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Tue, 1 Jul 2008 22:43:46 -0700
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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1551 - 2 JULY
Brought to you by Boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and
Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.com ) 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 editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
SWEDE MATTIAS RAHM LEADS AFTER DAY ONE AT MATCH CUP SWEDEN
Marstrand, Sweden: Under sunny skies and a perfect 12-15 knot westerly
breeze, Mattias Rahm and his Stena Bulk Racing Team got the jump on a
highly-competitive 12-team field here in Day One of Match Cup Sweden,
winning all of their first three matches in this fourth stage of the World
Match Racing Tour.
Being based locally, Rahm has had much experience in the DS37's which have
been used here and in other events in Sweden and Denmark for over a decade.
Because of tomorrow's lighter wind forecast, Rahm admitted they "may have
an edge when the conditions change," but that "there are no weak teams at
all, so we will be glad for every point."
And because every point counts, most matches today were quite close, and
some quite contentious. The best example of these would have to be that
between Peter Gilmour (AUS) and his Team PST and last year's Match Cup
Sweden champion Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and his Alandia Sailing Team. In the
pre-start, Hansen deftly used his starboard-entry advantage to keep Gilmour
on the ropes nearly throughout, and when the veteran Australian tried to
wriggle free by gybing at Hansen on port tack, it wasn't quite enough to
keep clear and the penalty went to Gilmour.
But even after this and a slow start off the line, Gilmour and team kept it
close on the first beat, coming to within a metre of taking the lead at the
first windward mark. On the run, Hansen barely managed to fend off
Gilmour's attack towards the bottom mark, and when the Australian gybed
back to the mark, his spinnaker draped over Hansen's stern, earning him yet
another penalty. Four lengths from the bottom mark and now in the lead, but
with two blue flags in the air, Gilmour was obliged to do a penalty turn
immediately, but instead rounded the mark and started upwind.
For this, umpires Chris Simon (GBR) and Eva Andersson (SWE) pulled out the
black flag, which immediately disqualified Gilmour and awarded the match to
Hansen.
Round robin racing continues tomorrow in Day Two of Match Cup Sweden, with
four flights scheduled for the morning and three for the afternoon. Sunny
skies, warm temperatures, and lighter winds are forecast.
Results:
1. Mattias Rahm (SWE), Stena Bulk Racing Team 3 - 0
2. Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Alandia Sailing Team 2 - 1
3. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team 2 - 1
4. Sebastian Col (FRA), French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge 2 - 1
5. Peter Gilmour (AUS), PST Team 2 - 1
6. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge 2 - 1
7. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Trifork Racing Team 2 - 1
8. Ben Ainslie (GBR), Team Origin 1 - 0
9. Paolo Cian (ITA), Team Shosholoza 0 - 3
10. Damien Iehl (FRA), French Match Racing Team 0 - 3
Not yet raced:
Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar
Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team
http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com
BRITISH BULLDOGS BITE BACK
If yesterday conditions allowed crews to ease gently into the 2008 Rolex
Commodores' Cup, Tuesday's conditions proved that much more testing. With
the wind having backed around to the southeast overnight, racing was held
off Hill Head, in the Central Solent, in more breeze, occasionally gusting
to more than 20 knots and a short chop making for a wet ride.
Once again two windward-leeward courses were held with different teams
moving into the lead after each one. After the first race it was the turn
of Ireland Green to move ahead with a comfortable 4.5 point margin over GBR
Red, Monday's leaders France Blue relegated to third place after all three
boats in Gery Trentesaux's team posted fifth placed finishes.
The results from this race were particularly good for the Irish with
Ireland Green's medium boat, Eamonn Rohan's Blondie IV, winning her class
while Eamon and Alan Crosbie's small boat, Teng Tools/Voodoo Chile won the
small boat class for Ireland White.
While Crosbie's Dublin-based team won race three, they were doing well on
race four until in the gusty conditions they suffered a problem with their
spinnaker when the guy accidentally looped the end of the spinnaker pole.
They finished eighth as a result which combined with a disappointing result
for Conor Phelan's mid-sized boat Jump Juice saw Ireland White lose fourth
place to the Hong Kong team.
Consistency is exactly what the GBR Red team showed in today's second race
with each boat scoring a second place. The best showing was that of the big
boat John Shepherd's Fair Do's VII which after a fantastic start in the
first race today, led around the course to win that race, following this up
with a second in the second race - a fine showing after her backstay
problems yesterday.
While France Blue's performance was lacklustre in race three, the team more
than made up for it in the final race today with Gery Trentesaux's big boat
Lady Courrier winning Class 1 and Marc Alperovitch's Prime Time taking
victory in Class 3. These results enabled them to regain second place.
The real acid test though will take place tomorrow with the offshore race
which is designed to be of 24-36 hours duration. The Race Committee this
evening have chosen a course starting tomorrow morning at 10.30 BST from
the Squadron line off Cowes that will send the boats off on a multiple leg
course between the Needles and Portland Bill and out into the Channel. As
is the case with the racing to date the distance of the offshore race will
vary between the Classes with the big boats sailing 191 miles, Class 2 173
miles and Class 3 137 miles. -- Trish Jenkins
Top Five Teams - Provisional Positions 1/7/08
Team / Points / Place
GBR Red / 40 / 1
France Blue / 43 / 2
Ireland Green / 43.5 / 3
Hong Kong / 67 / 4
Ireland White / 68/5
Netherlands / 92 / 5
http://www.rorc.org/comcup/index.php
LUXURY MOTOR YACHT VIKING NOW AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER
MV Viking is an impressive semi-displacement 72ft motor yacht, ideally
designed for corporate hospitality or short term charters. Coded for up to
twelve guests, Viking offers spacious accommodation and provides an
imposing platform for entertaining afloat.
Based in Cowes, MV Viking is ideally located for Race Viewing at the major
regattas, such as Cowes Week or the Little Britain Cup, however, if you
simply want a fantastic day out or evening, cruising the Solent there are
plenty of interesting places to visit.
For pricing and availability please visit http://www.vikingcharter.co.uk
MORNING GLORY BREAKS MAST ON WAY TO COURSE RECORD
Monday afternoon Hasso Plattner's R/P 86 Morning Glory reported that they
retired from Eurocard Gotland Runt, where the maxZ/86 yacht had a clear
lead and were well on their way to a new course record for monohull
entries.
The reason for their retirement was their 40-meter high carbon fibre mast
failed under the third spreader. No one was hurt and the broken mast piece
was secured immediately to avoid further damage to the boat and the rig.
Morning Glory then proceeded by engine directly to Sandhamn where the yacht
arrived early Tuesday morning.
HiQ II breaks the speed record around Gotland
The fast Formula 60 Trimaran HiQ II with Andreas Andersen as skipper
finished Eurocard Gotland Runt in the LYS Multi A Class at 04.40:43 Tuesday
morning, breaking the Multi hull record. With a time of 39 hours 25 minutes
and 43 seconds on the 567-NM long course, where multihulls did two laps
around Gotland instead of the other boats' one, HiQ II logged an average
speed of 14.38 knots. The old record, set by Norwegian Knut Frostad in 2004
with the trimaran Academy, was 13.66 knots.
"It's an extra bonus to beat the course record," Andreas Andresen said
after having opened the traditional Champagne bottle and been thrown
overboard in the 15 degree water in Sandhamn by his overjoyed crew.
"As a matter of fact I didn't start thinking about the record until
Sandhamn came into sight. We are so focused on being ahead of all other
competitor boats and so we checked them more carefully than looking at the
record time. We were told that Morning Glory had retired when passing the
Almagrundet." -- Dobbs Davis
THE COMEBACK KIDS
After their dark disappointment in Marseille where they finished 11th,
Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine returned to produce something a little
closer to a virtuoso performance on Sardinia's Gulf of Cagliari today when
they won two of the first three races of the Audi Region of Sardinia Trophy
regatta.
Added to a fourth place from Race 2 today, the 2006 MedCup Champions lead
the regatta standings by four points.
The MedCup Circuit's return to Italy for the first time since 2006 in Punta
Ala, Tuscany when Mean Machine won overall, was rewarded with a great
opening day of solid, building sea breezes which remained solid until early
evening to allow the target of three races to be met with relative ease.
While the conventional wisdom leading into the first race today was that
the race track off the Sardinian capital might promise one way traffic up
the right side of the course, it was Mean Machine's after-guard of Ray
Davies (NZL) and Tom Dodson (NZL) who reckoned that the left bias to the
line was enough to launch them to the front.
On the final run Mean Machine lived up to their name to spoil the Russians
hopes of win on their first day out with their newly purchased boat, the
former USA-17 and it was the pink flames on the Mean Machine bow and kite
which broke the finish line first for the second time today.
Audi Region of Sardinia Trophy.
Results after three races: (Place, Boat Name, Country, Race 1, Race 2, Race
3, Points total)
1 Mean Machine MON (1,4,1, 6)
2 Quantum Racing USA (3,1,6, 12)
3 Bribon ESP (4,2,5, 11 )
4 Matador ARG (7,8,3, 18)
5 Artemis SWE (9,5,4, 18)
6 Mutua Madrileña ESP (2,11,7, 20)
7 Audi powered by Q8 ITA (8,3,10, 21)
8 Platoon by Team Germany GER (5,10,8, 23)
9 El Desafío ESP (6, 7, 11, 24)
10 Rusal Synergy RUS (13,13,2 28)
http://2008.medcup.org
ONDECK'S ATLANTIC ADVENTURE IS TRULY AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!
We follow the 'trade route' across The Atlantic, leaving earlier and
sailing to destinations unvisited by other commercial Atlantic rallies. We
also head further South to warmer climes and steadier trade winds. Despite
pre-conceptions, anyone can do this trip! No offshore experience is
necessary, just a taste for adventure!
We will be holding Complimentary Atlantic Adventure Open Days with lunch
and an afternoon sail which will give you the opportunity to get to know
more about the event, destinations, support, weather, the yachts, the crew
and Ondeck. Stokey Woodall holds a presentation during the day, giving you
an insight into the event. This will then be followed by a sandwich lunch
and an afternoon sail onboard a Farr 65! The day runs 11.00hrs to 16.00hrs
at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth.
Dates are Saturday 19th July and Saturday 16th August 2008. Contact Katy on
+44 (0) 1983 612642 or e-mail ko@ondeck.co.uk to book your place.
VENDEE GLOBE
Raphael Dinelli's boat "Fondation Ocean Vital" was relaunched on Monday
30th June 2008 in Les Sables d'Olonne. For his fourth attempt at the Vendee
Globe, the skipper from Les Sables is committed to a citizen project, where
renewable energy is a major feature. "I'm really attached to this project.
After a few months of work, it's always a great pleasure to relaunch the
boat. Of course, there is all the enjoyment of sailing, but this time we
will be able to launch our campaign based around the technologies we have
been working on for several years." Raphael Dinelli is thus back at sea
with his old boat, which has been refitted to be able to use the new
technologies developed in the framework of his work with the "Ocean Vital"
Foundation: "I'm not taking any fossil fuel on board for the Vendee Globe.
The electrical power on board will originate uniquely from the new solar
panels and a wind turbine."
* The monohull Maisonneuve was relaunched in Lorient on Thursday 26th June.
With four and a half months to go before the start, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty
now has a boat that is fine-tuned for the Vendee Globe.
"After six months of hard work, this is a great time for the whole team."
Taken out of the water back in January, after two consecutive transatlantic
crossings (Jacques Vabre and B to B), the Maisonneuve monohull has
undergone a complete overhaul to switch to "round the world" mode: firstly,
the whole of the boat was given a complete check-up from the keel to the
top of the mast; in particular, the deck fittings, electronics and
hydraulics. Then a series of improvements were carried out to make
Jean-Baptiste's life at sea more comfortable: storage space, improvements
to the ballast, fittings to make the living quarters more pleasant... The
skipper now has the whole summer ahead of him to try out his machine and
spend the summer training aboard her.
After finishing fifth in the last edition, Sebastien Josse has now
satisfied all the requirements to become the 23rd person to register
officially for the 2008-2009 Vendee Globe. This will be the third round the
world voyage, the second sailing alone, for the young Frenchman, who has
joined Ellen MacArthur's team.
http://www.vendeeglobe.org
SPEEDBOAT HALTS FIRST TRANSATLANTIC RECORD ATTEMPT
Thank you for following us on our first Trans-Atlantic record attempt,
unfortunately at approx 3-30 am this morning while roaring along at 25
knots we decided to bear away and raise the dagger board due to the speeds
starting to get to the point where the boat didn't need them, during the
night we had done a few bear aways so we weren't particularly concerned
about the manoeuvre, just as the where half way to downwind there was a
loud bang and pretty quickly we identified that we had broken the port
board. With the trip being one of us having to thread our way through
various systems, some of which could have easily ended up with tight
reaching work, and us being so early in our trip, we decided that we where
better to call into Newport, get the boat back to 100% and live to fight
another day.
Although this was very disappointing we did have great news on the trip,
and that is that the boat was just flying from the time we left Ambrose
light, she was at times out performing her target speeds by 15 to 18% and
was happy sitting reaching at 24 knots in 20 knots of wind, so for that we
are really excited We have a spare board in the container, we will replace
it, re look at the engineering and for now probably re-evaluate what speeds
we can use them at until we can identify whether we broke it due to the
load of the bear away and speed or that we likely hit something.
We will keep everyone posted with regards to further Weather windows, I
have no doubt that we will be back out there charging soon. -- Mike
Sanderson, http://www.mike-sanderson.com/da/9973
TOUR DE FRANCE
The M 30s of the Tour de France Sailing Race left Dunkerque yesterday
evening. They arrived at noon in Dieppe. This 94 nautical miles offshore
leg was raced in light winds, and Manche Basse-Normandie (Benoît Charon,
Nicolas Jossier) did the best performance. However, hazardous conditions
near Dieppe allowed some "outsiders" into the top ten. On the other hand,
some favourites such as former leader Toulon Provence Mediterranee -
COYCHyeres (Fabien Henry) lost everything getting stuck in front of
Dunkerque without a bit of wind. Nouvelle-Caledonie (Ronan Dreano) finished
second in this race, and is now leader in the general ranking.
An offshore leg under pressure
94 nautical miles in fifteen hours, and a very precise and difficult
navigation. The fleet was very close during the evening, and it spread out
throughout the night. A few boats sailed ahead of the others up to Dieppe,
but a few miles away from the arrival, a whole group got stuck in no wind.
Amongst them were yesterday's leader Toulon Provence Mediterranee -
COYCHyeres (Fabien Henry) and Elcimai - Ville de Marseille (Dimitri
Deruelle). They ranked eighteenth and twentieth in Dieppe.
A student team in the top 10!
The crew Solidarites Nouvelles pour le Logement (Eric Brezellec) ranked
sixth. The skipper is quite satisfied by this: "we trained a lot this year,
our aim on the Tour de France Sailing Race is to finish on the podium.
Tonight we did the wrong option at cap Gris-Nez, but we managed to catch up
at the end of the race". Defi Arts et Metiers - Icade - contre la SEP
(Julien Marcelet) ranked tenth, just before CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (Herve
Gautier)
Nouvelle-Caledonie (Ronan Dreano) is the new leader of the overall ranking,
only three points before Batisseurs du Morbihan (Victor Lanier / Nicolas
Pauchet). Manche Basse-Normandie (Benoît Charon, Nicolas Jossier) is now on
the third step of the podium.
The competitors will leave the harbour at 11.30am Wednesday for windward
leeward races in front of Dieppe. -- Anatole Lucet
Leader of the Honda Civic Hybrid overall ranking
Nouvelle-Caledonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret)
Leader of the Bouygues Telecom amateur ranking
Val Thorens (Lucas Millieret / Alexis Littoz)
Leader of the Malongo student ranking
CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (Herve Gautier)
http://www.tourvoile.fr
THE SPICE RACE IS ON
To date the Spice Race, (starting on November 15th, 2008 from the Solent),
has had nearly 20 serious enquiries from Class 40 and IRC yachts, and more
are expected. Interest has come from all over the world including; China,
Norway, South Africa, Germany, France and the UK. As well as boats wanting
to race, there have been enquiries from people wanting to charter boats and
individuals looking for crew positions both paid and paying.
The race to Grenada is the modern version of a classic route. The first new
trans-ocean race out of the Solent in nearly fifty years follows the route
of the trading ships that plied under sail between British ports and the
West Indies. Historic references to these earlier activities can still be
seen in the warehouses in Southampton and place names such as "Spice
Island" in Portsmouth.
The focus of the race is on the Class 40 competitors. Class 40s and IRC
yachts will have the same start and course but will sail as two separate
classes for the purpose of awarding prizes. Class 40s will sail boat for
boat, IRC yachts according to their handicap ratings.
The Spice Race is working in association with the Royal Southampton Yacht
Club, which is the organizing body they will be hosting the event;
overseeing the inspections, the race start in the U.K and the finish in
Grenada. Spice Race CEO, Tony Lawson has just returned from a fact finding
trip to Marblehead (for the finish of the Artemis Transat) and Grenada
where he was pleased to find a lot of enthusiasm for the Spice Race.
"I was good to know that some of the Class 40 racers in Marblehead were
keen on the Spice Race and see it as a great opportunity to race this
winter. Nobody wanted to keep there yachts in Europe when they could be
sailing in the Caribbean. I met with both the Prime Minister and Minister
of Tourism and firmed up details of our reception in Grenada. The P.M. said
he would be delighted to present the prizes personally.
The Spice Race will start on November 15th 2008 and finish some time in
early December 2008. -- Louay Habib
http://www.spicerace.com
FEATURED BROKERAGE
Farr TP52 Fram XVI, 900,000 US$, Located in Puerto Calero, Canary Islands.
RAM XVI a fourth generation Farr Transpac 52, built by Cookson Boats of New
Zealand, was developed to compete in both the European and US Transpac 52
competitions. Design #590 was developed to meet the demands of a specific
selection of Mediterranean venues. This design is the direct result of
first hand experience gained while sailing and competing in Transpac 52
class for the 3 years and based on previous FYD designs #585 (Bribon, Caxia
Galicia and Rush) & 586 (Pegasus & Atalanti).
Brokerage through Farr Yacht Sales: http://www.farryachtsales.com
Complete listing details and seller contact information at
http://www.farrdesign.com/FYS/590_FramXVI/listing.html
THE LAST WORD
A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a
pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove. -- Jiddu Krishnamurti
SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1551 - 2 JULY
Brought to you by Boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and
Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.com ) 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 editor@scuttlebutteurope.com
SWEDE MATTIAS RAHM LEADS AFTER DAY ONE AT MATCH CUP SWEDEN
Marstrand, Sweden: Under sunny skies and a perfect 12-15 knot westerly
breeze, Mattias Rahm and his Stena Bulk Racing Team got the jump on a
highly-competitive 12-team field here in Day One of Match Cup Sweden,
winning all of their first three matches in this fourth stage of the World
Match Racing Tour.
Being based locally, Rahm has had much experience in the DS37's which have
been used here and in other events in Sweden and Denmark for over a decade.
Because of tomorrow's lighter wind forecast, Rahm admitted they "may have
an edge when the conditions change," but that "there are no weak teams at
all, so we will be glad for every point."
And because every point counts, most matches today were quite close, and
some quite contentious. The best example of these would have to be that
between Peter Gilmour (AUS) and his Team PST and last year's Match Cup
Sweden champion Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and his Alandia Sailing Team. In the
pre-start, Hansen deftly used his starboard-entry advantage to keep Gilmour
on the ropes nearly throughout, and when the veteran Australian tried to
wriggle free by gybing at Hansen on port tack, it wasn't quite enough to
keep clear and the penalty went to Gilmour.
But even after this and a slow start off the line, Gilmour and team kept it
close on the first beat, coming to within a metre of taking the lead at the
first windward mark. On the run, Hansen barely managed to fend off
Gilmour's attack towards the bottom mark, and when the Australian gybed
back to the mark, his spinnaker draped over Hansen's stern, earning him yet
another penalty. Four lengths from the bottom mark and now in the lead, but
with two blue flags in the air, Gilmour was obliged to do a penalty turn
immediately, but instead rounded the mark and started upwind.
For this, umpires Chris Simon (GBR) and Eva Andersson (SWE) pulled out the
black flag, which immediately disqualified Gilmour and awarded the match to
Hansen.
Round robin racing continues tomorrow in Day Two of Match Cup Sweden, with
four flights scheduled for the morning and three for the afternoon. Sunny
skies, warm temperatures, and lighter winds are forecast.
Results:
1. Mattias Rahm (SWE), Stena Bulk Racing Team 3 - 0
2. Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Alandia Sailing Team 2 - 1
3. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team 2 - 1
4. Sebastian Col (FRA), French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge 2 - 1
5. Peter Gilmour (AUS), PST Team 2 - 1
6. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge 2 - 1
7. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Trifork Racing Team 2 - 1
8. Ben Ainslie (GBR), Team Origin 1 - 0
9. Paolo Cian (ITA), Team Shosholoza 0 - 3
10. Damien Iehl (FRA), French Match Racing Team 0 - 3
Not yet raced:
Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar
Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team
http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com
BRITISH BULLDOGS BITE BACK
If yesterday conditions allowed crews to ease gently into the 2008 Rolex
Commodores' Cup, Tuesday's conditions proved that much more testing. With
the wind having backed around to the southeast overnight, racing was held
off Hill Head, in the Central Solent, in more breeze, occasionally gusting
to more than 20 knots and a short chop making for a wet ride.
Once again two windward-leeward courses were held with different teams
moving into the lead after each one. After the first race it was the turn
of Ireland Green to move ahead with a comfortable 4.5 point margin over GBR
Red, Monday's leaders France Blue relegated to third place after all three
boats in Gery Trentesaux's team posted fifth placed finishes.
The results from this race were particularly good for the Irish with
Ireland Green's medium boat, Eamonn Rohan's Blondie IV, winning her class
while Eamon and Alan Crosbie's small boat, Teng Tools/Voodoo Chile won the
small boat class for Ireland White.
While Crosbie's Dublin-based team won race three, they were doing well on
race four until in the gusty conditions they suffered a problem with their
spinnaker when the guy accidentally looped the end of the spinnaker pole.
They finished eighth as a result which combined with a disappointing result
for Conor Phelan's mid-sized boat Jump Juice saw Ireland White lose fourth
place to the Hong Kong team.
Consistency is exactly what the GBR Red team showed in today's second race
with each boat scoring a second place. The best showing was that of the big
boat John Shepherd's Fair Do's VII which after a fantastic start in the
first race today, led around the course to win that race, following this up
with a second in the second race - a fine showing after her backstay
problems yesterday.
While France Blue's performance was lacklustre in race three, the team more
than made up for it in the final race today with Gery Trentesaux's big boat
Lady Courrier winning Class 1 and Marc Alperovitch's Prime Time taking
victory in Class 3. These results enabled them to regain second place.
The real acid test though will take place tomorrow with the offshore race
which is designed to be of 24-36 hours duration. The Race Committee this
evening have chosen a course starting tomorrow morning at 10.30 BST from
the Squadron line off Cowes that will send the boats off on a multiple leg
course between the Needles and Portland Bill and out into the Channel. As
is the case with the racing to date the distance of the offshore race will
vary between the Classes with the big boats sailing 191 miles, Class 2 173
miles and Class 3 137 miles. -- Trish Jenkins
Top Five Teams - Provisional Positions 1/7/08
Team / Points / Place
GBR Red / 40 / 1
France Blue / 43 / 2
Ireland Green / 43.5 / 3
Hong Kong / 67 / 4
Ireland White / 68/5
Netherlands / 92 / 5
http://www.rorc.org/comcup/index.php
LUXURY MOTOR YACHT VIKING NOW AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER
MV Viking is an impressive semi-displacement 72ft motor yacht, ideally
designed for corporate hospitality or short term charters. Coded for up to
twelve guests, Viking offers spacious accommodation and provides an
imposing platform for entertaining afloat.
Based in Cowes, MV Viking is ideally located for Race Viewing at the major
regattas, such as Cowes Week or the Little Britain Cup, however, if you
simply want a fantastic day out or evening, cruising the Solent there are
plenty of interesting places to visit.
For pricing and availability please visit http://www.vikingcharter.co.uk
MORNING GLORY BREAKS MAST ON WAY TO COURSE RECORD
Monday afternoon Hasso Plattner's R/P 86 Morning Glory reported that they
retired from Eurocard Gotland Runt, where the maxZ/86 yacht had a clear
lead and were well on their way to a new course record for monohull
entries.
The reason for their retirement was their 40-meter high carbon fibre mast
failed under the third spreader. No one was hurt and the broken mast piece
was secured immediately to avoid further damage to the boat and the rig.
Morning Glory then proceeded by engine directly to Sandhamn where the yacht
arrived early Tuesday morning.
HiQ II breaks the speed record around Gotland
The fast Formula 60 Trimaran HiQ II with Andreas Andersen as skipper
finished Eurocard Gotland Runt in the LYS Multi A Class at 04.40:43 Tuesday
morning, breaking the Multi hull record. With a time of 39 hours 25 minutes
and 43 seconds on the 567-NM long course, where multihulls did two laps
around Gotland instead of the other boats' one, HiQ II logged an average
speed of 14.38 knots. The old record, set by Norwegian Knut Frostad in 2004
with the trimaran Academy, was 13.66 knots.
"It's an extra bonus to beat the course record," Andreas Andresen said
after having opened the traditional Champagne bottle and been thrown
overboard in the 15 degree water in Sandhamn by his overjoyed crew.
"As a matter of fact I didn't start thinking about the record until
Sandhamn came into sight. We are so focused on being ahead of all other
competitor boats and so we checked them more carefully than looking at the
record time. We were told that Morning Glory had retired when passing the
Almagrundet." -- Dobbs Davis
THE COMEBACK KIDS
After their dark disappointment in Marseille where they finished 11th,
Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine returned to produce something a little
closer to a virtuoso performance on Sardinia's Gulf of Cagliari today when
they won two of the first three races of the Audi Region of Sardinia Trophy
regatta.
Added to a fourth place from Race 2 today, the 2006 MedCup Champions lead
the regatta standings by four points.
The MedCup Circuit's return to Italy for the first time since 2006 in Punta
Ala, Tuscany when Mean Machine won overall, was rewarded with a great
opening day of solid, building sea breezes which remained solid until early
evening to allow the target of three races to be met with relative ease.
While the conventional wisdom leading into the first race today was that
the race track off the Sardinian capital might promise one way traffic up
the right side of the course, it was Mean Machine's after-guard of Ray
Davies (NZL) and Tom Dodson (NZL) who reckoned that the left bias to the
line was enough to launch them to the front.
On the final run Mean Machine lived up to their name to spoil the Russians
hopes of win on their first day out with their newly purchased boat, the
former USA-17 and it was the pink flames on the Mean Machine bow and kite
which broke the finish line first for the second time today.
Audi Region of Sardinia Trophy.
Results after three races: (Place, Boat Name, Country, Race 1, Race 2, Race
3, Points total)
1 Mean Machine MON (1,4,1, 6)
2 Quantum Racing USA (3,1,6, 12)
3 Bribon ESP (4,2,5, 11 )
4 Matador ARG (7,8,3, 18)
5 Artemis SWE (9,5,4, 18)
6 Mutua Madrileña ESP (2,11,7, 20)
7 Audi powered by Q8 ITA (8,3,10, 21)
8 Platoon by Team Germany GER (5,10,8, 23)
9 El Desafío ESP (6, 7, 11, 24)
10 Rusal Synergy RUS (13,13,2 28)
http://2008.medcup.org
ONDECK'S ATLANTIC ADVENTURE IS TRULY AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!
We follow the 'trade route' across The Atlantic, leaving earlier and
sailing to destinations unvisited by other commercial Atlantic rallies. We
also head further South to warmer climes and steadier trade winds. Despite
pre-conceptions, anyone can do this trip! No offshore experience is
necessary, just a taste for adventure!
We will be holding Complimentary Atlantic Adventure Open Days with lunch
and an afternoon sail which will give you the opportunity to get to know
more about the event, destinations, support, weather, the yachts, the crew
and Ondeck. Stokey Woodall holds a presentation during the day, giving you
an insight into the event. This will then be followed by a sandwich lunch
and an afternoon sail onboard a Farr 65! The day runs 11.00hrs to 16.00hrs
at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth.
Dates are Saturday 19th July and Saturday 16th August 2008. Contact Katy on
+44 (0) 1983 612642 or e-mail ko@ondeck.co.uk to book your place.
VENDEE GLOBE
Raphael Dinelli's boat "Fondation Ocean Vital" was relaunched on Monday
30th June 2008 in Les Sables d'Olonne. For his fourth attempt at the Vendee
Globe, the skipper from Les Sables is committed to a citizen project, where
renewable energy is a major feature. "I'm really attached to this project.
After a few months of work, it's always a great pleasure to relaunch the
boat. Of course, there is all the enjoyment of sailing, but this time we
will be able to launch our campaign based around the technologies we have
been working on for several years." Raphael Dinelli is thus back at sea
with his old boat, which has been refitted to be able to use the new
technologies developed in the framework of his work with the "Ocean Vital"
Foundation: "I'm not taking any fossil fuel on board for the Vendee Globe.
The electrical power on board will originate uniquely from the new solar
panels and a wind turbine."
* The monohull Maisonneuve was relaunched in Lorient on Thursday 26th June.
With four and a half months to go before the start, Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty
now has a boat that is fine-tuned for the Vendee Globe.
"After six months of hard work, this is a great time for the whole team."
Taken out of the water back in January, after two consecutive transatlantic
crossings (Jacques Vabre and B to B), the Maisonneuve monohull has
undergone a complete overhaul to switch to "round the world" mode: firstly,
the whole of the boat was given a complete check-up from the keel to the
top of the mast; in particular, the deck fittings, electronics and
hydraulics. Then a series of improvements were carried out to make
Jean-Baptiste's life at sea more comfortable: storage space, improvements
to the ballast, fittings to make the living quarters more pleasant... The
skipper now has the whole summer ahead of him to try out his machine and
spend the summer training aboard her.
After finishing fifth in the last edition, Sebastien Josse has now
satisfied all the requirements to become the 23rd person to register
officially for the 2008-2009 Vendee Globe. This will be the third round the
world voyage, the second sailing alone, for the young Frenchman, who has
joined Ellen MacArthur's team.
http://www.vendeeglobe.org
SPEEDBOAT HALTS FIRST TRANSATLANTIC RECORD ATTEMPT
Thank you for following us on our first Trans-Atlantic record attempt,
unfortunately at approx 3-30 am this morning while roaring along at 25
knots we decided to bear away and raise the dagger board due to the speeds
starting to get to the point where the boat didn't need them, during the
night we had done a few bear aways so we weren't particularly concerned
about the manoeuvre, just as the where half way to downwind there was a
loud bang and pretty quickly we identified that we had broken the port
board. With the trip being one of us having to thread our way through
various systems, some of which could have easily ended up with tight
reaching work, and us being so early in our trip, we decided that we where
better to call into Newport, get the boat back to 100% and live to fight
another day.
Although this was very disappointing we did have great news on the trip,
and that is that the boat was just flying from the time we left Ambrose
light, she was at times out performing her target speeds by 15 to 18% and
was happy sitting reaching at 24 knots in 20 knots of wind, so for that we
are really excited We have a spare board in the container, we will replace
it, re look at the engineering and for now probably re-evaluate what speeds
we can use them at until we can identify whether we broke it due to the
load of the bear away and speed or that we likely hit something.
We will keep everyone posted with regards to further Weather windows, I
have no doubt that we will be back out there charging soon. -- Mike
Sanderson, http://www.mike-sanderson.com/da/9973
TOUR DE FRANCE
The M 30s of the Tour de France Sailing Race left Dunkerque yesterday
evening. They arrived at noon in Dieppe. This 94 nautical miles offshore
leg was raced in light winds, and Manche Basse-Normandie (Benoît Charon,
Nicolas Jossier) did the best performance. However, hazardous conditions
near Dieppe allowed some "outsiders" into the top ten. On the other hand,
some favourites such as former leader Toulon Provence Mediterranee -
COYCHyeres (Fabien Henry) lost everything getting stuck in front of
Dunkerque without a bit of wind. Nouvelle-Caledonie (Ronan Dreano) finished
second in this race, and is now leader in the general ranking.
An offshore leg under pressure
94 nautical miles in fifteen hours, and a very precise and difficult
navigation. The fleet was very close during the evening, and it spread out
throughout the night. A few boats sailed ahead of the others up to Dieppe,
but a few miles away from the arrival, a whole group got stuck in no wind.
Amongst them were yesterday's leader Toulon Provence Mediterranee -
COYCHyeres (Fabien Henry) and Elcimai - Ville de Marseille (Dimitri
Deruelle). They ranked eighteenth and twentieth in Dieppe.
A student team in the top 10!
The crew Solidarites Nouvelles pour le Logement (Eric Brezellec) ranked
sixth. The skipper is quite satisfied by this: "we trained a lot this year,
our aim on the Tour de France Sailing Race is to finish on the podium.
Tonight we did the wrong option at cap Gris-Nez, but we managed to catch up
at the end of the race". Defi Arts et Metiers - Icade - contre la SEP
(Julien Marcelet) ranked tenth, just before CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (Herve
Gautier)
Nouvelle-Caledonie (Ronan Dreano) is the new leader of the overall ranking,
only three points before Batisseurs du Morbihan (Victor Lanier / Nicolas
Pauchet). Manche Basse-Normandie (Benoît Charon, Nicolas Jossier) is now on
the third step of the podium.
The competitors will leave the harbour at 11.30am Wednesday for windward
leeward races in front of Dieppe. -- Anatole Lucet
Leader of the Honda Civic Hybrid overall ranking
Nouvelle-Caledonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret)
Leader of the Bouygues Telecom amateur ranking
Val Thorens (Lucas Millieret / Alexis Littoz)
Leader of the Malongo student ranking
CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (Herve Gautier)
http://www.tourvoile.fr
THE SPICE RACE IS ON
To date the Spice Race, (starting on November 15th, 2008 from the Solent),
has had nearly 20 serious enquiries from Class 40 and IRC yachts, and more
are expected. Interest has come from all over the world including; China,
Norway, South Africa, Germany, France and the UK. As well as boats wanting
to race, there have been enquiries from people wanting to charter boats and
individuals looking for crew positions both paid and paying.
The race to Grenada is the modern version of a classic route. The first new
trans-ocean race out of the Solent in nearly fifty years follows the route
of the trading ships that plied under sail between British ports and the
West Indies. Historic references to these earlier activities can still be
seen in the warehouses in Southampton and place names such as "Spice
Island" in Portsmouth.
The focus of the race is on the Class 40 competitors. Class 40s and IRC
yachts will have the same start and course but will sail as two separate
classes for the purpose of awarding prizes. Class 40s will sail boat for
boat, IRC yachts according to their handicap ratings.
The Spice Race is working in association with the Royal Southampton Yacht
Club, which is the organizing body they will be hosting the event;
overseeing the inspections, the race start in the U.K and the finish in
Grenada. Spice Race CEO, Tony Lawson has just returned from a fact finding
trip to Marblehead (for the finish of the Artemis Transat) and Grenada
where he was pleased to find a lot of enthusiasm for the Spice Race.
"I was good to know that some of the Class 40 racers in Marblehead were
keen on the Spice Race and see it as a great opportunity to race this
winter. Nobody wanted to keep there yachts in Europe when they could be
sailing in the Caribbean. I met with both the Prime Minister and Minister
of Tourism and firmed up details of our reception in Grenada. The P.M. said
he would be delighted to present the prizes personally.
The Spice Race will start on November 15th 2008 and finish some time in
early December 2008. -- Louay Habib
http://www.spicerace.com
FEATURED BROKERAGE
Farr TP52 Fram XVI, 900,000 US$, Located in Puerto Calero, Canary Islands.
RAM XVI a fourth generation Farr Transpac 52, built by Cookson Boats of New
Zealand, was developed to compete in both the European and US Transpac 52
competitions. Design #590 was developed to meet the demands of a specific
selection of Mediterranean venues. This design is the direct result of
first hand experience gained while sailing and competing in Transpac 52
class for the 3 years and based on previous FYD designs #585 (Bribon, Caxia
Galicia and Rush) & 586 (Pegasus & Atalanti).
Brokerage through Farr Yacht Sales: http://www.farryachtsales.com
Complete listing details and seller contact information at
http://www.farrdesign.com/FYS/590_FramXVI/listing.html
THE LAST WORD
A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a
pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove. -- Jiddu Krishnamurti
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