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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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Grael and Jordao Win the Day and Lead the Bacardi Cup
Photo at right from the Bacardi Cup website... and one of the coolest photo galleries your humble narrator has seen in a long, long time...
It was another beautiful day on Biscayne Bay. The sea breeze that greeted sailors in the morning while they were launching their boats held while the 81st Annual Bacardi Cup race committee attempted to get a start off at noon. Once, twice, three times you're out and unlike yesterday, everyone heeded the black flag and got off cleanly on the third attempt to start the race.
Predictions were for the wind to veer right throughout the day, but the group that favored the right and protected the middle left found themselves looking pretty as a right shift came through. Mark Reynolds and Jamie Gale (USA) and Henry Filter and Will Wagner (USA) rounded 1, 2 ahead of Luca Modena and Sergio Lambertenghi (ITA).
Positions continued to shift throughout the next two legs as the breeze hovered between 6 and ten knots and Modena/Lambertenghi were able to hold the lead around the final leeward gate. The team that had a slow and steady climb through the fleet, Lars Grael and Marcelo Jordao (BRA) moved from sixth place at the bottom of the final beat to first place by keeping an eye on local legend, Augie Diaz and Phil Trinter (USA) who favored the mid-left during the final beat. The Brazilians won the race with Modena/Lambertenghi finishing second and the best Latin dancer (Diaz) in the fleet and Trinter right behind. Italians Barovier/Colaninno, and Bruni/Nobili finished fourth and fifth, respectively. O'Connell/Cooke held on to sixth.
Grael/Jordao, who just finished second in the Brazilian Olympic Trials are sitting in the lead with eight points. Diaz/Trinter are in second and O'Connell/Cooke are in third for the regatta. -- Lynn Fitzpatrick
Top ten, two races:
1. Grael/Jordao 7,1
2. Diaz/Trinter 9, 3
3. O'Connell/Cooke 9, 3
4. Scheidt/Prada 4, 12
5. Percy/Simpson 3, 14
6. Kusnierewicz/Zycki 11, 8
7. Modena/ Lambertenghi 18, 2
8. Adler/ Seifert 2/ 19
9. Domingos/Santos 12, 9
10. Negri/Viale 16, 7
www.bacardicup.com
Dubai RC 44 Cup
Dubai, UAE: The day couldn't have started better for the local team Sea Dubai, representing the organising club Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC). Sea Dubai dominated its match against Team Ceeref - with James Spithill at the helm - to take a first victory that was going to be followed by two more and result in victory in the first round robin.
A former Flying Dutchman and Dragon sailor (amongst others), Marcus Wiser, the team's helmsman, was obviously satisfied with his debuts in the RC 44 Class. "We were helped by the light winds", he explains modestly. "But we are obviously very happy. A lot of credit goes to our tactician Michael Hestbek, who was strategist on board the German entry during the last America's Cup."
The light (6 to 8 kts of wind) but fairly stable conditions allowed for fifteen matches to be sailed today, under a nice sunshine and on flat water. Most races were very close, and the overall results confirm that the teams are becoming closer from each other by the day.
Four teams share the lead with three victories out of five matches each. Team Hiroshi - Citta di Milano, with Sebastien Col at the helm, sailed up to the expectations after their very good 2007 end-season, with victories over Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton), Team ES Bankers (Russell Coutts) and Cro-A-Sail (Morten Henrikson).
The level has definitely gone up a step and tomorrow's second round robin will certainly be interesting.
The Dubai RC 44 Cup is the first event of the 2008 RC 44 Championship Tour. The weather forecast for tomorrow is good, with moderate winds and sunshine. The weather should deteriorate by Wednesday, with westerly winds of up to 25 kts expected. The match racing event will be concluded tomorrow Tuesday; it will be followed by three days of fleet racing, with the owners back at the helm. -- Bernard Schopfer, MaxComm Communication ( www.maxcomm.ch )
Match-racing, round robin 1
Ranking, number of victories/losses, points
1. Team Sea Dubay, (3/2) 5 points
2. Team Ceeref (3/2) 5 points
3. Team Hiroshi (3/2) 5 points
4. Team ES Bankers Dubai (3/2) 5 points
5. Team Aqua (1 -incl 1 penalty /3) 1 point
6. Cro-A-Sail (1/4) 1 point
www.rc44.com
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Hanseatic Lloyd Dragon Grand Prix
The Hanseatic Lloyd Dragon Grand Prix will take place for the third time from 5th till 8th July in Strande off Kiel Bay. The International Dragon Association IDA evaluated the regatta as a "Grade 1-Event".
65 teams from all over Europe are expected at the beginning of July in Strande. The notice of race has now been published, the deadline for registrations is at 9th June.
As in previous years, the social highlight will be the Childhood Golf & Race for the benefit of the World Childhood Foundation founded by H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden. The golf tournament and the regatta will take place at two days this year: The club will be swung for the good cause at Saturday, 5th July 2008, from 11 o'clock at the golf course of the Gut Uhlenhorst near Dänischenhagen. The charity regatta at Kiel Bay off Strande will be sailed at Sunday, 6th July 2008, from 14 o'clock.
As patroness of the charity event H.M. Queen Silvia is expected to come in person again. She will visit the golfers at Saturday afternoon, at the evening she will be guest of honour at the glamorous Childhood Evening with all sailors and guests in the City Hall Kiel and at Sunday she will give the start signal for the Childhood Race.
Further information about the Hanseatic Lloyd Dragon Grand Prix can be found on www.hll-dragon.org and about the World Childhood Foundation on www.childhood.org
The Big 5-0
Photo by A. Pilpre / Sea&CO
Alain Thebault and l'Hydroptere team now have set their sights on the highest step of the podium, the ultimate prize, becoming the fastest speed vessel on the planet.
First of all, there were the speed prototypes such as the Crossbow 1 and 2 that reigned over the Weymouth speed competition in the 1970s.
Windsurfers then joined in this quest in 1986, with Pascal Maka, who established the new record of 38.86 knots. It wasn't until the appearance of the Australian speed prototype, Yellow Pages, in 1993, that the windsurfers were dethroned by a run at 46.52 knots.
This record made history and was not beaten until 2004 by the windsurfer, Finian Maynard, on the Canal des Saintes Maries de la Mer, a canal especially constructed for this race.
In 2005, Finian managed to take this record to the present level, 48.7 knots.
Thanks to these rules and the follow-up of the WSSRC, the speed record is today a trial of great maturity, which allows contenders from different worlds to meet, united by the same passion. We find the greatest international windsurfers trying to surpass themselves and beat their own records, kitesurfers, whose incredible progress in the last few years has shown their promise in attaining the absolute record. The speed vessels, with Macquarie Innovation, the worthy successor of the Yellow Pages, and the Sailrocket team, are notable contenders.
Finally, there is l'Hydroptere, our flying prototype, whose target speed was 30 knots only in 1994.
L'Hydroptere is the only sailing craft capable of sailing offshore in rough seas and on runs at more than 45 knots during pure speed trials.
To reach this ultimate objective, l'Hydroptere is now totally designed for pure speed, leaving the open sea navigation this year. -- From Sail-world.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=42314
More info at www.speedworldcup.com and www.hydroptere.com
* The Canal has laid dormant for eight weeks since the last session whilst we still search for the big day to try and break the official WSSRC 50-knot barrier.
However, it looks very positive that the wind gods might help our cause as a strong Mistral wind is forecasted for the middle of the week. The diagram below shows a great direction of true North and the Mistral always comes much stronger in the wind cycles than what
the picture indicates.
Potentially, we could get 35 to 55-knots of wind.
Stay tuned but if the forecast holds we might get a very good day of speedsailing. -- www.mastersofspeed.com
Assistant Commercial Manager
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The successful applicant will possess excellent communication and IT skills (particularly working with complex spreadsheets) and needs to be able to deal with suppliers and sub-contractors in a confident and commercial manner. Attention to detail and pride in your work, together with a willingness to learn are essential.
Sailing experience and a knowledge of yachts and their systems is advantageous but not essential.
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Quebramar to Sponsor 2008 GP42 Class Season
Milan, Italy: The International GP42 Class is pleased to announce that Quebramar, the Portugal-based clothing brand, has agreed to sponsor the class' 2008 international racing circuit of events, to be known collectively as the Quebramar GP42 Cup - 2008. This season championship series, the second for this new and exciting development class, will include six events to be held in Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal from May through October.
Team Desafio Espanol will be campaigned this year with members of the same named America's Cup team sailing on this Botin & Carkeek design built at King Marine.
The first event on the Quebramar GP42 Cup tour will be the YC Italiano's Trofeo Pirelli in Santa Margherita over 1-4 May. While details of the scoring for the season championship will be published soon in the Notice of Series, a maximum of nine races from each event will count towards the series, and the overall winner will be awarded a perpetual Trophy to named the Quebramar GP42 Cup.
"We expect ten to twelve teams to enter each event in this series," says Paolo Massarini, GP42 Class Manager, "and we're excited that added to our fleet are three brand-new designs and one boat from 2007 that did not join in last year. This promises to be a very exciting season!"
For more information about the International GP42 Class, its class member teams, and events of the Quebramar GP42 Cup - 2008 season, visit the class website at www.gp42.net
New Transmediterranean Monohull Sailing Record
Sunday evening at 21h44m30s Belgian solo sailor Michel Kleinjans on board his Lutra Open 40 monohull "Roaring Forty" established a new record on the 458NM passage between Marseilles and Tunesia. His new time of 1d21h14m34s is now waiting to be ratified by the WRRSC.
After leaving Marseilles early at 20 minutes after midnight on Saturday morning, the Belgian skipper found a 15 knot strong northwesterly wind that continued to build and slowly veered west as the miles passed, reaching a steady 20 knots by Saturday evening, allowing for a quick spinnaker ride towards the Tunesian coast.
On Sunday morning, whilst sailing under full main and code zero (the spinnaker did not survive a nocturnal wipe-out), the main halyard snapped, forcing the skipper to climb into the mast for a third time in order to secure his mainsail.
After a short pit-stop the Belgian skipper will head back towards Marseilles. His boat will be shipped back to Belgium for some technical improvements and thorough prepping for this season's main goal: the Portimao Global Ocean Race.
This new round the world race for single and doublehanded 40 and 50 foot monohulls will leave Portimao on 12 October. Michel Kleinjans, after winning the 2006 Route du Rhum and the 2007 Middle Sea Race, is not only dreaming about becoming the first Belgian to sail single-handedly around the world, but also about winning it.
www.michelkleinjans.be
Deputy Editor - Practical Boat Owner
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Closing date: 10th March
John Barnitt Joins Alinghi as Sports Director
Ex-America's Cup sailor, John Barnitt, joined Alinghi this week as sports director for the sailing team. The American sailor is familiar with the Swiss team having worked for Alinghi during the 31st America's Cup as starboard grinder.
The 47 year old has enormous depth in the industry, he started his career with Dennis Conner on Stars & Stripes in 1987, sailed the infamous 1988 catamaran vs. monohull match and in 1992 experienced the early days of the new AC Class. After some time out, he joined Alinghi in Auckland for the victorious 2003 America's Cup.
JB's role as Alinghi sports director will include managing the sailors and helping the team prepare for the next event. "On a day to day basis, I'll be planning the daily schedule, establishing priorities, organising the physical training and the staffing for the various boats and projects, while supporting the design team needs and aiding with the current development and performance programme for the sailing team."
www.alinghi.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 Dave Howorth: You report:
'The recently founded International Multihull Council ...' and 'As stated in the Constitution, "The purpose of the Council is to promote catamaran sailing and racing.'
It is certainly true that catamarans are multihulls. But it is not true that all multihulls are catamarans. So there appears to be a discrepancy between the purpose and the name of the new organization.
Why is the organization not called the International Catamaran Council? Or why does it not wish to promote all multihull sailing and racing?
I'd be very interested to see an explanation from this new body.
Editor: Forwarded the above to the IMC's Paul Pascoe who replied that it was small print and should read multihull in all instances...
* From Colm Barrington: As Peter Morton appears to categorise me as a non canting keel advocate in this controversy, I would like to put the record straight. I have never owned a canting keel yacht, but that is because I have been generally an inshore sailor who only in recent years has ventured into boats of 50 feet and over. I would love to have the pleasure of sailing a souped up canting keel yacht and hope that some day I will.
I have no problem racing against canting keel boats. In Cowes Week 2006 we got thumped by ABN Amro One in the first six races - lots of wind, very long courses and ABN Amro being a very well sailed boat. We had to be content with seconds and thirds in our relatively heavy Ker 50 "Magic Glove". For the last two days the wind lightened and we scored two firsts with ABN Amro towards the back of the fleet. But Cowes Week allows two discards from its eight races - why I wonder? - so the "Black Boat" won the week with a clean sheet. Had there been only one discard then the canting keel and heavy airs would have been barely enough to save the pros on ABN Amro One! I also recall that most of the competitors that week were more unhappy with the very, very long courses set by the Cowes Week race management than with ABN Amro's canting keel.
Incidentally, in Cowes Week 2007, we had very light airs for the first two days and my IRC optimised TP52 "Flash Glove" got thumped by Peter Ogden's Swan 601, a heavy boat. It was only as the winds got stronger in the later part of the week that the lighter Flash Glove came into her own and won the class.
By its nature, IRC gives every dog her day - although big dogs seem to have more days than little ones! Some days its mine, some days it's yours. I have confidence that the rating system will, on balance and over time, sort out the advantages created by new innovations. But it cannot ensure a level playing field in every event where a particular set of conditions may favour one concept over another.
I think Cowes Week has been unwise to restrict canting keel yachts. Events like Cowes Week should be sponsoring innovation rather than restricting it.
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The Last Word
There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity. -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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