floats, or that aim to satisfy the majority in order to maximise the number of certificates.

HPR will not attract the masses, but it has potential to create boats that everybody likes to watch and dreams of owning: the Ferraris of the sea. Thus the potential to become the backbone of high-quality international racing. Meanwhile, the boats that HPR creates also appear to have the potential to be contenders in IRC and ORCi, so dual purpose and not useless after three or four years at the top level.

As such, with so many parallels to the TP52 Box Rule concept, HPR is interesting to explore in terms of possible synergy with TP52 and 52 Super Series interests. Whether this study, which will be started shortly, will lead to an HP52 Class and HP52 Super Series, as usual, only time will tell. -- Rob Weiland, TP52 class manager

Full article in the April issue of Seahorse magazine:
www.seahorsemagazine.com

New Title Sponsor For Berntsson Sailing Team
The international brand STENA, one of Sweden's biggest family-owned companies with businesses worldwide, has announced their title sponsorship of the Stena Sailing Team skippered by Swedish match racer Johnie Berntsson. The sponsorship marks an expansion of Stena's involvement in sailing and match racing adding to the company's current title sponsorship of the Stena Match Cup Sweden, an official stage of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.

The Stena Sailing Team, all of whose members hail from the Gothenburg area where STENA's headquarters are located, have seen much success in recent years including Gold in the Swedish and Nordic Championships, Gold in the European Championship and a Bronze medal in the 2011 World Match Racing Tour.

The team will consist of:
Johnie Berntsson, skipper
Johan Barne, tactics
Oscar Angervall, trim
Martin Berntsson, pit
Bjorn Lundgren, foredeck

www.stenamatchcupsweden.com

Solo Challenge To Ireland
My favourite sailing event of them all has just produced a baby version. The Jester Baltimore Challenge is the latest idea of Ewen Southby-Tailyour, organiser of the cult Jester Challenge, the solo transatlantic challenge for yachts of 30ft and under. This fascinating small boat event has unearthed some of the most interesting sailors I've had the pleasure of meeting and is quirky in the extreme.

The Jester Baltimore Challenge will take yachts across the Celtic Sea to Baltimore in south-west Ireland and its purpose, says Southby-Tailyour, to encourage new sailors to have a taste of solo voyaging in preparation for the longer distance events to the Azores and US.

It will be will be run on the same principles as the transatlantic event. "It is co-ordinated on a a low-key minimal cost basis," he says and will share its "unique gentlemanly small boat ethos." One of those is no formal rules or entry fees, though there are guidelines for the event and there will be a choice of starts in Plymouth and Pwllheli in Wales.

The Challenge starts on 16 June and from Plymouth the distance to Baltimore, one of the nearest harbours to the Fastnet Rock, is 250 miles. -- Elaine Bunting in Yachting World

www.yachtingworld.com/blogs/elaine-bunting/

See www.jesterinfo.org

Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series
The bitterly cold wind and forecast of snow did not deter the 50-strong race management team last Sunday for the Brooks Macdonald Warsash Spring Series and Spring Championship 2013 "practice day". All systems afloat and ashore were checked, ready for the opening races of the 30th Series on 17th March. Only the competitors were missing but nonetheless the race officers organised plenty of OCS and general recalls to make sure the procedures would go smoothly.

As well as six Spring Series Sundays, the Spring Championship is being held over the final two weekends with multiple races and no discards allowed - no time for slip ups! The full Notice of Race and entry details are published on www.warsashspringseries.org.uk. Spring Series, Spring Championship and day entries are all welcome.

Sailing Instructions have been posted to those currently entered and the final class splits for the IRC handicap sections will be published on Thursday 14th March. The event uses the standard Solent Cruising and Racing Association buoy coding system. Some marks and buoy names change each year and to ensure competitors are bang up-to-date, a free 2013 "Buoy Racer" laminated chart is supplied as part of the entry pack. Skippers can also download a GPS-friendly version of the main marks list from the SCRA website www.scra.org.uk

www.warsashspringseries.org.uk

Swans At The Ready
A full fleet of Swan yachts, an alluring playground and four days of intense racing: all hallmarks of the upcoming Rolex Swan Cup Caribbean. Commencing today, Monday 11 March, the event will be held over the next 5 days at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's recently launched base on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.

Swan yachts ranging from 12.98 metres (42 foot) to 30.20m (100 ft) and representing countries including Belgium, Italy, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States make up the entry list. Competing Swans will be divided into two groups: Class A (Maxi), measuring upwards of 18.29m/60-ft; and, Class B, reserved for yachts measuring less than 18.29m.

Registration took place today, followed by the opening reception on the spectacular terrace of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Competition on the water starts tomorrow, Tuesday 12 March, and the round Virgin Gorda race is scheduled for Wednesday 13 March. Ideal sailing conditions are forecast.

A range of Swans will grace the event: from historic Sparkman & Stephens models including Hokusai (FIN), Lianda (BEL) and Swan Lake (USA) through to more modern designs from German Frers including the Swan 90 Freya (USA) which is also taking part and was the 2,000th yacht to be built by Nautor in Finland.

Other Class A entries include Varsovie, the largest competing yacht, the Swan 80 Selene and Stark Raving Mad a Swan 601, whose crew has enjoyed a successful last twelve months. In Class B, the week's smallest entrant - the Club Swan 42 Arethusa (USA) - is using the waters of the Caribbean to continue preparations for September's New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup presented by Rolex.

www.nautorswan.com
www.yccs.com

The Gstaad Yacht Club Celebrates Its 15th Anniversary
"Our vision is to create a unique global yacht club away from the waters, instead of another yacht club by the waters" were the words H.M. King Constantine, Patron of the Gstaad Yacht Club (GYC), used back in 1998 to describe the newborn club. Fifteen years later, this statement remains at the heart of everything the club does.

So this weekend the club in the Swiss Alps celebrated its anniversary in typical style: by organizing a ski race on Friday night followed on Saturday by match racing with radio-controlled carbon fibre yachts in Gstaad's semi-Olympic indoor pool, powered by state-of-the-art wind machines.

The first edition of the GYC Ski Yachting was held in 2000 as a friendly challenge between the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Gstaad Yacht Club, to celebrate a special year that saw George Nicholson become the first Commodore of the Gstaad Yacht Club, and his brother Peter Nicholson appointed Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron.

The 2013 edition, which was held in the world famous mountain resort, brought together 21 teams representing yacht clubs and sailing teams from all over the world. Past winners include the Royal Yacht Squadron, Societe Nautique de Geneve, Bayerischer Yacht Club and the Yacht Club de Monaco. Regular participants include the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Royal Ocean Racing Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Nyla ndska Jaktclubben, Norddeutscher Regattaverein and Porto Montenegro. For the first time, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (KNS) and St. Moritz Segel Club entered teams.

The 2013 event was won by the Bayerischer Yacht Club Team 2, which beat the team from Star Fleet Basel. Semi-finalists were Nyla ndska Jaktclubben and Bayerischer Yacht Club Team 1, last year's winner.

www.gstaadyachtclub.com

RYA Spring Series Kicks Off In Weymouth
A blend of youth and experience prevailed in a mix of conditions at the first of the 2013 RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series events, held this weekend at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (9-10 March).

The first of the three-weekend Spring Series events saw a strong turn out from both Skandia Team GBR's seasoned performers and regular domestic Olympic Classes racers, with sailors battling against light winds and fog on Saturday followed by a breezy North Easterly 20-25 knots on the Sunday.

The second event of the Spring Series will also take place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy from 13-14 April, with the finale being hosted by Hayling Island Sailing Club on the 18-19 May.

Entries for the second weekend at WPNSA are being accepted online at RYA Racing Events website with early bird prices available if you enter online by Monday 8th April. For the Hayling Island SC event, entries will be taken at registration.

Full results on www.ryaracingevents.org.uk

Featured Brokerage
1989 IMOCA Open 60. EUR 220,000. Located In France.

Ideal for single handed races. A very safe, strong and reliable boat. Has competed in all the Vendee Globe race since the beginning.

Brokerage through Bernard Gallay Yacht Brokerage: www.yachtworld.com/bernard-gallay/

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

The Last Word
Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. -- John Barrymore

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