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Brought to you by Yachtworld.com Europe and 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
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Double Win For Mean Machine - Bribon Leads After Five Races
Photo by Thierry Martinez/Audi MedCup, www.thmartinez.com
The second day of the Audi MedCup Circuit's Alicante leg saw three races completed in a building breeze. The Spanish boat Bribon, holders of the City of Alicante Trophy, takes the lead overall with consistent sailing. Following a poor first day Mean Machine wins the last two races to lie fifth overall.
The day belonged to Peter de Ridder's new Mean Machine, scoring back to back wins in Race 4 and Race 5 of the regatta. But it is the current holders of the City of Alicante Trophy, Bribon, whose consistency across three good quality races today earns them an overall lead of eight points.
Jose Cusi's Bribon, with double Olympic medallist Ross Macdonald (CAN) calling tactics for helm Dean Barker (NZL), won the first race and then posted a pair of fourth places to lead Doug De Vos (USA) and Fred Howe's (USA) Quantum Racing, while the 2005 MedCup Champions, Mutua Madrileña skippered by Vasco Vascotto (ITA) sit third overall.
With the sun breaking through later in the afternoon the breeze increased across the races to provide a great blend of tactical racing in 5-7 knots in the first contest, giving way to a more physically demanding 15-16 knots in the third.
Racing for the Alicante leg of the Audi MedCup will continue on Thursday with a coastal race scheduled to start at 13:10. The winner of this stage of the Audi MedCup will be awarded the City of Alicante Trophy on Saturday afternoon.
The 2008 Audi MedCup Circuit will then move on to Marseille, France (2 - 7 June), Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy (30 June - 5 July), Puerto Portals, Majorca, Spain (21 - 26 July), Carthargena, Spain (25 - 30 August), before closing the season in Portimao, Portugal (15 - 20 September).
Provisional Standings after five races
1. Bribon, ESP, 15 points
2. Quantum, USA, 23
3. Mutua Madrilena, ESP, 25
4. TAU Ceramica Andalucia, ESP, 26
5. Mean Machine, MON, 30
6. Platoon powered by Team Germany, GER, 35
7. El Desafio, ESP, 38
8. Matador, ARG, 39
9. Artemis, SWE, 44
10. Cristabella, GBR, 47
2008.medcup.org
Positions Blackout Starting Friday Night
The leading pack of IMOCA Open 60's is still amazingly tight in terms of distance to the finish, after more than 800 miles spent at sea. Tactically speaking, the big question of the day lies within the 80-mile latitude gap separating the top 6 boats: have some significant choices been made, is the North - South positioning difference really relevant? Aboard BT, 3rd placed Sebastien Josse believes it is, and says the dice have been thrown 48 hours ago, while his rivals remain sceptic. The skippers have taken some rest and are now preparing to cross a high pressure ridge, expecting to be parked in 24 hours. "It won't be pleasant", warns race leader Michel Desjoyeaux, "but everyone will have to deal with the same situation, so..."
Race direction announced today - with 48 hours notice as stated in the Sailing Instructions - that the 36-hour positions blackout will start Friday at 18:00 GMT. The positions will be available again on Sunday May 18 at 6:00 GMT. Ocean racing is not a matter of sheer speed and the choice of trajectory is crucial, so by imposing a 36 hour blackout, the organisers of The Artemis Transat have certainly added some spice to the race. Obviously, the race organisation will continue to receive each yacht's position data to monitor the fleet's safety and communications with the skippers will continue, but the gambles and tactical manoeuvres of individual teams will remain secret until the information blockade is lifted.
The 11 Class40 yachts in The Artemis Transat have made a general trend to the south, mirroring the IMOCA Open 60 fleet, 260 miles further west into the North Atlantic. Race leader Giovanni Soldini started his port gybe south mid-afternoon yesterday and pulled out of this dive shortly before the position poll blackout was lifted at 0600GMT this morning. Second place Appart' City tailed Soldini throughout the night, matching Telecom Italia's pre-dawn gybe as the wind moved slightly NNE. "He was a little bit more downwind so he catch me up a little bit in the night," said Soldini this morning of Yvan Noblet's shadow tactics just to the south of Telecom Italia. The French skipper maintains he is not intentionally hounding Soldini: "I'm not really racing only Telecom Italia," he explained this morning. "My tactics are more driven by the weather forecast." Both of the leading pair agree that the forthcoming meteo forecast will be challenging. "I think the next 48 hours will be tricky," Soldini predicts, "as there is a system with very little wind ahead and the fleet behind will catch up, but this is part of the racing."
www.theartemistransat.com
Venture, An Elegant Edwardian Period Yacht, By G.L. Watson.
Unexpected circumstances require the present owner to stop the restoration of VENTURE. She is 55' x 42' x 8'4" and 27 tons. Originally built by J. Samuel White at Cowes in 1924, she is presently located at Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA. This is an opportunity for a new owner to undertake this substantial, but eminently viable project at a particularly favorable exchange rate.
For more information about VENTURE or Gannon and Benjamin, see www.gannonandbenjamin.com or e-mail:
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New York Arrives in Flamenco Marina, Panama
The first of the ten internationally-backed Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race teams has arrived in Flamenco Marina, Panama. New York arrived alongside at shortly after 0500 this morning (1100 GMT) at the end of Race 9 from Santa Cruz, California in which the US team finished in third place.
The race was dominated by light winds virtually from the outset and New York was one of a leading group that enjoyed some close quarter racing, matching their opponents move for move, all of them refusing to give any quarter to the competition.
As the yachts' speed dropped off in the dying winds, the Race Committee took the decision to shorten the course to the second of four predetermined gates in order to allow the fleet to motor sail to Panama and claw back some of the time lost following the two dismastings during Race 7 across the Pacific.
New York crossed the finish line off the coast of Mexico in third place, just nine minutes behind Qingdao who finished second, and a little under three hours after Hull & Humber whose victory takes them into first place overall, just two and a half points ahead of New York.
There have been widespread reports of lengthy delays for yachts passing through the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side to the Pacific, however the Clipper 07-08 fleet will be travelling in the opposite direction, leaving the Pacific behind them, so will not be affected.
Operations Vice President at the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (Panama Canal Authority), Manuel Benitez, says, "The ACP is concerned about the situation and is working aggressively to reduce the backlog. We are closely monitoring this situation and we are working to ensure that all feasible measures are being taken to return to normal levels of transit waiting time as soon as possible."
The backlog came about during the second half of February from a surge in arrivals within the waterway's peak season (February - May) that coincided with maintenance work at the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks. Maintenance work has now been postponed and additional crews assigned to the locks.
Friends, family and supporters of the Clipper fleet will be able to watch the yachts pass through the locks at both ends of the canal by logging onto the Panama Canal webcams: www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html?cam=HiDef
First 40.7 UK National Championships
Held over the weekend of the 10th & 11th May the First 40.7 National Championships were hosted by the Royal Southern Y.C. in Hamble and attracted an entry of 14 boats. The high pressure area over the UK meant that sailing conditions were lightl on both days but P.R.O. Peter Bateson managed to get three good, short races completed each day.
Saturday belonged to Gareth Williams and the team on 'Challenger'. With Richard Lovering helming they won the first two races and were 2nd on the longer final race behind Paul Jenkins & the Activ Sail & Power entry 'Addiction'. Tim Spalding & Gareth Lloyd-Jones, ('Love Shack') having been called OCS in Race 1 sought redress from the Protest Committee, won their case and were re-instated to lie 2nd overnight.
With slightly more breeze on Sunday 'Love Shack' seemed to be a little quicker than the opposition and it was her turn to win the first two races of the day. This left the final 'round the cans' race as the decider. . Paul Dentskevich's 'Euphorix' led 'Love Shack' around the top mark with 'Challenger' back in 7th place. 'Challenger' then struck a lonely course out in the middle as all the rest went inshore. Peter French on 'Anticipation' made the best fist of it to take the lead rounding the next mark ahead of 'Love Shack' with 'Challenger' still well behind. 'Euphorix' managed to regain 2nd place from 'Love Shack' and 'Challenger' climbed to 5th.
With six races completed a discard was allowed and this was vital to the overall results. 'Challenger' and 'Love Shack' both finished with a nett score of 10 points but the Championship went to Gareth Williams on count back. Each won two races but 'Challenger' scored an extra 2nd place to tip the balance. There was also a tie-break for 3rd & 4th places. and Paul Jenkins' Activ team edged past Paul Dentskevich by dint of winning the 3rd race and so Paul won the North Sails trophy for the best newcomer. Gareth Williams also won the Class award for the highest placed finisher who had not had a podium finish in either the 2006 or 2007 Nationals. -- Eddie Mays
Overall Results
1. Challenger, Gareth Williams, 10 points
2. Love Shack, Tim Spalding & Gareth Lloyd-Jones, 10
3. Addiction, Activ Sail & Power Ltd., 17
4. Euphorix, Paul Dentskevich, 17
5. Tarka, Guy Prest, 20.5
ISAF World Match Race Rankings
France continues to dominate at the top of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings as Mathieu Richard and Claire Leroy hold on to the world #1 spots.
Both French skippers hold significant leads over their nearest rivals after an impressive start to their 2008 seasons. Their success is just the pinnacle of a very impressive performance from the French match racing team, who count a total of six skippers in the world top ten across the Open and Women's Rankings. With wins at the ISAF Women's Match Racing Worlds and most recently on the World Match Racing Tour, the French have set the benchmark for the 2008 season. Now it is up to the chasing pack to respond.
The next release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings will be on 25 June, following the ISAF Grade WC Korea Match Cup.
Open Rankings: New events included in this Ranking release:
Grade WC - Match Race Germany, GER
Grade 2 - Detroit Cup, USA
Grade 2 - Spring Cup, DEN
Grade 2 - Morbihan Match Race, FRA
For ISAF Grade 3-5 events included see www.sailing.org/regattasearch
Top Ten, Open:
1. Mathieu Richard, FRA
2. Ian Williams, GBR
3. Paolo Cian, ITA
4. Bjorn Hansen, SWE
5. Sebastien Col, FRA
6. Damien Iehl, FRA
7. Staffan Lindberg, FIN
8. Torvar Mirsky, AUS
9. Pierre-Antoine Morvan, FRA
10. Eugeniy Neugodnikov, RUS
Women's Rankings: New events included in this Ranking release:
Grade 1 - International Women's Match Race Criterium, ESP
Grade 2 - Brasil Women's Cup, BRA
Grade 3 - Portuguese Women's Match Racing Championship, POR
Grade 3 - Sundance Cup, USA
Top Ten, Women:
1. Claire Leroy, FRA
2. Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, DEN
3. Katie Spithill, AUS
4. Silke Hahlbrock, GER
5. Elizabeth Baylis, USA
6. Silja Lehtinen, FIN
7. Christelle Philippe, FRA
8. Sally Barkow, USA
9. Linda Rahm, SWE
10. Jenny Axhede, SWE
www.sailing.org/mrrankings
Team Pindar Leads World Championship
After two of the nine stages of the World Match Racing Tour, Team Pindar skippered by Ian Williams leads the World Match Racing Championship standings with 27 points. Williams scored points in the first two events and has a slim, one point lead over Sweden's Bjorn Hansen. Team Shosholoza's Paolo Cian and Damien Iehl are two points back in a tie for third.
Unfortunately, Paolo Cian left Match Race Germany with zero points after finishing a shocking eleventh out of twelve teams.
Damien Iehl moves up to a tie for third place after his impressive first World Tour win in Germany. Iehl is part of the French Match Racing Team which includes Sebastion Col, Matthieu Richard, Philippe Presti and Bertrand Pace. The French Teams have been showing very strong results at World Tour events. Sponsorship from Areva has allowed full time coach Marc Bouet, a veteran match race skipper, the opportunity to be at the events to support the French sailors who are making a strong run at the World Championship title.
The World Tour now heads for Korea for the first time for the Korea Match Cup (10-15 June). The event will take place in the Gyeonggi province as part of a new marina development and the Korean International Boat Show. The event boasts $320,000 in prize money making it the richest event on this years World Tour.
World Tour Standings
(After 2 events of 9)
1 Ian Williams - Team Pindar - 27 points
2 Bjorn Hansen - Alandia Sailing Team - 26 points
=3 Paolo Cian - Team Shosholoza - 25 points
=3 Damien Iehl - French Match Racing Team - 25 points
5 Jes Gram Hansen - Trifork Racing - 20 points
6 Mathieu Richard - French Match Racing Team - 15 points
7 Magnus Holmberg - Victory Challenge - 12 points
=8 Markus Weiser - Team Sea Dubai - 10 points
=8 Peter Wibroe - Wibroe sailing Team - 10 points
www.worldmatchracingtour.com
RSYC McGuigan Wines Weymouth Double Leg 2
Photo of Simon Forbes and Cathy Foster by John Greenway, http://www.marineaction.co.uk
The forecast for the return leg of the 2008 Weymouth Double was for light winds dying as the day progressed. The 47 boats streamed out of the harbour to start line line in a good SE F4 breeze. The race committee decided to make the most the conditions and mindful of the forecast started classes 2 and 4 together, followed by the remaining boats 10 minutes later. The leg to St Albans Head proved challenging to make the best of changing winds. The adverse tide tempted some to take the inshore route which proved to have a few wind holes, while those that stayed offshore had steadier winds but from a more southerly direction giving them a longer route. Close into St Albans the winds gusted to 25 knots forcing reefs to be taken in. As the boats rounded the headland so did the wind, moving round to the east to ensure that they were all still head to wind on the leg to the Needles. Half way across Poole Bay the breeze all but disappeared before coming back from the North slowly moving round to the west to give a spinnaker run in to the shortened course finish at North Head. -- Andrew Campbell
Provisional Results
Class 1 IRC
1. No Doubt, First 34.7,m Chris/Hannah Neve
2. Ding Dong, Stewart 37, Chris Rustom/John Simms
3. Malice, HOD 35, Mike Moxley/Huw Phillips
Class 2 IRC
1. Astarte, First 34.7, Nick/Suzi Jones
2. Moondog, Laser 28, Andy/Peter Pickett
3. Google-Eye, Trapper 300, Pat Stables/Nigel Hunt
Class 3 Club
1. Faze 3, Bavaria 44, Andrew/Linda Campbell
2. Asante, Maxi 1100, Andy/Sara Horwood
3. Hot Socks, Beneteau Figaro II, Katie Miller
Class 4 Club
1. Pavo, Wauquiez Pretorien, David Greenway/Gange
2. Ellie, Dehler 36cws, Ginny Bennett/Pete Spreadborough
3. Magewind of Roke, Maxi 1050, John Skipper/Tom Henderson
Multihulls
1. Scooby III, Dragonfly 800, Simon Forbes/Cathy Foster
2. Zoum!, Dragonfly 920, David Hyland/Niel Owen
Malcolm Tennant
It is with great sadness, that I must inform everybody that Malcolm Tennant passed away on Saturday.
He died in hospital after an accident at his home in Titirangi.
Malcolm has been involved in the design of power and sail multihulls for many years, and it was his life long passion. Malcolm's influence on the design of Multihulls in New Zealand and around the world is undeniable and he will be missed by many in the industry as a pioneer and as a friend.
Malcolm Tennant's funeral will be held this Friday the 16th of May near his home in Auckland NZ. -- Tony Stanton
For information and a contact email see www.tennantdesign.co.nz
Letters To The Editor
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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 John Rousmaniere: Once again we see how prescient John Cox Stevens and George L. Schuyler were when they kept the deed of gift simple and focused on putting on a race. The judge's job is to lay out their rules, not play Daddy and work things out to the perfect convenience of the parties. The deed allows racing in March, correct? It also allows the parties to negotiate almost everything, correct? The two sides have plenty of room and opportunity to follow his order without further instructions. So let's get on with it.
Featured Brokerage
99' Mcconaghy Boats Super Maxi, EUR 3,900,000, Located in France.
Following her launch on Tuesday 19 July 2005, Kiwi super maxi 'Alfa Romeo' set her sails for the first time, tested her canting keel and bettered 19 knots in a light breeze during a highly successful maiden voyage around Sydney Harbour on Friday 22 July 2005.
'Alfa Romeo', the second yacht built by New Zealand skipper and owner, Neville Crichton, to carry the name of the Italian car maker, was penned by leading American yacht designers, Reichel/Pugh and built in Sydney by McConaghy Boats.
Compared to the previous 'Alfa Romeo', the winner of the 2002 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race and 73 other line honours wins, the new yacht is three metres longer, more then seven and half metres taller and can carry a sail area more than a third larger than the previous 'Alfa Romeo'. As well as being equipped with a canting keel and twin rudders, 'Alfa Romeo' is hardly more than a tonne heavier than her predecessor.
Brokerage through Bernard Gallay Yacht Brokerage: www.yachtworld.com/bernard-gallay/
Complete listing details and seller contact information at
uk.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1909777
The Last Word
A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world. -- John le Carre
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