In This Issue
Lionheart Draws Level | Lucky (USA) Wins XIII Palermo-Montecarlo Offshore Race | Harken Named an Official Volvo Ocean Race Supplier | First look at the next Volvo Ocean Race boat design | Perfect conditions as the hosts 'win' the annual Bramble Bank cricket match! | Kuznetsov Refuses to Relinquish 2017 Melges 32 Worlds Lead | What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine | Shattered Finger Leaves Tokyo Prospect With Big Call | Dalton survives 100mph Isle of Man Classic TT crash | 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
Lionheart Draws Level
The sizeable spectator fleet on the waters off Newport, Rhode Island were treated to another pair of engaging, exciting races at the inaugural J Class World Championship, witnessing the return of one of the pre-regatta title favourites, Lionheart.
Already counting three third places Lionheart were prowling, poised only three points behind regatta leaders Hanuman going into today's Races 4 and 5 of the championship. The team lead by Bouwe Bekking won the first windward-leeward and then battled to third place in a second race which saw Hanuman, skippered and steered by Kenny Read, dramatically penalised during the top mark approach of the second beat.
Hanuman's resulting fifth costs them their clear overall lead in the no-discard championship series which completes Saturday and it now sees them tied on 13 points with Lionheart, winners of both significant J Class regattas during the America's Cup in Bermuda in June.
With the owner driven Lionheart winning today's first contest and Topaz the second, half of the six boat fleet have now scored a race win so far. With local Newport ace Tony Rey aiding Ross MacDonald with big picture strategy, Topaz's second race victory of the regatta promotes them to third overall, four points off the lead.
It was a better day for the mighty Ranger holding fourth overall, returning a 3,2 to keep them ahead of the newest team on the blocks, Svea but only on countback.
Race 4
1. Lionheart
2. Hanuman
3. Ranger
4. Svea
5. Topaz
6. Velsheda
Race 5
1. Topaz
2. Ranger
3. Lionheart
4. Svea
5. Hanuman
6. Velsheda
Overall after five races, no discard
1. Hanuman 13pts, (1,4,1,2,5)
2. Lionheart 13pts (3,3,3,1,3)
3. Topaz 17pts (4,1,6,5,1)
Lucky (USA) Wins XIII Palermo-Montecarlo Offshore Race
Photo credit Carloni-Raspar / CVS. Click on image to enlarge.
Montecarlo, Monaco: Lucky immediately the lead of the fleet in Mondello Gulf, and at the end it won the XIII Palermo-Montecarlo. Lucky's owner Bryon Ehrhat from Chicago, will take home, to the New York Yacht Club, the prestigious Tasca d'Almerita Trophy which is given for line honours of this important Mediterranean offshore regatta.
Lucky's official finishing time was 06.49.03, which means in total of 66h 46min 03 sec of sailing, well off Esimit Europa 2's record of 47 hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds established in 2015.
This is the second year in a row that a member of the New York Yacht Club has won the Palermo-Montecarlo Regatta.
"Other members of our club suggested we take part in this regatta and they were right - Ehrhart said very happily at the finishing line -: the race is really beautiful yet tough, it is important not to lose concentration.
We had three stops during the race but in the end we managed to use our strategy. 24 miles from Montecarlo we stopped for the total lack of wind at 11.00 PM of last night and it was possible to go on only at the sunrise".
In this moment first boats are 60 miles from Montecarlo: Malizia II by Pierre Casiraghi (Boris Herrmann is the skipper and the helmsman) leads the leader group ahead of Tonnerre de Glen (72 miles) by Dominique Tian (FRA) and Leaps&Bounds (77 miles) by Jean Philippe Blanpain.
This XIII Palermo-Montecarlo has a fleet from nine Countries: USA, Monaco, Germany, Poland, Great Britain, France, Russia, Hungary and Italy.
Harken Named an Official Volvo Ocean Race Supplier
As Official Suppliers, Harken will supply winches, pedestals, gearboxes, TTR2 blocks, traveler and Battcar systems to the Volvo Ocean 65 one-design fleet. As key members of the team in The Boatyard, the Harken Tech Team will once again service and maintain the supplied systems to ensure equipment aboard these identical race boats is in peak condition. We often say Harken is "At The Front".
Well, sometimes you'll find The Front inside a sweltering container in Cape Town with a fleet's worth of winch pinion bushings to be inspected, re-lubed or replaced. In this lap around the planet, boats can finish a two-week leg overlapped.
To help ensure a level playing field for these incredible sailors, there can be no compromises... so there will be no end to the Harken commitment.
First look at the next Volvo Ocean Race boat design
Just over three months ago, on 18 May 2017, Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner stood on a stage in the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg and announced that the question of whether the future of the race was monohull or multihull had been solved.
In fact, the Volvo Ocean Race had opted for both - and would design and build a one-design foil-assisted 60-foot (18.29 metre) monohull for the ocean legs, and a one-design 32-50 foot foiling catamaran (10-15 metre) for use inshore at the stopovers.
Now, with the 2017-18 edition already apace following a thrilling Leg Zero, work on the two new boats has been moving very fast in the background.
This week, the first mock up of the Guillaume Verdier-designed offshore monohull was revealed at the Boatyard in Lisbon
Verdier has now gathered his team around him, and they have been working hard on the hull lines. The design has developed in a way that will enable IMOCA 60 compatibility, making it convertible, relatively quickly and inexpensively, to a short-handed rules-compliant IMOCA boat for events like the solo Vendee Globe and two-up Barcelona World Race.
"We don't think there is any compromise to making a stand-alone Volvo Ocean Race boat comply with the IMOCA 60 rules. Although in Volvo mode, we will have another keel, we will have different rudders, foils, we will have a different rig on it," said Bice.
"So now, with the new two-year race cycle, a team can compete in an IMOCA event in between, maintaining profile for a sponsor and making it much easier for them to commit to two cycles of the Volvo Ocean Race. That's what we want to try and achieve.
Perfect conditions as the hosts 'win' the annual Bramble Bank cricket match!
Photo by Graham Nixon. Click on image to enlarge.
Hamble, Hampshire, UK: It was a case of weather perfect; dry, little wind and a beautiful sunrise as the teams from Hamble's Royal Southern Yacht Club and the Island Sailing Club in Cowes met on the newly emerged 'island', the infamous Bramble Bank in the the central Solent, for the annual Bramble Bank cricket match.
So perfect were the conditions that they made up for the need to get out of bed at 05.00 to ensure the RSrnYC team was in the field by low water, scheduled for 06.50.
The high pressure system which brought the fine weather also depressed the tide, resulting in the the largest cricket 'field' seen for many years. The Island SC team batted first, but were eventually bowled out. The Royal Southern batsmen then punished the Islanders with several boundaries - which in this match means someone going for a swim to retrieve the ball.
By tradition, each club wins in turn each year and then hosts the opposition to breakfast, or tea, depending on the hour. So, as the tide began to reclaim its territory, everyone scrambled back into their RIBs and assorted craft and repaired back to the RSrnYC Clubhouse in Hamble for bacon and eggs.
The final score was 99-70!
Kuznetsov Refuses to Relinquish 2017 Melges 32 Worlds Lead
Photo by Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Cala Galera, Italy: The 2017 Melges 32 Boero World Championship hosted by Circolo Nautico e della Vela Argentario came to life today, adding three more fierce races to the scoreboard under slightly breezy conditions.
Standing firm at the top once again is Russia's Pavel Kuznetsov at the helm of TAVATUY (Evgeny Neugodnikov, tactician). His big risks, apparent aggressiveness and very few tactical mistakes paid off big as he further extended his lead by a couple of points.
Just behind are some of his biggest adversaries, including Edoardo Lupi and Massimo Pessina (Lorenzo Bressani, tactician) sailing TORPYONE. Their 6-2-1 daily score is a vast improvement over yesterday's 7-8, moving them up to second place.
The Corinthian division standings remain very close with little change from Day One. The all Italian teams of Martin Reintjes' CAIPIRINHA (Enrico Fonda, tactician) and Francesco Graziani's VITAMINA (Andrea Fornaro, tactician) are still first and second respectively.
Tomorrow will mark the third day of competition and for some, it will be the last opportunity to 'move up' as with the completion of Race Six, each team will discard their worst performance. The first warning on Friday will be 13.00 (Italy).
Top Five Results (Preliminary - After Five Races)
1. Pavel Kuznetsov/Evgeny Neugodnikov, TAVATUY; 1-1-2-5-10 = 19
2. Edoardo Lupi-Massimo Pessina/Lorenzo Bressani, TORPYONE; 7-8-6-2-1 = 24
3. Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio/Branko Brcin, G.SPOT; 2-3-4-14-2 = 25
4. Edoardo Pavesio/Manuel Weiller Vidal, FRA MARTINA; 3-7-8-1-7 = 26
5. Matteo Balestrero/Daniele Cassinari, GIOGI; 12-6-3-9-3 = 33
Seahorse September 2017
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
THE 36th AMERICA'S CUP
And now it's all about what happens next...
Long shadow
The largely self-taught Doug Peterson brought Ganbare to the 1973 One Ton Cup and offshore yacht design was never the same again. Tim Jeffery remembers a good friend
Early signs
And Ivor Wilkins already knows a lot more than he is quite ready to let on... So watch this space
Commitment
And more commitment - Bouwe Bekking is about to start his 8th race around the globe (sic)
Ken Read
And 2017 really is 'the year of the record'
Ten years and growing
And this year it's the turn of Aarhus, Denmark
The 2018 Grand (Caribbean) Tour
Can't make up your mind, why not have all of it?
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Shattered Finger Leaves Tokyo Prospect With Big Call
One of Australia's premier Finn class sailors faces a critical few days as he weighs up the prospect of competing at the upcoming World Championships in Hungary with multiple fractures in one of his hands.
Former World No.1 Oliver Tweddell's early preparations for Tokyo 2020 were shaken by a peculiar injury during an Australian Sailing Team training session before Aarhus Sailing Week in Denmark in early August.
"I tacked, nothing out of the ordinary, I just came out of it and my finger was in a lot of pain," Tweddell said. "I couldn't move it and thought I'd broken it."
The Victorian withdrew from the event and returned to Australia, where the severity of the injury was revealed. His wedding ring finger was broken into seven pieces between the palm and the knuckle.
The former world No.1, who moved to Australia from England aged 15, is now relying on professional advice over whether competing on Lake Balaton could risk permanent damage to his hand.
"If I'm told it's not going to kill me, not going to cause me any permanent damage, I'll give it a crack," he said. "I want to race at the best level and it's been the peak event for me for the whole season.
Dalton survives 100mph Isle of Man Classic TT crash
Emirates Team New Zealand's CEO, Grant Dalton has walked away from a high speed crash in the Isle of Man Classic TT on Wednesday (NZT).
The CEO of the champion America's Cup team survived a 100mph(160kmh) crash after his bike seized.
'I'd just cranked into a corner up at a place called The Verandah and the bike seized and just fired me off the road,' Dalton told Stuff from the Isle of Man, which is a Crown dependency in the Irish Sea, and a corporate tax haven.
'I wasn't hurt at all. I just slid for a decent distance and got up again. The bike was alongside me and we ended up in the same spot.
'It's not a big deal, it's all part of it ... it just goes with the turf.'
Dalton estimated he was doing around over 100mph at the time of the incident.
This is Dalton's third year of racing on the treacherous circuit which has claimed over 200 lives.
He failed to finish his first event in 2014, but in 2015 he qualified for the F1 Classic TT, completed the course and was awarded a prestigious finishers medal, clocking an average of 97mph for the four lap race - the speed includes time spent in the pits with a gravity fed fuel stop.
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 Butch Dalrymple Smith:
Steven Warings Yacht Design has completely missed the point of racing classic yachts.
Classic yacht regattas provide an opportunity for those passionate about classic yachts to get together and share their obsession to the delight of themselves, their crews, the spectators and the photographers who capture those stunning, emotive images we all love so much. Racing is the central theme that brings everyone together, and racing such disparate boats makes no sense without a handicapping rule.
All handicap rules exist to allow differing yachts to race together with each having a reasonably even chance of winning. The intention is to relate the yachts so that the results depend on the ability, energy (and luck?) of the skippers and crews. But the CIM rule has an additional role in preventing a truly authentic yacht suffering competitively against a compromised one. If you allow one square topped mainsail, one carbon fibre mast or one moulded sail without a prohibitive penalty, then everyone will have to follow suit if they are to have any chance of winning. Classic yachts have less intrinsic value if they are not in authentic condition in the same way that a painting loses its value if it has been restored carelessly. It is not really a question of cost, because anyone owning and campaigning a classic yacht cannot have a conventional idea of value for money. It is a question of keeping the spirit alive.
It is unfortunate that imperatives of safety and living in today's yachting environment mean that engines, synthetic cordage and even winches (perish the thought!) have found their way onto some classic yachts, but in this ever changing world it is good to know that the wind and the sea stay the same. So why not enjoy the beauty, the physicality and the fun of sailing yachts in the way they used to be sailed. It shows respect for the traditions of the sea and the sailors who have gone before. If we all sail under the same constraints, dealing with the same sailcloth, having to take the same care over our spars, then the racing will be all the closer and all the more fun. If SOT yachts want to pretend they are old fashioned, let them too race under the same constraints as the genuine oldies.
The CIM rule is not just about making the racing even, it also fulfils a valuable role in maintaining an important heritage, in allowing the owners of authentically restored and maintained yachts to race in a fair, gentlemanly, elegant and often fiercely competitive setting. I wouldn't want it any other way.
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The Last Word
The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be capital punishment for it or anything, but why don't we just take the safety labels off everything and let the problem solve itself? -- Adam Gorightly
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