In This Issue
Melges 24 European Sailing Series - Portoroz | Golden Globe Race Plymouth Start Confirmed | Seahorse May 2017 | The World Sailing Show | ISORA Race Two | For The Record | Touchdown And Take Off In Bermuda | Campaign To Make Lobster Pot Markers Safer For Small Craft | SYRF and NUMECA offer FINE™/Marine seminar in Newport, RI | Letters to the Editor | Featured Brokerage
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
Melges 24 European Sailing Series - Portoroz
Portoroz, Slovenia - Maximum number of races sailed in almost perfect conditions was a result of three-day Portoroz Melges 24 Regatta - the season opener both for the 2017 Melges 24 European Sailing Series and Melges 24 Italian Sailing Series.
Andrea Racchelli and his team on Altea ITA722, the winner of the 2016 Melges 24 European Sailing Series, were showing their superiority since the beginning of the regatta and are the overwhelming regatta winners with a race to spare.
Eelco Blok's Team Kesbeke/SIKA/Gill NED827 with Ronald Veraar helming, the winner of the same regatta last year, has been sailing a consistent series climbing to the highest podium place in the Corinthian division.
Remarkable thirty three boats from fifteen countries from all over the Europe and even one U.S. team chartering a boat from Croatia, was the record number of entries what the Portoroz Melges 24 Regatta has been witnessed during these four years when the Melges 24 European Sailing Series has had the season opener in Slovenia.
In the Corinthian fleet the winner was open until the last minutes of the regatta while there was a protest to hear between the two top teams and as a result of it the current leader, Miles Quinton's Gill Race Team GBR694 with Geoff Carveth in helm, who got the bullet form the final race today, was disqualified from the race eight giving them the second place after their great performance.
2017 Melges 24 European Sailing Series consists of the six events altogether. After the first event in Portoroz the series will lead to Riva del Garda in Italy in May; the points for the third event will be collected during the Swedish and Nordic Melges 24 Championship in Marstrand, Sweden in June; the most significant Melges 24 event of the season which is also the fourth event of the series, will be held in July-August in Helsinki, Finland, where the World Champion will be awarded; the fifth event will head to Medemblik in the Netherlands and the series will conclude with the sixth event in Luino, Italy in October.
Golden Globe Race Plymouth Start Confirmed
The 2018 Golden Globe Race will start from Plymouth on Saturday June 30, 2018. The Race marks the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's victory in the Sunday Times Golden Globe solo non-stop round the world Race back in 1968/9,
The Golden Globe Race is all about anniversaries. Today (Saturday April 22) marks the 48th year since Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won the Sunday Times Race and became the first man to sail solo non-stop around the Globe
Thursday June 14 2018 will be the 50th anniversary of Sir Robin's start in that race from Falmouth aboard his 32ft yacht Suhaili. The 30 skippers competing in the 2018 Golden Globe Race will join hundreds of other yachts in Falmouth Harbour with a sail-past salute to Sir Robin. Other historic yachts joining the commemoration include Sir Francis Chichester's famous Gipsy Moth IV, Sir Alec Rose's Lively Lady, a replica of Sir Chay Blyth's original Golden Globe race yacht Dytiscus III and Joshua, which Frenchman Bernard Moitessier sailed in the original Sunday Times Race.
That night, the Royal Cornwall YC will host a Suhaili gala dinner where Sir Robin will be guest of honour.
Friday 15th June 2018 will see the Golden Globe yachts and historic fleet take part in the SITraN Challenge charity race from Falmouth to Plymouth, timed to finish in Queen Anne's Battery Marina early that evening. SITraN (Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience) is the nominated charity for the GGR and is one of the world leading centres for research into Motor Neurone Disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.
Plymouth has strong historic links not just with single-handed sailing, but the original Golden Globe Race. The City hosted the first Observer single-handed transatlantic race (won by Francis Chichester) in 1960, was the start and finish port for Chichester's successful one-stop solo circumnavigation via Sydney, Australia in 1966/7, and also hosted four of the nine competitors in the Sunday Times race - French competitors Bernard Moitessier (Joshua) and Loic Fougeron (Captain Browne), Commander Bill King (Galway Blazer II) and Lieutenant Commander Nigel Tetley (Victress) when they set out on this 30,000 mile odyssey around the five Great Capes.
The Race village will open on Saturday 15th June with a parade of sail led by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhaili followed by Joshua, Dytiscus III, Lively Lady and Gipsy Moth IV, Entry to the Race village will be free and the attraction will be open to visitors from June 15 to the start on Saturday June 30.
Seahorse May 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Behind the throne - Part I
Dobbs Davis sits down with the America's Cup's quietest (and perhaps smartest) sailmaker... Burns Fallow
Distilling the essence
The Volvo Ocean Race is heading south again. Blue Robinson asks Jules Verne champion routeur Marcel Van Triest what to expect
The tireless pursuit of improvement - Part III
Obsessive, almost certainly. Kind and supportive of others, definitely. Tim Jeffery concludes his look back at the life of Paul Bert Elvstrom
Foiled again - Part II
Just like every racing driver, 'more grip' has now become the cry of every Cup helm. James Boyd
Bottom to top
And Musto are bringing new science to keeping our feet dry
Perfect for the task
Long, thin ACC hulls and a world-leading sparmaker... perfect fit
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The World Sailing Show
Programme 4 - May 2017
Features:
Better than new - Winding the clock back on a VO65
Capsizing a $multi-million Cup boat... and recovering
How America's Cup boats fly - Foils explained
Trofeo Princesa Sofia - The classic Palma regatta
TP52 Super Series - A new pecking order in Miami
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ISORA Race Two
ISORA race 2 is the Pwllheli castle race, the first of a three race coastal series within the full ISORA series, and sponsored by Global displays. The forecast showed an 8-10kt northerly wind, and certainly a better wind forecast that Race 1 over in Ireland where the fleet of 24 in Dun Laoghaire had a course set to Wicklow via Muglins, in a shifty and dying north easterly. Back in North Wales the racing committee set a 27 mile windward/leeward course, taking the fleet of 13 down to St Patrick's Causeway buoy, via a couple of Pwllheli Sailing Club marks. The fleet got away on a reach to the first mark, before a long run down to the causeway. Andrew Halls Jackknife took full advantage of this long downwind leg, first to the leeward Mark, with the whole fleet enjoying the steady northerly breeze, sunshine and stunning views of both The Llyn peninsula and the mountains of Gwynedd.
A beat back to Pwllheli via the west end saw Jackknife taking line honours, with IRC class 0 won by North Star (Cris Miles) IRC Class 1 and overall being won by the consistently sailed Mojito (Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox) IRC Class 2 won by Perseverance (Wim Baptist) and Echo overall by Mojo (Paul Hampson)
All competitors who had come from as far as Liverpool and Conwy enjoyed the excellent sailing conditions, the race organisation and outstanding facilities in Plas Heli where the staff provided great catering offerings. The bar was packed and it's great to see the enthusiasm for 2017 ISORA season.
The next race see the fleet combine for the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire race on May 13th where we expect to see a fleet of 40 plus .
For The Record
The WSSR Council announces the establishment of the following new National Records, all established at La Palme, FRA during March and April 2017: For further details visit the WSSR Website www.sailspeedrecords.com
BEL Marie-Paule Geldhof
IRL Oisin Van Gelderen
CAN Pierre Pilon
POL Piotr Dudek
John Reed
Secretary to thye WSSR Council
Touchdown And Take Off In Bermuda
It is just over three weeks since Emirates Team New Zealand was sailing in New Zealand, and today the teams America's Cup Class race boat was out sailing on Bermuda s Great Sound for the first time under inquisitive gaze of an armada of competitors chase boats getting a first hand glimpse of the kiwi boat in what has inadvertently become one of the most anticipated events of this America's Cup cycle.
Late in the day, an ideal 10-12 knots on the tropical blue flat water, perfect sailing conditions that Bermuda has become renown for, the evening was more about a recommissioning of the systems and components to make sure everything was working properly before getting back into the mindset of pushing the development hard day after day.
With just 34 days to go until the first race of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers the urgency for continued development looms large and the team will be making the most of each day, the varying conditions as well as new equipment coming on line.
Another official race training period begins on Monday in Bermuda, with all of the other teams likely to participate. When questioned with the Emirates Team New Zealand participation Ashby said: "We will see how we go. We need to take our time to make sure we are happy with where we are at before starting any racing. But it will be good to get into some action with another boat as amazingly it is something we have not done at all yet."
*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=kVrnVIJEFtw, $max_width=500, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N, $views=N]|*
Campaign To Make Lobster Pot Markers Safer For Small Craft
Poorly-marked lobster pots and fishing gear are the most difficult and unpredictable hazard facing coastal cruising people, warns the Cruising Association
Sailors are being urged to throw their support behind a Cruising Association (CA) petition, which calls for Minister of State (DEFRA) to improve the way static fishing gear is marked for the safety of all small craft at sea.
CA president, Judith Grimwade says poorly marked lobster pots and fishing gear are the most difficult and unpredictable hazard facing coastal cruising people.
Fishermen, too, report the loss of expensive gear as a result of entanglements. These encounters could even be life-threatening. In one year alone the RNLI dealt with 295 incidents of fouled propellers.
Most CA members say they would try to sort the problem out themselves so this could be a fraction of the actual number. One lifeboat station said 25% of their call-outs were purely from boats caught up in fishing gear.
If you have personal experience of this problem, please let the CA know, as it is keen to build a body of evidence to support the campaign for change. Email: lobsterpots@theca.org.uk
Read the petition here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/193254
SYRF and NUMECA offer FINE™/Marine seminar in Newport, RI
The Sailing Yacht Research Foundation (SYRF) is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Numeca International for a free hands-on seminar about Numeca's FINE™/Marine simulation software for marine design to be held at the New York Yacht Club on Wednesday, May 10th. An overview of FINE™/Marine capabilities and benefits for simulation in naval architecture will be presented by Benoit Mallol, product manager of the marine group at Numeca International.
This is a unique opportunity to also listen to industry leaders on how they take advantage of FINE™/Marine in their design process, with speakers including Len Imas from Oracle Team USA.
The seminar will feature live demonstrations with FINE™/Marine software that gives new users the chance to experience automated simulations during hands-on exercises. For those interested, this free introduction is followed by two days of intensive training on the use of FINE™/Marine.
SYRF has also published online the final report on Phase 2C of the Downwind Aero Moments and Forces project has been completed by researchers JB Braun and Michael Richelsen of North Design Services. This paper completes a multi-part study that used fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modeling to produce a publicly available set of results comprised of all the aerodynamic moments and forces for a range of downwind sails, angles, and wind speeds. Phase 2C examined these effects at deep apparent wind angles, and its findings have significant implications for parametric changes in spinnaker sheet trimming.
A companion paper has also been written that examines more closely the use of RANS simulations in determining optimal downwind sail trim, showing in more detail the effects of sheet tension and trim angle on drive force coefficients in downwind sails. This paper has been submitted and is pending publication soon.
For more information on how to attend the SYRF/Numeca Seminar at New York YC, visit the Numeca website at www.numeca.com/eventdetails/event/257
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 David Brunskill:
Not a s boating experience but whilst a navigating officer on RMS Pendennis Castle a Union Castle mail passenger ship I ran into a classic "hole in the ocean" off Port St. Johns on the South African Coast.
We were steaming from Durban to East London at 19 knots or thereabouts. The bow dipped in, got nowhere, kept dipping in and it the green wave on the far side.
We shipped a green sea that went in through the open passage entry to "D" deck. It flooded the first class accommodation on that deck, filled the bureau square on the deck below to a depth of around four feet, made a big mess in the first class dining room, set the focs'le back four feet at the bow above deck level and made an extremely loud bang.
Unnerving experience.
The area just off the Natal coast is notorious for this type of phenomenon. Winds build up rapidly and with the difference between the Agulhas current and it's inshore counter-current there is huge potential for serious damage to craft of any size.
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