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
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Francis Joyon Sets A New Record At Cape Horn
Click on image to enlarge.
The IDEC SPORT maxi-trimaran skippered by Francis Joyon crossed the longitude of Cape Horn, the last of the three major capes in the Jules Verne trophy at 0004 UTC on Thursday 12th January. After leaving Ushant on 16th December, Joyon and his crew of five, Clement Surtel, Sebastien Audigane, Bernard Stamm, Gwenole Gahinet and Alex Pella have achieved the best intermediate time between Ushant and Cape Horn, completing this stretch in 26 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes some 4 days 6 hours and 35 minutes ahead of the reference time set by Banque Populaire V in 2012 (30 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes). This is their fourth intermediate record including the Pacific Ocean record between the SE of Tasmania and Cape Horn with a time of 7 days 21 hours and 14 minutes (record held by Bruno Peyron since 2005 with a time of 8 days, 18 hours and 8 minutes).
IDEC-SPORT sailed the 18,332 miles out on the water between Ushant and Cape Horn at an average speed of 28.7 knots.
Jules Verne Trophy reference time / Banque Populaire V (2012): 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds
Thomson Eyes Final Assault - Le Cleac'h Less Than 2000 Miles To Finish
British skipper Alex Thomson today said his last chance of winning the 2016-17 Vendee Globe lies with a ridge of high pressure close to the finish line. Thomson said his only hope of overtaking Le Cleac'h, barring mechanical failure, will be if he could get to within 50 miles of the Frenchman's boat Banque Populaire VIII by the time they reach the ridge. If he were able to do that he believes he will be within striking distance of the Le Cleac'h on the final sprint to the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne, France.
Thomson, who has been attempting to hunt down Le Cleac'h since he stole the Vendee Globe lead from him in early December, began the day 250 miles adrift but by the 1400 UTC update the gap had narrowed to 216nm. Around 300nm west of the Cape Verde Islands, Le Cleac'h, the runner-up in the last two editions of the Vendee Globe, had this afternoon slowed temporarily in slightly lighter winds, his eight knots of boat speed significantly less than Thomson's 13.
Although the pair still have around 2,000 miles to go before they reach Les Sables, Thomson admitted Le Cleac'h is now odds-on favourite to win. But he vowed to push his arch rival right the way to the end of the solo non-stop round the world race in his pursuit of the title. "There's a ridge and I could catch up with Armel - it depends who gets across the ridge first," Thomson said. "If there are no dramas, he should cross the ridge before me and then he'll win the race. It's getting more and more difficult to make a move, but I remain pragmatic and optimistic. Maybe something's going to happen. I certainly see us closing up. According to the computer I'll finish five hours behind him but we'll have to wait and see - you never know."
Thomson said he expected two days of fairly light winds, then two days of fast sailing before hitting the ridge. "After this light patch I need to be within fifty miles of him," he said. "In a few days I could make up the fifty miles. If I don't get within fifty miles by the end of this light stuff, my chances of beating him are quite slim."
Top ten ranking at 0500 French Time January 13
1. Armel Le Cleac'h, Banque Populaire VIII, 1839 nm to finish
2. Alex Thomson, Hugo Boss, 177 nm to leader
3. Jeremie Beyou, Maitre CoQ, 749
4. Jean-Pierre Dick, StMichel - Virbac, 1215
5. Jean Le Cam, Finistere Mer Vent, 1288
6. Yann Elies, Queguiner - Leucemie Espoir, 1292
7. Louis Burton, Bureau Vallee, 2791
8. Nandor Fa, Spirit of Hungary, 4162
9. Eric Bellion, COMMEUNSEULHOMME, 4776
10. Conrad Colman, Foresight Natural Energy, 4950
Winter Regattas Across The Generations Resume In Monaco
As is the tradition at the Yacht Club de Monaco, January heralds a packed programme for this one-design winter training base which this weekend hosts 240 sailors. The youngest opened the ball yesterday for the first day of the Monaco Optimist Team Race (12-15 January) with 16 international teams of four under-14s competing 21 races in this original team match-race format.
Organised with support from FxPro, Eventica and clothing supplier SLAM, this is the 7th edition. Among newcomers are teams from the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (KSSS) and Royal Danish Yacht Club.
Andrea Tortella, Logan Viciana, Luca Frederiksen and Mathieu Choquet are representing the YCM at this event which is also a chance for youngsters to meet others equally passionate about sailing.
On Friday, their elders enter the fray in the Melges 20, J/70 and all-carbon one-design M32 catamaran class for the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series (13-15 January). Around 50 international teams are in town.
In the Melges 20s, Russian Alexandr Ezhkov (Pirogovo Sailing) tops the table, with nine wins out of 16 races in the bag. In the J/70 class there are 34 boats, including 15 racing under the YCM flag. In the previous Act, Italian Luca Domenici (Notaro Team), 2015 European Champion, dominated, with Russian Valeriya Kovalenko (ArtTube) hard on his heels followed by Charles Thompson (Brutus).
Among the four M32s competing is Guido Miani's Neverland. Currently topping the leader board in the provisional ranking, the YCM member has his heart set on conserving his 1st place against Cape Crow Vikings led by Hakan Svensson.
www.yacht-club-monaco.mc/en/home-en/
Queensland Sailor Lisa Blair To Attempt World Record Around Antarctica
Lisa Blair hopes to become the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, non-stop, and unassisted.
The 32-year-old will set sail from Albany, in Western Australia, on the estimated 16,000 nautical mile voyage on January 15.
Ms Blair hopes to break Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov's world record of 102 days, 35 minutes, and 50 seconds.
"I'm hoping to do it in 94 days," Ms Blair said.
Mr Konyukhov set the record in 2008 when he was the first solo sailor to complete the Antarctica Cup Ocean Yacht Race.
The ocean 'racetrack' passes by the world's three most notorious capes - Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn off the coast of Chile and Cape Agulhas off South Africa.
Ms Blair will be racing the same course as Mr Konyukhov, which starts and finishes in Albany's King George Sound. -- Lisa Morrison, ABC Australia
Follow the record attempt:
lisablairsailstheworld.com
Full Spectrum Of Sailing At NYYC For 2017
With a sparkling mix of tradition, technology, camaraderie and cutthroat competition, the 2017 racing season at the New York Yacht Club will be one of the most exciting, and diverse, in the Club's rich 173-year-history.
The coming summer's regatta schedule will feature the magnificent J Class yachts - which will be returning to the site of their 1930s America's Cup glory to contest the class's first world championship - and the unmatched tradition of the 163rd New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, which will renew its claim on June 9 to 11 as the oldest annual sailing competition in North America and the unofficial start to the Newport sailing season.
The fifth Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup - the world's premiere Corinthian one-design keelboat regatta - and the Melges 20 World Championships (October 3 to 7) will see top amateur and professional sailors fighting tooth-and-nail for every inch.
The J Class rule was used for the America's Cup match in 1930, 1934 and 1937. Most of the original J Class yachts, which range from 120 to 140 feet in length, were scrapped not long after they were built. But three survive, and the class has seen a remarkable resurgence of new boats, all built to original designs, over the past decade. As a result the competition among fleet is quite close. Currently there are nine J Class yachts sailing, with the majority expected in Newport for the world championship.
The New York Yacht Club will unveil one new event, the One-Design Regatta, which will take place June 2 to 4 and overlap with the Leukemia Cup. The Etchells class will be hosting its national championship during this debut event.
Other regattas of note include Tiedemann Classic Regatta (July 1 and 2), the IRC East Coast Championships and Swan 42 Nationals (July 12 to 15), the Queen's Cup (July 16) and the Club's trio of team race events in August.
Complete schedule of events: nyyc.org/yachting/racing
Caleb Paine, Daniela Moroz Named Us Sailing's 2016 Rolex Yachtsman And Yachtswoman Of The Year
Olympic Bronze Medalist Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) and IKA Formula Kite World Champion Daniela Moroz (Lafayette, Calif.) today were selected as US Sailing's 2016 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year.
This selection follows the announcement in December of the eight men and six women shortlisted for the award and recognized as sailing's top performers of the year by US Sailing. A slate of nominees, determined by the membership of US Sailing, was presented to a panel of accomplished sailing journalists, who together discussed the merits of each nominee and individually voted to determine the ultimate winners.
Paine and Moroz will be honored on Thursday, March 2, 2016, during a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, when they will be presented with specially-engraved Rolex timepieces.
Caleb Paine – US Sailing's 2016 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year
Under immense pressure to return Team USA to the Olympic podium in sailing, Caleb Paine prevailed in an epic medal race to earn a bronze medal in the Finn class, the Men's Heavyweight Dinghy at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In his first career Olympic Games, Paine led the medal race at every mark. He passed Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in the overall standings to earn a place on the podium.
Daniela Moroz – US Sailing's 2016 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year
Foiling prodigy Daniela Moroz has reached the pinnacle of her sport at the age of 15. On the world's largest stage, the high school sophomore rose to the occasion on the final day of racing at the IKA Formula Kite World Championship last September in Weifang-Binhai, China.
Moroz was on equal points with reigning world champion, Russian Elena Kalinina, 18, on the last day of racing. Despite the light air, which had typically favored Kalinina, Moroz won all four races on the final day to secure the world championship. She won eight of 12 races overall.
Moroz posted top results throughout 2016 on the Hydrofoil Pro Tour. She placed first in the women's fleet at the Final Round in Rockingham, Western Australia and first place at Round Three in Pointe d'Esny, Mauritius. Moroz's consistent results propelled her to the top of the Hydrofoil Pro Tour women's final standings.
Seahorse February 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Update
Summer 1948 and something of significance is happening down in Devon. Something of significance is also about to hit the Maxi72 fleet; give the 'small' guys a chance, says Rodney Pattisson, those foils are indeed priceless, Jack Griffin reminds us and Terry Hutchinson has been getting out his spanners and those rusty cans of WD40
Not so chilled in Barcelona
A good result for offshore sailing emerges from an unnecessarily messy process. Rob Weiland
Risk management
Volvo Ocean Race-winning navigator Simon Fisher discusses the strategy implications of the routeing changes being made for the next race with Blue Robinson
Active ride
Mark Wiss and Bill Faude talk AC50 powertrain, foil and wing management with James Boyd
Twenty five years of progress? - Part 2
Andrew Macfarlan of Red Bull concludes that while one-designs play a valuable role it is the development classes that keep sailing interesting
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Adventure Documentary The Weekend Sailor Now Available!
The Weekend Sailor, a feature documentary focusing on the crew of the Sayula II and their unexpected victory in a race around the world hits Video on Demand this month. With the odds stacked against them, Ramon Carlín, his son Enrique, and a crew of novice Mexican sailors represented their country in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, today the prestigious Volvo Ocean Race. The Weekend Sailor features successful yachtsman and Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon as narrator.
To rent or purchase:
vimeo.com/ondemand/theweekendsailor
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship project aims to build and sail "the world's first full-sized, fully autonomous unmanned ship" across the Atlantic in 2020.
A unique project that entails a partnership between Plymouth University, autonomous marine vessel company MSubs, and Shuttleworth Design, an award-winning yacht design firm, will seek to recreate the historic Mayflower voyages from Plymouth to North America, but this time in a decidedly high-tech manner. The 32.5-meter long Mayflower Autonomous Ship, or MAS, will be fully fueled by renewable energy sources (primarily solar and fuel cells) as well as traditional sail-power, and will carry "a variety of drones" with it, which will enable it to carry out experiments during the voyage.
Shuttleworth Design is designing and building scale models of the boat, which will then be tested in Plymouth University's Marine Building, after which it will be built by MSubs and tested over the course of about a year before it is launched for its historic voyage in 2020.
Buttersworth Painting Tops Doubleday Collection Sale
. Click on image to enlarge.
New York City: Doyle's single-owner sale of the Nelson Doubleday Jr Collection January 11 saw marine art sail to the top of the sale. The top lot in the auction was renowned painter James Buttersworth (1817–1894) whose "Yacht Racing Off Sandy Hook" attained $348,500.
The oil painting captures the drama of the annual regatta of the New York Yacht Club in June 1877, showing victory of the Active and was likely commissioned by her skipper, Frank W.J. Hurst, a longtime treasurer of the club.
www.antiquesandthearts.com/buttersworths-yacht-racing-leads-doyles-doubleday-sale/
Letters To The Editor - editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Alistair Skinner: I bow to Peter Morton's superior knowledge, after all he has done more for the Ton revivals than anyone (true respect intended) - frankly no one comes close. My point however remains the same, just replace the 'O' for Offshore in IOR with 'O'for Ocean in RORC.
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2004 90' McConaghy Custom Racer. 1,500,000 USD. Located in Annapolis, MD United States.
RAGAMUFFIN 90 is now on the market and our latest central listing. Built as GENUINE RISK in 2004, and competing world wide from Sardinia to Hawaii, GR always was at the front of the fleet. Under her second owner, she won both the 2010 Newport to Bermuda race, and the overall prize for the 2011 811 mile Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay race, and the overall win at Antigua sailing week both under Csa and IRC leaving no question that she was still one of the fastest maxi boats sailing.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Please contact William Jenkins at 410-267-9419
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
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