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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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Completing the Circle
Photo from a video by Paprec-Virbac, courtesy the Barcelona Race.
Home is in sight this Sunday for the leading crew of the Barcelona World Race as Paprec-Virbac 2 prepares for what could be their last night at sea. The finishing line is less than 300 miles away, weather conditions are moderating, and their closest opposition is still in the Atlantic Ocean, 304 miles behind.
"I can't wait to drink something sparkling in Barcelona," said skipper Jean-Pierre Dick on Sunday. "We're about to tack, and depending on how the wind shifts, this could be the last one!"
It's been a difficult few days for the race leader. Jean-Pierre and co-skipper Damian Foxall have seen their lead diminish dramatically earlier in the week. More worrisome has been the weather - the approach to Gibraltar was in true boat-breaking conditions with 40 knots headwinds, and steep choppy seas. And of course there is heavy commercial shipping traffic in the area. To add the final insult, the pair is running out of food, making do with the dregs of their three-month supply. It hasn't been a pleasant week.
"We! have 38 to 42 knots of wind, a cargo ship 300 metres away and big waves. The boat is really slamming. It's quite dangerous," was the brief description of conditions on Friday from a noticeably tense Jean-Pierre.
Behind the leading boat, Hugo Boss is now facing the same horrible conditions on the approach to Gibraltar. Winds are in excess of 35 knots and the wave conditions are truly heinous.
Hugo Boss should cross into the Mediterranean near midnight tonight. The team has gained nearly 250 miles again this week, but it appears as if it will be a case of too little, too late, in terms of catching up to Paprec-Virbac 2.
ETA update
Paprec-Virbac 2 is expected to finish early in the evening Monday, with Hugo Boss due at Gibraltar at midnight tonight and in Barcelona on Wednesday. Temenos II is forecast to reach Gibraltar late on the 14th.
Day 92 - February 10, 14:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader
1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 289 To Finish
2. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson / Andrew Cape - 304
3. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret- 1152
4. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 1390
5. Educacion Sin Fronteras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 2678
barcelonaworldrace.org
Laser Worlds - Slingsby Takes The Lead
Photo at right by Andrea Francolini
World champion Tom Slingsby grabbed a marginal lead at the Laser World Championship, revelling on his home waters off Terrigal on the Boral sponsored Day 4 of racing, on the eve of groups being split into Gold, Silver and Bronze for the Finals starting tomorrow.
The 23 year-old Aussie scored a bullet, a fourth and second places today to lead the series on 11 points from yesterday's leader Julio Alsogaray (ARG) just four points behind.
Slingsby is staying consistent, using a fifth place as his race drop, while the Argentinean continues to sail brilliantly, but uncharacteristic eighth and seventh places let him down a bit today. David Weaver (NZL) had another good day with 4-1-4 results to sit nicely in third place overall, six points behind the leader.
In Slingsby's Yellow group today were major adversaries Paul Goodison (GBR) World Ranked No.2, and No. 4 Andrew Murdoch (NZL). It was back to a lovely sunny summer day; thankfully the rain and thunderstorms were missing.
Paul Goodison moved up the leaderboard today into sixth place with a pair of third places and a fourth in his tally. In my book, he will be the prime danger to Slingsby, whom he overcame on the final day of the Laser Asia Pacific Championship at Sail Melbourne last month.
The 'player of the day' award goes to Gustavo Lima from Portugal. On the last reach in Race 6, sailing in the Blue group, Lima was on the receiving end of a rocking penalty. "That's it," we all thought, but no, Lima took his 720 degree penalty turn in style, and came back to win the race in the final stages. Brilliant sailing!
The Championship got tough when winds reached 25 knots, and up to 28 in the gusts, on big seas and swells off Terrigal in Australia today, but Race Officials breathed a sigh of relief as they managed to put three races to bed, starting the first group shortly after 9.30am. -- Di Pearson
Top ten:
1. Tom Slingsby, AUS, 11 points
2. Julio Alsogaray, ARG, 15
3. David Weaver, NZL, 17
4. Javier Hernandez, ESP, 18
5. Vasilij Zbogar, SLO, 22
6. Nick Thompson, GBR, 25
7. Andrew Murdoch, NZL, 27
8. Felix Pruvot, FRA, 27
9. Gustavo Lima, POR, 29
10. Michael Bullot, NZL, 31
aus08.laserinternational.org
Completed Holm Class Order for the Danish Navy
The final vessel, MSD6, was handed over to the Danish Navy at Danish Yacht's shipyard in Skagen in Denmark recently. This completes a 6 boat order to the Navy, with MSD6 soon to be working in her role as a support vessel and remote control mine clearance drone.
Per Hesselbaek, Managing Director of Danish Yacht said, "We are delighted to have completed this order for the Danish Navy and have welcomed working with them in a successful partnership to deliver a fleet of 6 Holm Class patrol boats. We look forward very much to working with them again on future projects."
Further information at: www.danishyacht.com/Default.aspx?ID=37
Star Zag Masters
New Zealand's Rod Davis (age 52) and crew Jamie Gale won Miami's Star ZAG Masters. Rod is an Olympic medalist and Jamie won the Star North Americans in 2000; both are America's Cup veterans. Although the minimum skipper age was 50, Coral Reef Yacht Club's Star ZAG Masters still had 38 boats competing with skippers from nine nations. All came with great credentials. In second place, was Miamian and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Augie Diaz (age 53) sailing with Phil Trinter. Steven Kelly from the Bahamas took third with Bill Holowesko as crew. Germany's Thomas Muller was the top Grand Master (60 or older). His crew was Marc Pickel. Six skippers were 70 years or older led by Harry Walker at 87 and 92 year old Emil Karlovsky. Harry and crew Mark Reynolds thrilled the spectator fleet when they finished 11th in Race 2. Harry won the top Exalted Grand Master award and finished 18th overall. There were six teams were made up of father and son and this competition was won by John Dane III and his son John F. Dane.
This regatta is another lead up to the Star Worlds coming to Miami in April. Many of the Star World competitors who are already in Miami were either skippering, serving as crew or loaning their boats to the competitors for the ZAG Masters. The regatta was named after Frank Zagarino, one of Coral Reef's most successful Star sailors.
For final results, see www.coralreefyachtclub.org
Proceeds will benefit the Zagarino Memorial Fund which supports youth sailing.
Tout Schuss!
The weather conditions and above all the sea state have become sufficiently manageable again for Groupama 3 to lengthen its stride downwind whilst remaining along 42 degrres South. At an average of over thirty knots over the past few hours, her lead over the reference time has increased considerably...
Five knots better than Orange II over the past few hours, Groupama 3 is racing at full tilt again to the North of the Kerguelen Island, since the wind has shifted to the NW and filled in to over 25 knots... On port tack, the giant trimaran has been making headway since midday at over thirty knots on an E'ly heading, which will enable her to maintain a quick pace with temperatures still mild.
The forecasts for the next few days are rather encouraging since Franck Cammas and his nine crew will once again be able to reconcile a more 'normal' life aboard with regular speeds in excess of thirty knots... This should be enough to enable them to quickly regain over a day's room for manoeuvre on the record, like that Groupama 3 acquired prior to the Cape of Good Hope. The only glitch in this more attractive setting: the presence of two cyclones, between Madagascar and Australia, which may change course at any moment and plunge southwards!
Sylvain Mondon (Meteo France), the onshore weather expert for Groupama 3, shares his views with us as regards this situation: "For the next few days, the waves will slow the boat down less. It is on port tack that Franck Cammas and his crew are continuing their course towards a steady N to NW'ly air flow generated by the disturbance, which is preceding them (low situated 400 miles to the East on Sunday morning). It is only midway between the Kerguelen Islands and Cape Leeuwin that Groupama 3 will catch up with this air flow, synonymous with faster progress and even less penalising waves. However, we'll have to watch what happens in the tropical Indian Ocean as the cyclones (IVAN and HONDO) have been developing there for several days. At any moment, these systems may take a southern trajectory and combine with the disturbed air flow, which the maxi trimaran is currently sailing in. In this type of scenario, vigilance is imperative since the gusts which accompany such systems exceed 100 knots! Fortunately for us, the forecasts don't seem to be panning out this way for the time being..." -- Translation by Kate Jennings
www.cammas-groupama.com
Naval Architect and 3D Catia Modeller Required
We need a senior NA and also a 3D modeller for an expanding yacht design office in the UK working on a diverse range of yachts up to 150m, both sail and power.
The successful applicant to have a minimum 7 years full time continuous experience (3 year min for CATIA modeller) and the relevant qualifications and experience in a Superyacht/Ship design office.
Please send detailed CV, photo, etc to:
Tony Castro
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www.tonycastroyachts.com
Has the 50 Knot Speed Barrier Been Broken or Not?
Top photo from Heinig's YouTube.com video, the lower photo from rekordtv.wordpress.com
Controversy reigns in the speed sailing world over unofficial claims are made by German kitesurfer.
Battle is raging in the speedsailing community at present over 46 year old German kitesurfer Tilmann Heinig's claims of having broken the coveted 50 knot speed barrier. On 26 January in Westerhever, Germany, sailing in flat water so shallow that it would barely cover your ankles, Heinig's GPS logged him as having covered 500m at an average speed of 50.9 knots in 46 knots of wind. Shortly after Heinig's run, video of him sailing at speed was published on YouTube (click here to see this - although we understand this was not of the actual run) while the story of his having broken the 50 knot barrier appeared in leading German newspapers Der Spiegel and Das Welt.
Heinig's clams are controversial for two reasons. For decades now, the legitimacy of speed records has been arbitrated by the ISAF-recognised World Sailing Speed Record Council. No ISAF/WSSRC 'commissioner' was on hand to monitor Heinig's attempt. No course was defined (as required by WSSRC rules) between posts or transits ashore or by WSSRC-approved GPS survey equipment. In fact no attempt is likely to be made to apply to the WSSRC for this to become a new official world record... -- from The Daily Sail: www.thedailysail.com
This from sbckiteboard.com:
Tilmann Heinig put in an incredible performance on January 26th with an average of 50.9 -knots over 500-meter distance. The world record breaking speed was recorded on his GPS unit.
Heinig was in almost perfect conditions at Westerhever, Germany with winds between 35 and 45 knots. He also recorded a maximum speed of 55.2 knots (102 km/h)!
It's a new GPS record and is recognized by gps-kitesurfing.com.
This record sets the stage for kiteboarders to smash windsurfing's hold on the outright world speed record, as sanctioned by The World Sailing Speed Record Council. Naish Windsurfing team member Finian Maynard holds the current outright sailing speed record of 48.7 knots over a timed 500-meter course. The record was set at "Le Canal" near Saintes Maries de la Mer in 2005.
The current official 500-meter kite speed record, 47.92 knots, was set by Alexandre Caizergues at Luderitz, Namibia in October, 2007.
And from Cautionkites.com:
Caution Team rider Tilmann Heinig of Kiel Germany, takes home four new world records with his stock 9M Caution and prototype boards. The new world records were made at Tilmann's home spot in Westerhever, Germany with an average wind speed of 36 knots with gusts to 45 knots. With a max speed of 55.2 knots, and sustained 50 knot speed over a 500 meter run, Tilmann continues to be the fastest man in kiting. Check out Tilmann's video and GPS data at
www.cautionkites.com/web/news_tilmann.html
100m - 54.3knots
250m - 53.2knots
500m - 50.9knots
Course angle: 145 degrees
www.cautionkites.com/web/news.html
Those internet postings and published articles in the German print media have prompted this letter from Markus Schwendtner on behalf of the International Speed Windsurfing Class and the GPS-Speedsurfing Community to the WSSRC and ISAF (again, source here is TheDailySail.com):
"As ISAF International Class Association and in full support towards the WSSRC we feel the basic necessity to inform you about the following incident and kindly ask you to take further action.
"Let me first state, that this is a joined initiative of the International Speed Windsurfing Class (ISWC) and the GPS-Speedsurfing Community (GPSSS), together representing more than 1500 speed sailors all around the world.
"The facts:
"End of January, 2008, Tilmann Heinig from Germany set a speed of more than 50 knots over 500m (linear) and close to 50 knots (projected). This speed was measured with a handheld GPS, which at the moment does not meet the WSSRC criteria for time measurement systems. There was no WSSRC Observer present, nor a notary. The GPS data was downloaded to a computer and published without any trustworthy witnesses. The current was not measured.
"He then published articles in Der Spiegel and Die Welt, Germanys biggest newspaper and magazine. He also published videos of 'The world record run' on several internet platforms like YouTube. Publications in big newspapers of other countries are not known to us at the moment, but most likely. In all those publications he clearly claimed the speed sailing world record to be broken by him.
"This incident obviously challenges the ISAF and WSSRC very basically, questioning their right to exist, and directly attacks the current WSSRC world record holders, compromising their efforts to gain a ISAF/WSSRC recognized world record. It also directly affects their financial status and efforts.
"We feel, that the ISAF/WSSRC must take immediate, strong action. If no action is taken, we are sure that we will be flooded with dubious record claims and seeing them published in the medias worldwide, making the WSSRC obsolete in no time.
"We suggest strong action, clarifying the rights and responsibilities of ISAF/WSSRC for all time.
The YouTube video of Tillman's run is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2gSQXy4-Mw
More videos and pics at rekordtv.wordpress.com
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 Alastair Skinner: "I see another idea just published to solve the America's Cup's woes.
This time it is by Malin Burnham of San Diego.
No one can doubt his AC experience but come on Malin, what gives you OR ANYONE the right to challenge a deceased's Deed of Gift because that is what people are trying to do.
So many people here seem to have forgotten that the America's Cup is a sporting event for a trophy under RULES set out, in this case, under a DEED of GIFT.
If you don't like the rules, in this case George Schuyler's rules - go and pay a different game or get yourself of to Garrards of London and have anew 100 Guinea Cup crafted.
Call it the Alinghi Saucer or Bertie's Bucket but leave the America's Cup as it is.
IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT
The whole reason that the America's Cup has been so successful and so compelling over the years is for the one simple fact and that is its rules. It is a challenge trophy between legitimate qualifying yacht clubs.
It is only because someone wanted to break those rules and someone with the financial muscle stood again that person that we are in the position we are in now.
Mr Bertarlli and/or his interested parties have shown very little respect for the America's Cup Deed of Gift since as early as 2005, especially where concerning due diligence over the acceptance of challengers, and at least one of those has never run a single race –to this day!
I doesn't matter whether you like Larry Ellison or not, and personally I have ever met the man, all he has done is stop the rot of certain people attempting to bend the America's Cup Rules to suit themselves.
Some have said the America's Cup is broken, personally I don't think so – yet. But if it does ever truly break then the blame can be laid at only one door, the door of those who started to bend it in the first place.
* From Robert Wilkes, Secretary, International Optimist Dinghy Association:
May I support with some FACTS the view of Jerome Pels that fair racing is possible in Qingdao.
In 2001 the International Optimist Class held its Worlds in the city. Winds were indeed very light and even multiple Olympic RO Michel Barbier could only complete 7 of the 15 race schedule.
However of the top 20 in the 208 boat/44 nation fleet:
Four had placed in the top 20 the year before in Spain
Seven placed in the top 20 the year after in Texas
Three later won medals in the ISAF Youth (Under-19) Worlds.
The gold medallist was the silver medallist of the year before and later won a medal at the ISAF Youth Worlds.
These are not the sort of results you get from a lottery.
* From John Rousmaniere: Your fine words about the 1988 edition of The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea are spot-on, but be aware that a much revised and updated third edition was published in 2005. Edited by I. C. B. Dear -- Ian Dear to yachting historians -- and Peter Kemp, it has many, many pages of new and revised material on oceanography, other marine sciences, maritime history, racing rules, maritime literature, and numerous other topics by 19 contributors. While no substitute for the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, the Companion is a cornerstone in any serious onboard or household nautical library. (This is the edition you'll find in new-book listings. The outdated 1988 second edition will pop up in stores and Web sites that specialize in used books, like abebooks.com.)
The Last Word
It is the little bits of things that fret and worry us; we can dodge an elephant, but we can't dodge a fly. -- Josh Billings
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