In This Issue
Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde win Normandy Channel Race | Practice racing continues | Americas Cup Television | Harken is a Proud Technical Supplier for Groupama Team France | Admiral's Cup to be marked with 50th Anniversary Regatta | 12 Metre Class Announces Waypoint Regattas | Act 2 Scene 1 | Green Dragon Back in Galway Looking for a Mast | Marion Bermuda Race to the Rock | 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
Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde win Normandy Channel Race
Jersey resident Phil Sharp, and the Spanish sailor from Santander Pablo Santurde, has just secured victory in the most comprehensive edition of the Normandy Channel Race, sailing the entire original course and with it the richest ever edition in terms of both intensity and action.
The British Class40 Imerys skippered by Phil Sharp and Pablo Santurde triumphed Friday morning. They crossed the finish line off Hermanville at 01 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds GMT. Their race time is 4 days, 11 hours 15 minutes and 50 seconds, in what will be a reference for future editions. The duo covered the 961 miles of the theoretical course at an average speed of 9.04 knots. The actual distance covered equated to 1,091 miles over the ground at the average speed of 10.17 knots. Posting brilliant performances to secure the runner-up spots, Serenis Consulting skippered by the Jean Galfione-Nicolas Troussel duo and V and B helmed by Maxime Sorel and Antoine Carpentier were over 3 hours shy of glory.
With this latest result in the bag, Pablo Santurde from Santander, is the first sailor in the history of the Normandy Channel Race to secure a second victory, a consecutive one to boot, and on two different boats (Tales II with Fidel Turienzo in 2016). However, this is also a second victory for the boat, as the Mach 40 No.130 was launched in 2013 for Sebastien Rogues (GDF Suez), who won the event in 2014 paired with Bertrand Castelnerac.
A truly impressive performance by Pablo then, who seems to be invincible in the Class40, since he also won last year's Transat Quebec Saint Malo aboard Tales II with Gonzalo Bottin. Together with the same crew, he won the Atlantic Cup, before etching his name for the second time on the winners' list of the Normandy Channel Race today.
Final top ten:
1. Imerys, Phil Sharp / Pablo Santurde
2. Serenis Consulting, Jean Galfione / Nicolas Troussel
3. V And B, Maxime Sorel / Antoine Carpentier
4. Evernex - Delicecook, Brieuc Maisonneuve / Eric Varin
5. Campaign Of France, Halvard Mabire / Miranda Merron
6. Calvados, Claire Pruvot / Louis Duc
7. Sensation Class40, Marc Lepesqueux / Jean-Charles Monnet
8. Moonpalace, Roeland Franssens / Michel Kleinjans
9. Region Normandy - Lmax, Olivier Cardin / Cedric Chateau
10. Colombe Xl, Massimo Juris / Pietro Luciani
Practice racing continues
With the countdown clock ticking over to just five days before the start of the 35th America's Cup, all six teams took to Bermuda's Great Sound on Monday 22nd May with three (Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and Land Rover BAR) taking part in another day of practice racing before the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers starts at 5.00pm on Friday 26th May.
Under guidelines set out by America's Cup Race Management (ACRM), all teams are permitted to train against each other on Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th May.
Artemis Racing had the best of the practice racing action on Monday 22nd May, beating Sir Ben Ainslie's Land Rover BAR in race one. Race two, between Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing, failed to generate a result as neither team finished the race, while it was the same outcome in the third and final race of the day, a re-run between the Swedish and New Zealand teams.
More practice racing is scheduled for Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th May.
Americas Cup Television
BBC Sport's Natalie Pirks visited Ben Ainslie in Bermuda to talk about his America's Cup preparations and meet the team behind the British challenge
Watch on Saturday 20 May on BBC News Channel at 00:30, 13:30 and 16:30 BST, Sunday 21 May at 05:30 and 14:30 BST and Wednesday at 03:30 BST.
The BBC Schedule of coverage:
www.bbc.com/sport/sailing/39885782
* Sport 24, the only 24/7 live inflight and cruise line sports channel, will show live coverage of this year's journey to the 35th America's Cup on its two channels for the first time.
The IMG owned and operated service will broadcast live action from one of sport's biggest event series across both Sport 24 and Sport 24 Extra, culminating with the America's Cup Match presented by Louis Vuitton on 17-18 and 24-27 June.
Sport 24's coverage will also include qualifying stages leading up to the finale, including the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers (26 May - 3 June), the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoff Semi-Finals (4 - 8 June), and the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoff Finals (10 - 12 June).
* NBC Sports Group will present more than 40 hours of coverage of the 2017 America's Cup from Bermuda across NBC, NBCSN and the NBC Sports app, beginning this Friday, May 26, with coverage of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers on NBCSN.
NBCSN and the NBC Sports app will provide comprehensive coverage of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers and Challenger Playoffs through Monday, June 12. The first races of the final stage of competition in the 35th America's Cup, the America's Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton will take place on Saturday, June 17, at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.
NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app - NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs - will provide comprehensive streaming coverage of the 2017 America's Cup.
https://youtu.be/W7Vo0WYEwrw
Harken is a Proud Technical Supplier for Groupama Team France
Harken and Groupama Team France are working together to supply the team with winches, pedestals, gear boxes and blocks in its campaign for the 35th America's Cup. Led by skipper/helmsman Franck Cammas, this renowned sailing hero from France is one of the most talented, respected, and hardest-working multihull racers in the world.
He was the first to round Cape Horn in a foiling catamaran, and in 2015 successfully defended his Little America's Cup title, foiling to a win in Groupama C. Harken is honored to be working with this determined and talented team, on the hunt for success in France's most creative America's Cup challenge. Harken. At The Front.
Admiral's Cup to be marked with 50th Anniversary Regatta
Love and War. Photo by Andrea Francolini, www.afrancolini.com 
Fifty years ago a team of three Australian yachts arrived in Cowes to take on the world. Two years earlier, in 1965, our first challengers for the Admiral's Cup, Caprice of Huon, Freya and Camille, had been snobbishly mocked by the British yachting establishment as being too small and old fashioned.
The Poms soon had to eat their words as the Australians went very close to winning the Cup at their first attempt
When Caprice of Huon returned in 1967, this time with Balandra and Mercedes III, the Aussie team was better prepared for the tricky racing in the Solent and the Channel, and the tough Fastnet Race that closes out the Admiral's Cup series. They beat the crack three-boat teams from Great Britain, France, Spain and the USA by a whopping 107 points.
And just to rub it in, Mercedes III, Balandra and Caprice of Huon finished first, second and third in the individual points score. It was a complete victory, and Australian offshore racing had arrived on the world stage.
A group of local yachtsmen, all with a connection to the Admiral's Cup, are now organizing a special, one-off regatta to mark the 50th anniversary of that first Admiral's Cup win.
Staged jointly on Sydney Harbour by the SASC, RSYS and CYCA, the racing will be held over three days on December 1, 2 and 3. There will also be a full "apres racing" social program over that weekend hosted by the participating clubs.
As important as re-uniting the yachts that represented Australia will be the opportunity of bringing the crews together again. Admiral's Cup veterans whose original "ride" is no longer racing will be welcome to join the crews of other boats in the regatta.
In keeping with the 'three-boat team' theme, the Admiral's Cup Anniversary Regatta has three co-patrons: Sir James Hardy OBE, Syd Fischer OBE and Gordon Ingate OAM. All three have distinguished Admiral's Cup records.
Entry is open to any yacht that either represented Australia in the Admiral's Cup or competed in the selection trials.
Records show that upwards of 60 yachts might qualify for the regatta, but many of those may no longer be in racing trim, while some, such as the legendary Freya, are now overseas. Nevertheless, a fleet of 10-15 is expected, including some from the 1965 and 1967 campaigns, led by the ageless Caprice of Huon and Mercedes III.
Some of the other famous names we might see racing each other again include Camille, Impetuous, Police Car, Salacia II, Challenge and Love & War.
There will be one race per day - two on the Harbour (Friday and Sunday) and a short offshore event on the Saturday.
Organisers of the 50th Anniversary Regatta are keen to hear from any yacht owners and Admiral's Cup crew interested in taking part. They should contact: Peter Shipway at peter@barlowdistributors.com.au
12 Metre Class Announces Waypoint Regattas
The International 12 Metre Class (ITMA) has released locations and dates for the Road To The Worlds Waypoints Series, a three-year international 12 Metre (12mR) yacht competition starting in May of 2017 and culminating with the July 2019 12 Metre World Championship in Newport, R.I. Teams racing at specific Waypoints-designated events in Northern Europe, Southern Europe and the Americas will be awarded points for both their participation and performance. At the culmination of this 29-regatta series, the 12mR team with the greatest number of points overall will be awarded the Waypoints Cup at the 2019 12 Metre World Championship Awards Ceremony.
The Road To The Worlds Waypoints Series kicks off this summer with inaugural events both in the United States and Europe. In North America, ten 12mR yachts (along with sibling International Rule 2.4mR, 6mR and 8mR yachts) will compete at Newport MetreFest 2017, held in conjunction with New York Yacht Club's 163rd Annual Regatta (June 9-11). The first Southern Europe fleet Waypoint event is the glamorous Les Voiles D' Antibes in France (May 31-June 4), and the first Northern Europe fleet Waypoint event is the Kiel Classic in Germany (June 17-19), where a large fleet of Vintage 12mR yachts is expected to race.
Act 2 Scene 1
Charles Caudrelier took a surprise podium in the last Volvo Ocean Race with Dongfeng (a surprise to some)
Seahorse: Let's talk a little about your experiences in the last race in 2014/15. You went into the Dongfeng Chinese-French programme off the back of winning the previous edition with Franck Cammas on Groupama 70. How much of that VO70 project could you take into a new campaign in smaller, less powerful VO65 one-designs?
Charles Caudrelier: Groupama was a winning team so of course you learn a lot in a programme like that. No team is ever perfect, though, so I tried to bring all the positive aspects from that campaign and change what I saw as weaknesses. But I obviously cannot do exactly the same - I don't have the same sailors or the same project; now the boat is a one-design too so I try to find sailors who come from onedesign or dinghy backgrounds because it is all about how to make the boat go fast rather than how to design and mode it.
SH: In certain conditions you were definitely faster last time...
CC: We were strong at the beginning downwind and in light air. I think we had a different way of sailing and trimming sails initially, but afterwards everybody else started using our approach. At the end of the race we were actually not as fast, relatively, but people still thought of us as quick which was good for us! For sure, in light conditions we were always quite good, but equally in strong winds and above a certain boat speed we were a bit slower than some others.
Full interview in the June issue of Seahorse:
www.seahorsemagazine.com
Green Dragon Back in Galway Looking for a Mast
Green Dragon. Photo by Pierce Purcell Jnr. Click on image to enlarge.
The Sino-Irish Volvo Racer Green Dragon has been having a somewhat checkered career since leaving Ireland, and though she took Transatlantic line honours in the ARC in December as the beginning of a Portuguese involvement in future Volvo Races, more recently she had the indignity of being dismasted.
Fortunately there's a spare mast in her old home port of Galway, and she arrived in there yesterday to have it fitted.
Marion Bermuda Race to the Rock
Entry closes for the 40th anniversary and 21st biennial Marion Bermuda Race this Saturday, May 27, 2017 and all information required on the entry forms must be completed by then. Entries now stand at 51 yachts. The start of this blue-water classic is June 9 from Marion, The race finishes in the midst of America's Cup activity in Bermuda some four or five days later.
Entries are up slightly since 2015 when 48 boats took the Marion challenge, racing the 645nm race from Marion, Massachusetts south out of Buzzard's Bay to the finish line of St. David's Lighthouse in Bermuda. In 2013 the race had 35 entries.
The 2017 edition of this classic will see boats ranging from 'Selkie', G.J Bradish's Morris Ocean 32.5 footer from Boston to the Hinckley SW 59 'Pescatore' sailed by George Tougas of Mattapoisett, MA with a Youth Trophy team. Nine of the boats, including 'Selkie' will sail in the Celestial Navigation Division. In its true Corinthian spirit, the Marion Bermuda Race is the only ocean race to Bermuda that offers a celestial navigation prize.
Marion Bermuda also offers a prize in honor of past Commodore Faith Paulsen for the fastest corrected time by a boat with an all female crew. The Commodore Faith Paulsen Trophy was initiated in 2011.
The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club that hosts the race in Bermuda is also Bermuda's home away from home for the America's Cup defenders, the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco, and their defending team, Oracle Team USA. The club will be a hub of activity not to be missed. Actual racing in the America's Cup Match start June 17, the day of the Marion Bermuda prizegiving.
While Marion Bermuda Racers are in Bermuda, the America's Cup Superyacht Regatta runs June 13-15. The J Class Regatta is June 16, 19 & 20. And Red Bull Youth America's Cup races are spread from June 12 to June 20. -- Talbot Wilson
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See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
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