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 Opening Day In Singapore Four races were staged as the local conditions tested the skills of the fleet with some big wind shifts making the game a little bit harder, and some teams ultimately suffered more than others as they tried to find the formula on the tight Singaporean race course. Morgan Larson, (who replaces Ernesto Bertarelli as skipper in Singapore), and his Swiss America's Cup compatriots on Alinghi won the first and last races of the day, but it didn't quite compare to Leigh McMillan's consistent performance whose Omani team The Wave, Muscat took honours after day one. The debutant home nation invitational entry Team Aberdeen Singapore have the youngest skipper onboard, Scott Glen Sydney, and the first ever Singaporean skipper of an Extreme 40 is hoping to get to grips with the Extreme 40 quickly. After a challenging first day, which sees the team finish in eighth, Scott was certain the team could improve on today's performance. The fleet will race in two sessions tomorrow, the first at 0830 local time to make the most of the morning breeze, before an afternoon sessions which will be streamed online from 1800 local time (1200 CEST) on the official event website. Extreme Sailing Series 2013 Act 2, Singapore standings after Day 1, 4 races (11.04.13)Position / Team / Points 1. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) Leigh McMillan, Ed Smyth, Pete Greenhalgh, Musab Al Hadi, Hashim Al Rashdi, 32 points Day 1 video: Williams In Semifinals; 4 Fight For Other 3 Spots Or a leader spin off a penalty at the finish line with his opponent tickling his transom? Great Britain's Ian Williams, 33, and his talented crew offered a match racing clinic on Day 3 of the 49th Congressional Cup Thursday when they pulled off both moves to stretch their win streak to 14 and secure a place in Saturday's semifinals, with Friday's three final round robin flights remaining. In light southerly breeze of 5 to 8 knots, Italy's Simone Ferrarese also (11-4) won all four of his matches, beating the other three contenders---France's Mathieu Richard (10-5), Florida's Ed Baird (9-6) and New Zealand's Adam Minoprio (9-6). Those four will scrap it out for the three semifinal spots alongside Williams. Taylor Canfield, an incoming favorite from the U.S. Virgin Islands who placed third in the Congressional last year and went on to win three events on the Alpari World Mach Racing Tour, continued to struggle with three losses in four races and had only a slim mathematical chance of reaching the sailoffs after slipping to 7-8 overall. The action can still be seen on t2p.tv's daily video highlights. The racing also is shown daily in live streaming video. The two round-robin rotations will be followed by sailoffs through Saturday. Competition is at Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier on the Long Beach outer harbor starting at 11:30 a.m. daily, conditions permitting. Standings after 15 of 18 rounds 1. Williams, 14-1 Charter An Open 70 We can tailor a package to meet your needs. Bring your friends and spend time with us team building with your colleagues, or take your clients out on an experience of a lifetime in a Volvo Open 70. We can offer charters from the Solent, Europe or in the winter the Caribbean. We have vast experience of Inshore and Offshore sailing. If you'd like to join us for a particular event, check out our race events for more information. Our boat charters are individual, and packaged to your specifications. Alternatively, if you are unable to get a full crew together, we can offer some individual crewing opportunities at many of the Race Events on our sailing calendar. Our Volvo 70 is commercially coded and fully certified for the waters it sails. The Volvo 70 will accommodate up to 12 guests inshore and 8-10 guests offshore. See our Race Events and more information on our new website: www.volvo70charter.co.uk Cascais BMW Dragon European Championship Portugal's Drago, Jose Matoso/Gustavo Lima/Frederico Melo, is the new leader of Cascais BMW Dragon European Championship, after the third day's two races. The Portuguese crew has a 5 point lead with only two races to go until the finish on Saturday. Third day in Cascais BMW Dragon European Championship 2013 and an excellent performance of Jose Matoso's, Drago, which has on board portuguese Olympic sailors Gustavo Lima and Frederico Melo. Showing great consistency, the national crew has a five point advantage, to the 2nd, Danes "Out of Bounce", Jens Christensen, and eight of the German Dottore Amore, Ingo Ehrlicher At the first, wind was blowing 12 knots from Northwest. Yevgen Braslavets, 470 class Olympic champion in Atlanta 1996, dominated almost the entire race. The second race, as the wind blew from the west at 10 knots was Drago's, Jose Matoso/Gustavo Lima/Frederico Melo, who dominated from beginning to end, giving no chance to the opponents and achieving a spectacular victory. Sweden's Still Crazy, Stefan Winberg / Thomas Witton / Frederick Brotell were second and Sophie III, the Swiss Hugo Stenbeck and Martin Westerdahl and Portuguese Pedro Andrade on board. Top 5 after 5 races 1. Drago - Jose Matoso/Gustavo Lima/Frederico Melo - Portugal www.cncascais.com 2013 Rolex Fastnet Race An incredible - and record - 380 yachts could start the biennial race. In response to the immense demand and popularity of the event, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) increased the limit for this year's fleet after the entry list was filled within 24 hours of opening. Over twenty countries and territories from five continents will be represented, with crews comprising both fully professional and amateur. The competition is democratic: the handicap system applied to the main body of the fleet means the overall winner can spring from any size of yacht. Niklas Zennström's 21.94m/72-foot British Mini Maxi Rán 2 is the defending champion and is seeking to make history by becoming the first boat to win the race three times in a row. Current race record holder, the Volvo Open 70 Abu Dhabi from the United Arab Emirates, skippered by Ian Walker, will set out to defend her line honours title and to better the benchmark monohull time of 42 hours, 39 minutes she set in 2011. Abu Dhabi will be wary of her competition. Igor Simcic's 30.48m/100-ft pan-European Maxi Esimit Europa 2, the undisputed fastest boat in the Mediterranean, is taking part for the first time. Mike Slade's primarily British crewed 100-ft Maxi ICAP Leopard, twice the event's fastest finisher (2007, 2009), will be tough to beat given the right mix of conditions. Rolex has sponsored the Rolex Fastnet Race since 2001 and recently extended its commitment until 2021. The race start from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes is scheduled for Sunday 11 August, with the first warning signal at 10:50 BST. Getting Ready For Racing In Naples Preparations are in full swing in Naples, Italy ahead of the America's Cup World Series, which begins in earnest next week (April 16-21). This is the third and final event of the 2012-13 America's Cup World Series season and the last competition for teams before the Summer of Racing in San Francisco. This weekend, the local organizing committee in Naples is hosting the invitational Coast Parade Trophy on Sunday April 14. Most of the AC World Series crews have indicated they will be racing on Sunday. Teams will then be training on the Bay of Naples in the early days of next week ahead of the first races of the America's Cup World Series Naples on Thursday April 18. For JP Morgan BAR skipper Ben Ainslie, the Naples regatta is an opportunity for his team to get back into race mode: "First and foremost we're really looking forward to getting racing again, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of conditions we will have in Naples. We've been doing some practice sailing in San Francisco, which is predominantly windy, and we might face some lighter conditions in Naples and that means we'll have to adapt quickly." 216,000 Nautical Miles In Testing There is no tougher testbed than the Southern Ocean on a wet Challenge 60 yacht with 12 Armed Services crew onboard. Garments were swapped over at each stopover and returned to Gill for careful analysis. Second-generation testing took place on the doublehanded Global Ocean Race with Conrad Colman, who sent regular feedback from onboard, and again garments were swapped over at race stops. Testing is not just carried out on the water. Gill has its own in-house laboratory where a range of marine-grade tests have been evolved. For example, fabric abrasion testing is done using 320-grade sandpaper… very aggressive but in practice not unlike the deck on many boats. Full article in Seahorse magazine: Oman Air to Sponsor Oman Sail's Multi One Design 70 The national airline is no newcomer to the sport having previously sponsored Oman Sail's highly successful Extreme 40 campaign The 2013 Musandam-Oman Air MOD70 season kicks off with an intensive training session in April, before racing starts in anger with the Grand Prix Guyader, followed by the AR Men Race, both in France, and then the summer's main event, La Route des Prince, which begins in Valencia, Spain, in June. Musandam-Oman Air will then sail to the UK for the Artemis Challenge during Cowes Week and the Rolex Fastnet Race, before competing in the Transat Jacques Vabre that starts in France in November. Well-known French offshore sailor, Sidney Gavignet, returns as skipper of the pioneering Omani initiative that uses the power of sport to contribute to the development of the Omani people with Thomas Le Breton (FRA), Mohsin Al Busaidi (OMA) and Fahad Al Hasni (OMA) all of whom competed on the MOD70 circuit last year. Newcomers to the crew include British offshore sailor Neal McDonald and fellow Volvo Round the World Race veteran Damian Foxall from Ireland. Completing the crew are Gilles Favennec from France and Ahmed Al Hassani from Oman who is replacing Ahmed Al Maamari who suffered a back injury. Al Hassani, who has come up through the Oman Sail programme on the F18 is excited to be joining the project: "It is a great honour to be selected for the MOD70 crew and to represent Oman on the international stage. I am really looking forward to what is going to be a very steep learning curve. www.omansail.com ISAF World Rankings - Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) hold a perfect Men's 470 ranking score Top three by class: 49er 49erFX Nacra 17 Laser Laser Radial Men's 470 Women's 470 Women's RS:X Men's RS:X Finn The full ISAF World Sailing Ranking lists, results from all ISAF Graded events, lists of Graded events throughout the year, Ranking release dates and the method of calculation for the Rankings can be found on the ISAF website at www.sailing.org/rankings Business As Usual Featured Brokerage Great Condition Very seriously for sale. Brokerage through Ancasta International Boat Sales: www.yachtworld.com/ancasta/ Complete listing details and seller contact information at uk.yachtworld.com The Last Word |
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Scuttlebutt Europe #2814 - 12 April
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