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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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Thursday Morning Finish
After setting out six weeks ago in the conquest of a record never before coveted by a maxi-multihull of Gitana 13's dimensions, Lionel Lemonchois and his nine crew are experiencing their final hours at sea on this Route de l'Or. However, the weather situation currently reigning off the American coast, is forcing the men of Gitana Team into a series of tacks, upwind, to reach their final destination.
In the guise of a final sprint, the crew of Gitana 13 are weaving their way towards San Francisco. "We are trying to gain the maximum of northing in order to make headway along the course, but the weather conditions are forcing us to tack" explained Dominic Vittet from the chart table of the 33 metre catamaran.
Trapped between two very different weather situations, Lionel Lemonchois and his men have had no option but to zigzag from one to the other: "To our West? There's a zone of high pressure with light winds, whilst to our East a corridor of steadier winds has formed along the coast. The aim over these final 24 hours is going to be to successively play these two phenomena off against each other. The direct course is guiding us northwards, but as soon as the wind eases too much we put in a tack to regain more pressure. Then as soon as the wind fills in again, we make for the edge of the zone of high pressure again... and vice versa" resumed the onboard navigator.
These numerous maneuvres are not hampering the organisation of the watch system aboard Gitana 13 however, the latter a very well oiled machine after over 41 days at sea, as Dominic Vittet confirmed: "We're fully into the rhythm and we are still applying our system of three watches of three crew, which rotate on deck every three hours. Off watch, dedicated to the weather and the optimisation of Gitana 13's trajectory, I nevertheless take part in the 0900 and 2100 hour watch in order to relieve the crew who are permanently on watch."
The maxi-catamaran equipped by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild is still expected into San Francisco on Thursday morning, where it will cross the finish line situated just off the infamous prison of Alcatraz.
www.gitana-team.com
Tornado Worlds
Photo of Phipps and Lynch (GBR) by Richard Gladwell, sail-world.com
Racing is underway on Day 4 of the 2008 Tornado Worlds off Takapuna.
A light 8kt sea breeze prevailed from 015 for the first race of the day.
The breeze settled for the second at around 10kts but much steadier and with reasonable pressure across the course.
Racing got underway almost on time for the second race, which was won by Darren Bundock (AUS) giving him his first win of the regatta. He should go into a points lead given that he now has a discard, and also has two second places on the scorecard.
There was no racing on day three due to very light winds.
On day two, the French team of Yann Guichard and Alexandre Guyander rocketed up the standings to take the lead at the 2008 Tornado World Championship
Top Ten standings after day two (does no reflect the first race of day four)
1. Yann Guichard & Alexandre Guyander, FRA, 17 points
2. Roland Gaebler & Gunnar Struckman, GER, 19
3. Mitch Booth & Pim Nieuwenhuis, NED, 23
4. Oskar Johansson & Kevin Stittle, CAN, 26
5. Francesco Marcolini & Edoardi Bianchi, ITA, 33
6. Fernando Echavarri & Anton Paz, ESP, 34
7. Aaron McIntosh & Mark Kennedy, NZL, 37
8. Darren Bundock & Glenn Ashby, AUS, 41
9. Billy Besson & Arnaud Jarlegan, FRA, 50
10. Xavier Revil & Christophe Espagnon, FRA, 50
www.takapunaworlds.org
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Ernesto Bertarelli Receives Award for the Promotion of Sailing
Bianca Gropallo (right) and Ernesto Bertarelli (left)
Photo by Pierpaolo Carletti / Alinghi)
Rome, Italy: Alinghi team president, Ernesto Bertarelli, was honoured last night at the Audi Sailor of the Year gala for his successes in promoting the sport of sailing through his recent America's Cup victory.
He was presented with the Special Award, dedicated to Paolo Venanzangeli, an Italian America's Cup journalist, who passed away a year ago, by his widow Bianca Gropallo.
"I was born in Rome and started sailing in Civitavecchia with my father, a sailing fan, so I am particularly honoured and very happy to receive this prize here in Italy for what we achieved during the 32nd America's Cup with Alinghi and AC Management. We very much hope to return to the water soon. Thank you again for the award. I'm proud of it," said Ernesto.
The award celebrates Ernesto Bertarelli and Alinghi's achievement in winning a second consecutive America's Cup and the enormous impact that this first event in Europe has had on awareness of the sport. It recognises the scope of the 32nd America's Cup in terms of AC Management that laid on an event, attracting an unprecedented six million visitors, 4,000 million TV viewers and distributing over 60 million Euros of net surplus among participating teams.
Giovanni Soldini and Pietro D'Ali winners of the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre,won the Audi Sailor of the Year Award. -- Daphne Morgan Barnicoat
Six Months in the Shed
Back in France after righting Groupama 3 in the New Zealand port of Dunedin, eight of the crew of the giant trimaran were in Groupama's press centre in Paris today to answer questions from journalists during today's press conference. Extracts from the interviews...
The most important news from this meeting is the confirmation by Groupama's Managerial staff that the adventure is continuing. Indeed, the damage suffered by the giant trimaran is considerable but reparable. Franck Cammas indicated that Groupama 3 was going to be loaded onto a cargo ship around 13th March with an arrival at the technical base in Lorient scheduled a month later.
The skipper also specified that the current assessment still hadn't revealed the reasons behind the breakage of the float between the forward crossbeam and the port foil casing: "We're going to discuss all this with the architects, the yard and the structural engineers. If this amounts to a design fault, then that means we were wrong but sailing remains a mechanical sport... We have a working base, which defines the stresses that the boat should be able to withstand and in the general project strategy, we never wanted to take risks: we didn't put any less carbon in it than for Geronimo! We may have to look at our calculations again but the concept isn't at fault. The way Groupama 3 handled, its sensations at the helm, its performance and its Atlantic records confirm that the project is viable: we want to head back out again next winter with a trimaran, which will handle in the same type of way, but without any doubts in the back of our minds about the reliability of the boat..."
The giant trimaran will therefore go into the yard as soon she returns to France. The engineers and the designers will also look into means of consolidating the trimaran: "It will be necessary to rebuild one entire float and reconstruct the puzzle: a launch at the start of November can be envisaged, followed by a month of fine tuning and validation for the start of stand-by in December for the Jules Verne Trophy" detailed Franck Cammas.
Jan Dekker went directly home to South Africa, whilst Loïc Le Mignon remained in Dunedin (New Zealand) to monitor the loading of the giant trimaran onto the cargo ship with two members of the shore crew from Lorient, Olivier Mainguy and Jean-Marc Normant, who came out to join him,. The eight other crew are already in the process of preparing for new competitions with the Spi Ouest France competition looming for one designs, sports catamarans... -- Translation by Kate Jennings
www.cammas-groupama.com
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ISAF Launches Introductory Rules for Racing
In order to help newcomers to sailboat racing, ISAF have produced a one page set of Introductory Rules for Racing complete with some explanatory diagrams.
The aim of the Introductory Rules for Racing is simple; make as it easy as possible for people to start racing. Consequently the Introductory Rules are as basic as possible, although they remain compatible with the principles and fundamental rules in the full ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS).
Initially the Introductory Rules are experimental and ISAF invites organizations involved in race training to apply to trial the rules and to provide their comments and recommendations on them. It is hoped that the development of these Introductory Rules will progress sufficiently to make them generally available before the end of 2008.
The Introductory Rules are being developed as part of Objective 2 of the ISAF Strategic Plan to encourage new entrants to racing and to ensure the rules are not a barrier to participation. ISAF intend that people of all ages can race using these rules without needing any knowledge of the full RRS.
If your organization would like to trial the Introductory Rules for Racing go to the contact page of the ISAF website at www.sailing.org/contactisaf and click 'Training and Development Enquiries'.
Solo Racing Festival, March 15th, Southampton
Open 60 skipper Sam Davies is the only Brit currently qualified for the Vendee Globe race and she will be speaking at the Solo Racing Festival in Southampton on Saturday March 15th, relating her recent experiences in the Transat Jacques Vabre and the Ecover B to B races and sharing her ambitions for ROXY and the Vendee. Designer Simon Rogers will be reviewing some of the issues of Class40 with reference to his new Rogers 40 boats. Delegates will get a rare view of one of the Rogers forties on display in the marina along side the Owen Clarke designed Express 40 built by Paul Metcalf in Cowes.
Solo racing has exploded in France and Nigel King is taking a break from winter training with the Figaro fleet in Brittany to give an insight into the French professional's approach to racing solo, we may even hear some stories of his recent TJV as co- skipper of Aviva. The best 'Brit' in the last years Mini Transat was Aussie Nicco Brennan! Placed fifth in the huge and enthusiastic 6.50 fleet is an outstanding result, how did he do that?
Survival expert Professor Mike Tipton describes the hazards of cold water immersion with special reference to recent high profile capsize accidents and we will hear first hand from multi-hull racer Ross Hobson about his capsize and rescue in the Route du Rhumb .
Ten presentations are planned in all and the day starts at 12.00 with a Sleep Seminar by Dr. Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh sleep centre and aimed at insomniac solo racers.
The Festival is organised by Racing at Petit Bateau ltd and tickets on line are 38 GBP from Jerry Freeman, contact is
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The venue is the Royal Southampton Yacht Club ,Ocean Village, 11.00 to 19.30 on Saturday 15th March 2008
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South Pacific Cup
Yachting has a new international team challenge trophy - the South Pacific Cup - and it will be launched at this year's 25th Anniversary Edition of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, which will be staged from August 23 to 30.
Initially it will see teams of three yachts from Australia and New Zealand racing for recognition as the top ocean racing nation at the regatta, however interest is already being expressed from other countries, including the USA, England and China (Hong Kong) for future years. It is likely that some of these international owners will charter local yachts instead of shipping their boats to Australia.
The competition has been designed along the lines of other well-known international team events, like the prestigious Admiral's Cup in England and the Kenwood Cup in Hawaii. Ironically, Bob Oatley, whose family company owns Hamilton Island, led the Australian team that won the Admiral's Cup when it was last contested in Cowes, England, in 2003.
Australian Olympic and world championship winning yachtsman, Iain Murray, who is the commodore of Hamilton Island Yacht Club, said the decision to establish the South Pacific Cup came in response to increasing international interest in Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. He said that the design of the trophy will symbolise the prestige associated with the contest.
Iain Murray said that plans for the selection of the Australian team were being formulated. Audi Hamilton Island Race Week's Regatta Director, Denis Thompson, said it was proposed that each team would comprise three yachts drawn from an IRC rating division. Team yachts will accumulate points while racing in their division. -- Rob Mundle
All regatta information will be available shortly on the website: www.hamiltonislandraceweek.com.au
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 Stuart Quarrie, Chief Executive, Cowes Week Limited:
In Ger O'Rourke's recent communication regarding canting keels at Skandia Cowes Week, he raises some interesting issues but overlooks many more.
It is worth mentioning up-front that if there were half a dozen or so owners of boats with canting keels who wanted to come and race at Skandia Cowes Week 2008 then I am sure the sailing committee would look favourably on having a class for them. Please let me know.
However, I would like to set the record straight from the viewpoint of the Cowes Week sailing committee and our decision on canting keels.
1. In 2006 we allowed boats with canting keels to race against the mainstream, fixed keel fleet. Mike Sanderson and his Volvo 70 proved unbeatable. As a direct result of that performance, several fixed keel owners were very unhappy that racing was not level and would not return to the regatta unless canting boats were separated out.
2. As a result, in 2007 (a Fastnet year) we offered large canting keel boats their own class and ended up with only 2 badly matched, super-maxis racing.
3. Given that 2008 is not a Fastnet year, there are no indications from any of the maxi skippers that they might be considering coming to Cowes for 2008; most of those which are in Europe will be in the Mediterranean.
4. Most people who have raced in mixed canting and fixed keel fleets agree that the types of boat are as disparate as monohulls compared to multihulls. Even if rated fairly for average conditions, the two types of boat will never have good racing against each other because their characteristics are so far apart. Thus most people would agree that in the ideal world, there would be separate classes for the two types of boat.
5. Recent history shows us that there are simply not enough canting boats currently around to make even half-decent fleets and that this situation is almost certain to continue at Cowes in 2008.
6. There are safety issues with canting keels and Ger' is obviously right in saying that his boat would be overcanvassed in anything above 10 knots of breeze if its keel was fixed. However, that does not mean that it would (or should) be dangerous sailing in that configuration. If that was the case, then it brings into question the validity and overall safety of his boat offshore when, as we have seen many times in the past, the canting mechanism could easily fail.
7. It is interesting to note that Chieftain has not taken part in Skandia Cowes Week in recent years when she would have been eligible to race with her canting keel and has certainly not made any overtures to us regarding the 2008 event.
Just to re-iterate that if there are half a dozen or so owners of boats with canting keels who want to come and race at Skandia Cowes Week 2008 then please do get in touch.
* From Peter Morton: Stuart, Well said, any business or organisation has to protect the majority of it's customers and those that support it year on year. There can't be anybody left in the World who thinks that you can race a swing keeler against a fixed keeler using a single figure system and get a fair result. It does not work now and never has.
I would make a few other points. If swing keelers are so great why aren't there hundreds of them. It is not as though swing keelers are new, they have been around for years and I was taught that" The market is always right". Are owners like Charles Dunstone, Peter Ogden, and Colm Barrington really so stupid that have not "seen the light".
I believe that Chieftan is on the market and I am told by a reliable source that the replacement will be a 68 ish ft JV boat and the decision on the keel swinging or not is yet to be made.
The decisions made by the Cowes Week Sailing Committee are after careful consideration and as a result of feedback from many competitors. That Committee is made up of people from all aspects of sailing including me. I don't drink "pink gin" and prefer a pint of 6X in the PV, but I have competed in 9 British Admirals Cup Teams, 7 Commodores Cup Teams, more Ton Cups than I care to remember, done 15 Fastnet Races and won it twice, won World Championships and won the Tour Voile. I feel qualified to make a decision not to allow swing keelers to spoil the racing for the majority and that it is the right one. As you say if there are enough of them then it is not an issue anyway.
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