Brought to you by YachtsandCruisers.com with the support of OC Events, 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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

THE CLASS 40 FLEET
The distinction for the most entries in the Transat Jacques Vabre falls to Class 40. Thirty duos will be aiming for Bahia after the start on Saturday, Nov. 3. It is no longer necessary to explain the popularity of this category of boat, originally designed for amateur sailors. However, the profiles of the crews participating in the Paul Vatine Basin demonstrate that this class is definitely attracting sponsors and pro sailors, allowing quick development of new designs and higher performance. Twelve out of the 30 entries in the class are flying international colours spread out into private sponsors, amateurs, pro sailors -- and featuring the youngest crew in the race.

If you ask Alex Benett (with Pedley / Fujifilm) which crew he will be watching during the Transat, he will tell you: Giovanni Soldini (with Pietro d'Ali / Telecom Italia), Dominic Vittet (with Thierry Chabagny / Atao Audio System) and Tanguy de Lamotte (with Nick Bubb / Novedia Set Environnement). Regarding their dominant result at the Prologue, the newly sponsored Vecteur Plus / Groupe Moniteur (Jourdren / Pichelin) is also to count with as well as Appart City (Noblet / Morvan) and Clarke Offshore Sailing (Clarke / Lindsay).

But, as we saw in the last Route du Rhum, come-from-behind competitors who combine good weather analysis, tactics and audacity in their decision-making could well be on the podium in Bahia.

Eighteen of the boats in the class were launched this year, benefiting from the experience accumulated over the last two years by their skippers. As a result, designs from 2005 -- or even last year -- are already falling lower on the ranking list. Other foreign competitors sailing on new boats are Ned Collier Wakerfield and Daniel Gohl (UK / NCW racing), Lenjohn and Peter Wan der Wel (South Africa and Deutschland / NCW racing). Anne Liardet will skipper "40 degrees" along with Peter Harding (UK), and David Lefebvre will accompany Florian Gonser (Germany) who is sailing is first Transat.

The youngest crew in the race is English. Daniel Gohl (age 22) and Tom Gall (age 23) on "Concise" are just eager to leave the dock and race against so many experienced sailors.

Jo Royle and Alexia Barrier of "Pindar 40" are the only all-female crew in the 40 Class fleet.

www.jacques-vabre.com

CLIPPER: RACE 3 SALVADOR DA BAHIA - DURBAN
"The wind finally arrived and as the day passed we have come from three knots with a spinnaker to almost 30 and the number three. We came south for the winds and now have so much to do to make it pay. The next three days is our little window of opportunity. May the wind gods be kind to all, just a little kinder to us," said Rob McInally, skipper of Nova Scotia, in his report to the Clipper race office this morning. The Canadian boat posted a 12-hour run of 118 nautical miles, beaten only by Jamaica at 122 nautical miles.

Both Jamaica and Nova Scotia set out their stalls early on in this race, heading south, away from the rest of the fleet, in order to pick up the strong winds at the bottom of the south Atlantic high pressure system.

Race Director Joff Bailey says, "Both Nova Scotia and Jamaica, and to a certain extent westernaustralia2011.com, have a lot of miles to make up over the next few days as their speeds start to increase. The wind strength will keep building during today and will peak at between 40 and 45 knots and the current northerly direction will slowly back to the north northwest, giving these boats a better sailing angle.

One of the problems they will find is that the weather system associated with these winds is travelling at about 40 knots. Although the modern hull design of the Clipper 68s can achieve surfing speeds of nearly 30 knots, the average speed in these wind conditions will be between 10 and 12 knots and this means the weather system will rapidly overtake the fleet in a couple of days. Those boats that have gone south early have to make up the difference in the next few days or the tactic will not pay off."

Current standings for this leg:

1. Qingdao, 2711 nm to finish
2. New York, 2784
3. Glasgow:Scotland with style, 2893
4. Hull & Humber, 2919
5. Durban 2010 and Beyond, 2927
6. Uniquely Singapore, 2937
7. Liverpool 08, 2940
8. westernaustralia2011.com, 3035
9. Jamaica, 3149
10. Nova Scotia, 3173

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

IAN SOUTHWORTH AND TEAM ON "HEDGEHOG" WITH ULLMAN SAILS
Congratulations to Ian Southworth and his J/24 team on "Hedgehog" for being awarded the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's prestigious "Most Meretricious Member" prize. This occasionally presented trophy has previously been awarded to Stuart Childerley for winning the Etchells World Championship and to Olympic Gold Medalist Shirley Robertson. The committee recognized Hedgehog's unprecedented third consecutive J/24 European Championship victory, all with a full inventory of Ullman Sails. Ian's crew included Andy McLelland, Chris McLaughlin, Mark Hyman, Richard Cooke, Nigel Smith and Mike Kyte.

For your championship sail inventory, contact the nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

HUGO BOSS COMPLETES BARCELONA WORLD RACE QUALIFYING SAIL
At 12:20 (local time) today, British solo sailor Alex Thomson and his co-skipper Andrew Cape, sailed into Moll de la Fusta, Barcelona, completing their 2,100 mile qualifier for the Barcelona World Race. With ten days to go until the start of the race on 11 November, HUGO BOSS was the final boat to arrive in the race village. It has taken a little over seven days for Thomson and Cape to complete their delivery from Gosport, UK, and they will now make final preparations for the 25,000 nautical mile race around-the-world.

Having left last Wednesday evening, Alex and Capey have taken this opportunity to sail under race conditions. They have even started to get themselves used to the freeze dried food that they will be living on for the next three months. Their route aboard the new HUGO BOSS has been non-stop and has seen them sail from Gosport to Ushant, then in a straight line to Finisterre, before sailing due south down the coast of Portugal. HUGO BOSS then turned east through the Gibraltar Straights, before following the coast of Spain all the way to Barcelona.

www.barcelonaworldrace.com

THE LONG DIRT NAP
After 7 years, the RORC has decided that the IRM rating rule will be withdrawn with effect from 31st December 2007.

Although in the past the IRM fleet has seen some highly competitive racing, it has been used by a steadily decreasing number of boats. In 2007, 19 IRM certificates were issued, but in recent years there has been no dedicated mixed boat IRM fleet racing. This does not in any way reflect any deficiency in the IRM rule itself; rather it reflects the success of IRC and the proliferation of racing under IRC around the world.

The RORC believes that if there is a demand for an internationally supported high level rating rule, this decision will clear the field for any new initiative that might arise.

For further information, please contact Mike Urwin at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Peter Wykeham-Martin at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SPIDERPLAN IS BORN
A new software from Fiorenzi Marine Group is realised by the Spidertech Developments Team. As a logical development of Spidertech Integrated System a new piece of smart software has been added to the design tools range ST Authorised Designers are equipped with. In this case though the software is out for sale at a real bargain price of 560 Euros and it's the ideal tool for the designers of yachts, sails, masts, for the advanced rigger, for boatyards.

www.spidertechsails.biz/news/archives/2007/10/30/spiderplan/#more-134

GOLDEN GATE YC RESPONDS TO RULE RELEASE
Valencia, Spain: The Golden Gate Yacht Club said today that having always called for the design rule to be fair it hoped the rule posted by Alinghi yesterday would remove concern about the defender having an entrenched unfair advantage.

"The concern has always been about the defender having several months lead-time ahead of challengers to design and build a new boat, without anyone else knowing what the design rules were," Tom Ehman, the club's spokesman, said.

"Alinghi agreed that they would significantly change the original rule to address this problem. We hope this will be reflected in what was published yesterday.

"This will be easy to determine once we compare yesterday's document with what they started out with and we continue to ask Alinghi to provide this."

"When our designers can verify that we are all starting from the same point we hope to see all other issues resolved quickly as agreed recently with the challengers."

The American team has told challengers it is ready to agree to wide-ranging new compromise proposals on remaining protocol issues as covered in meetings last week once it can confirm for itself that the design rule developed by Alinghi is fair for all competitors. -- Jane Eagleson

www.ggyc.com

OLYMPIC EVENTS AND EQUIPMENT
Part 4 of a series of articles (very briefly excerpted here-- Ed.) looking at the Events and Equipment that will be contesting the Olympic Sailing Regatta in China next year. On 9th November, just a few days from now, the International Sailing Federation will vote on which 10 Events will constitute the Olympic Regatta in Weymouth 2012. An interesting task, considering that there are currently 11 Categories, so ONE MUST GO.

Below is a table of the Men's and Women's Classes, where I've shown the average (mean) weight for the top 10 in each fleet, plus the full range of weights in the top 10:

Men's and Open Olympic Classes (Top 10 in Cascais)

Laser - Average Weight: 81kg. Weight Range: 78 - 84kg
Finn - Average Weight: 100kg. Weight Range: 94 - 110kg
RS-X - Average Weight: 73kg. Weight Range: 68 - 79kg
49er Helm - Average Weight: 71kg. Weight Range: 68 - 77kg
49er Crew - Average Weight: 77kg. Weight Range: 72 - 80kg
470 Helm - Average Weight: 65kg. Weight Range: 60 - 67kg
470 Crew - Average Weight: 71kg. Weight Range: 65 - 75kg
Tornado Helm - Average Weight: 73kg. Weight Range: 69 - 79kg
Tornado Crew - Average Weight: 76kg. Weight Range: 71 - 79kg
Star Helm - Average Weight: 94kg. Weight Range: 80 - 110kg
Star Crew - Average Weight: 102kg. Weight Range: 90 - 115kg

Women's Olympic Classes (Top 10 in Cascais)

Laser Radial - Average Weight: 66kg. Weight Range: 58 - 70kg
RS-X - Average Weight: 57kg. Weight Range: 52 - 62kg
470 Helm - Average Weight: 57kg. Weight Range: 49 - 65kg
470 Crew - Average Weight: 67kg. Weight Range: 61 - 70kg
Yngling Helm - Average Weight: 67kg. Weight Range: 60 - 79kg
Yngling Middle - Average Weight: 67kg. Weight Range: 55 - 74kg
Yngling Crew - Average Weight: 66kg. Weight Range: 60 - 82kg

Some basic observations:

- The more people on the boat, the greater the spread of potential weights. Not exactly rocket science, this observation. But an important one. Where the Yngling has come off badly in other comparisons of recent days, the three-woman keelboat does very well here. The Star does pretty well too, with a wide range of weights catered for at the top end of the range.

- As Darren Bundock pointed out to me, with twin trapezing it doesn't matter so much whether the weight is in the helm or the crew, provided your combined weight matches the fleet trend. This is an advantage the Tornado and the 49er have over the 470, for example.

- Not surprisingly, the singlehanders provide the least weight variation. Interesting to note that the Laser, which based on my Bums On Seats analysis is far and away the most popular Olympic class, is also the one that covers the smallest weight distribution. Perhaps this speaks of the high level of competition in the fleet, but perhaps it also speaks of the limitations of a strict one-design class, where you have to mould your body around the boat. In a Finn, on the other hand, with the possibility of varying your mast stiffness and sail shape, you have the potential to match the power of the boat to your crew weight.

This is your opportunity to have your say, by taking part in the SailJuiceBlog.com Olympic Classes 2012 Survey: sailjuiceblog.com/olympic-survey/

THE LOWEST DRAG OF ALL SAILBOAT PROPELLERS
Gori propeller is the chosen brand of propeller for high performance multi hulls and grand prix yachts, including GROUPAMA III, which broke the record crossing the Atlantic in less than 4 days, with an average speed of 28.1 knots.

Gori propeller when folded does not auto rotate, and has the lowest drag of all sailboat propellers. Find out more at www.gori-propeller.com

SKANDIA HEADS RECORD FLEET FOR MELBOURNE TO STANLEY RACE
The super maxi Skandia, one of four major contenders for line honours in this year's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, will return to offshore racing in this weekend's race across Bass Strait from Melbourne to Stanley on the north-west tip of Tasmania.

Skandia, the Don Jones designed 30m yacht owned by Grant Wharington from Mornington Yacht Club, heads the best and biggest fleet ever entered for the 152 nautical mile race.

The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria expects most of 45 boats in the Stanley Race to start in what is a qualifying offshore event for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and also the Heemskirk Melbourne to Hobart Race.

This weekend's Melbourne to Stanley race will start at 0130 hours on Saturday morning to ensure slack water at The Rip and also, hopefully, a daylight finish at Stanley, the historic seaport on the north-western tip of Tasmania which is staging the Stanley Dockside Festival to mark the race.

"With the 100-footer Skandia in the fleet we are looking for a possible record passage – the record stands at 14 hours 36 minutes set in 2002 by Kontrol," Livingston added.

The Stanley race will also see the offshore debut of prominent Yacht Club of Victoria member Bruce Taylor's latest Chutzpah, a Hart 40 that has already been described as a "rocket ship."

Also new to the Victorian offshore fleet is Georgia, a Farr 53 which ocean racing veterans John Williams and Graeme Ainley have bought to replace their equally veteran yacht Bacardi, now owned by Martin Power, also from Sandringham Yacht Club.

The former Sydney Hobart Race winner Cuckoos Nest which more recently has been racing in Hobart as Interum will be sailing her first offshore under the name of Bombora. New owner of the Lyons 40 is Greg Tobin from the RYCV.

There is also one Tasmanian boat in the fleet, Tamar Yacht Club member David Stephenson sailing his Frers 38 Matangi across Bass Strait to compete in the Stanley race as a qualifier for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Following the success of the TP52 Wot Yot and Ragamuffin in recent CYCA racing out of Sydney, interest will centre on the performance of Alan Whiteley's TP52 Cougar II from Sandringham Yacht Club in the Stanley Race.

Another to watch will be Rob Hanna's Rogers 46 Shogun from Royal Geelong Yacht Club, which has already shown good form in ocean races up the East Coast. She has also entered for the Sydney Hobart, as have others in the Stanley Race, including Rush, John Paterson's Farr 45 from Royal Brighton Yacht Club, Ocean Skins, Tony Fowler's Inglis 47 from RGYC and Goldfinger, Kate Mitchell and Peter Blake's Farr 52.

Sailing her 26th season of ocean racing will be Robin Hewitt's Lexcen 50 Yoko from the RYCV, also sailing south in December in the Heemskirk Melbourne to Hobart Race. -- Peter Campbell

NEXT BERMUDA OCEAN RACE
The Eastport Yacht Club and the St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club have announced the 16th Biennial Bermuda Ocean Race (BOR) from Annapolis, Maryland to St. George's Bermuda, Friday, June 13, 2008.

The first Bermuda Ocean Race was established in 1979 with seven yachts that competed informally. The organizers determined there was sufficient interest for this type of race and it became an accepted biennial event starting in 1980. Since then the fleet has grown and now attracts both racing and cruising boats. The fleet is limited to 50 entries. This allows the committee and host clubs to be responsive to the needs of each entrant--a major objective of the race organizers.

The race has been structured to provide a combination of inshore and offshore racing previously not available. Divisions are established to insure fair matching for both cruising and racing boats. A major objective is to enhance the art of navigation for more sailors. This includes piloting through the 125 miles of Chesapeake Bay coastal waters and navigation of the 628 mile offshore leg. The BOR provides these challenges within a framework designed for safe offshore sailing. It enables many sailors to fulfil a lifelong ambition: a blue water passage to an island of coral with white sandy beaches and hospitable people. -- Sail-world.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=38760

This website (mentioned in press release cited by Sail-World.com) was not functioning at press time: www.newportoceanrace.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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 Ann Jordal, re: Ondine V: Looking for info on this boat. Huey Long was the first owner. Designed by Jerome Milgram. Know it was sold to France. Boat has been modified and is now in Norway.

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

* From Gordon Davies: Your anonymous correspondent from the Rule69 blog community seems to believe that the Finn and the Star are for fat people. I suggest that he tests his theory that a sportsman over 85kg or so must be fat by testing the reaction (preferably face to face) of the 600 players who participated at the recent Rugby World Cup. Not one of these athletes (not even the average scrum half) would have their place in the sailing events at the Olympics if the heavyweight classes were removed. He might also wish to interview the current President of the IOC (once an international rugby player and Finn sailor). The Olympic event must offer completion for the widest possible range of athletes, not just the lightweights.

* From Rohan Veal: Some crazy nut in Dubai thought it might be a good idea to make made sand islands off shore to resemble a map of the world and then sell each of the countries off to those that had enough money to buy a country.

And so of course the yachties here have an 'around the world' sailing record, or known locally as the 'Jo Verne Trophy' (named after the guy invented it), not to be confused with the 'Jules Verne Trophy' which is the award offered to the fastest lap of the planet (not the world).

As of yesterday the record was held by a VX40 catamaran at 1 hr 42 mins, but today I set a new record at 1 hr 29 mins and 37 seconds.

Check out my web site for more details... www.rohanveal.com

FEATURED BROKERAGE
1990 X-Yacht, 67,313 Euros. Lying Palermo, Italy.

This well maintained boat is still fast and competitive in IMS regattas..

Brokerage through YachtsAndCruisers.com: www.yachtsandcruisers.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at www.yachtsandcruisers.com/boat/X_Yachts/20752/

THE LAST WORD
Necessity is the mother of invention" is a silly proverb. "Necessity is the mother of futile dodges" is much closer to the truth. The basis of growth of modern invention is science, and science is almost wholly the outgrowth of pleasurable intellectual curiosity. -- Alfred North Whitehead

PS : Watch for the first Weekend Edition of Scuttlebutt Europe this Saturday...in HTML and Text.

OC Events, www.ocevents.org , organisers of two major IMOCA 60 oceanic events, the new double-handed Barcelona World Race 2007, and the original solo transocean race, The Artemis Transat 2008 (ex-OSTAR) plus the Extreme 40 Sailing Series for The iShares Cup.

www.YachtsandCruisers.com the new place to buy and sell prestige boats, the website has been designed to showcase high-end boats. People looking to buy prestige boats will be able to easily navigate their way around the site quickly. The portfolio of thousands of boats can be viewed by category, make, location and price. Alternatively the 'Advanced Search' facility will benefit those buyers who have a specific boat in mind.

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