SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1203 – 12 APRIL 2007
Brought to you by boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) with the
support of OC Events ( http://www.ocevents.org ), 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 [Email address: //editor #AT# scuttlebutteurope.com/ - replace #AT# with @ ]
OVERTIME FOR THE +39 TEAM
Valencia, Spain: The hard work continues at the base of the Italian
Challenger +39. Easter holidays are over, they have been celebrated with
“carbon fibre spaghetti” as an Italian daily titled.
The bottom part of the profile has already reached already “phase two”,
that is to say to the lamination process. “Positioning from 50 to 100 skins
of unidirectional fibre – explains the team’s shore manager Sebastiano
Morassutti- is the second step. Before there was gluing, layering and
laminating. The third phase is the curing, that will be done in the oven
that was given us by the Shosholoza team and which is ready to work. For
superstition too, I’m not making any definitive programme. Let’s say that
we are hoping to substitute the mast during the first Round Robin. There
are 12 to 14 people working now, some from the Soleri and Sicilcraft
shipyards, some from the mast builder Marstrom, the whole shore team, 2
technicians and, in shifts the whole sailing crew and the design team.” On
+39 is already stepped a generation 4 mast, that will be tested over the
next days by the crew led by Iain Percy before the start of Round Robin 1.
On Monday 16th Percy, Walker, Bruni, Trujillo and Co. will then find
themselves face to face with the competitors from Areva Challenge and the
Spanish hosts of Desafio Espanol.
TRANSBUNKER DRAGON GOLD CUP
Palma de Mallorca, Spain: German sailor Thomas Müller lost his big
advantage today in favour of Danish competitor Lars Hendriksen, the
helmsman of Eva, new leader of the Transbunker Dragon Gold Cup.
The Bay of Palma rose with sunshine but the possibility of wind Embat
disappeared when a group of clouds set over the racing area. The Race
Committee had to postpone the start half an hour until an East breeze, 10
knots, made it possible to find the correct place to lay the windward mark.
The weather conditions were almost identical to those of the previous
racing days: light winds that dropped throughout the day and wind shifts of
around 20 degrees.
In these circumstances, in which the selection of the correct side of the
course becomes crucial, it is not surprising to face important setbacks.
And this happened to the great favourite, Sinewave, owned by Thomas Muller,
that had been unbeatable until the third day of competition and that today
crossed the line 30, at big distance from Eva, that was third, but in front
a priori of the main candidate to lift the Gold Cup, Ukrainian boat Bunker
Queen, undisputable winner of the last del Princesa Sofía.
The decision to shorten the course in the third beat to windward when there
were still 2 legs to complete the course was due to a sudden wind drop and
for the “warning of heavy showers”, in accordance with the Race Committee.
Despite the changing weather conditions of these days, the organisation has
completed the scheduled programme, with four races sailed and being aware
that the two races left can be sailed until Friday.
The start of tomorrow’s race (Thursday) is scheduled at 12.00 hours, with a
similar forecast: E winds changing to SE not over 15 knots and overcast
skies.
Top ten:
1. Lars Hendriksen / L.Stenfeldt / P.Skafte-Holm, DEN, 46.70 points
2. Thomas Muller / V.Hoesch / M.Schehmais, GER, 50.00
3. Markus Wieser / T.Anracher / S.Pugatchev, UKR, 81.00
4. Philipp Ocker / F.Grosser / M.Brather, GER, 83.70
5. Valentin Uvarkin / D.Sapronov / V.Varnachkin, RUS, 84.70
6. Poul Richard Hoj / T.Palm / C.Brittain, GBR, 88.70
7. David Palmer / K.Harsberg / H.Bagnall, GBR, 92.00
8. Peter Froschl / S.Smuda / C.Rusitschka, GER, 93.70
9. Vladimir Ikonnikou / A.Shalagin / A.Mikhaylin, RUS, 104.00
10. Alexey Krylov / V.Karitonov / A.Karachinsky, RUS, 105.70
http://www.dragongoldcup2007
LIFE AT THE EXTREME
Life At The Extreme, the official book of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06,
chronicles over eight months of relentless competition in the world’s most
menacing of oceans.
Author and broadcaster Rob Mundle together with the world’s best sailing
photographers have captured every angle of the world’s top offshore sailors
doing battle over 31,500 nautical miles. The highs, the lows, the hardships
in the quest for the overall prize – the Fighting Finish Trophy.
With over 150 pages of words and pictures, Life At The Extreme is available
to buy online at http://www.volvooceanrace.org
high street book stores.
PORT AMERICA’S CUP – HOME OF THE DUEL
On Monday, April 16th, the first matches of the Louis Vuitton Cup are
scheduled to begin and for the first time in the 32nd America’s Cup, the
teams are fighting for their lives. By May 7th, only four of the 11
challengers will remain, seven having been eliminated from further
competition.
To mark the significance of the dueling nature of the America’s Cup, on
Wednesday, Port America’s Cup hosted a series of other duels, involving
some of the top sportsmen in the world.
American track and field legend Carl Lewis faced rival American Mike Marsh
on a 100 metre track alongside the canal leading from Port America’s Cup to
the race area. Both sprinters reconvened at the track later in the
afternoon to hold a clinic with youth from a local athletics academy.
Spanish golfing hero Sergio Garcia had a ‘hole in one’ duel with compatriot
José Manuel Lara. Each teed off from a pontoon snaking out into the Port
near the Alinghi team base. The green was on a pontoon moored in the middle
of the Port.
Then Valencian Football Club goalkeeper Santiago Canizares faced penalty
shots from Pedja Mijatovic, a former Champions League hero and currently
the Sporting Director of Real Madrid.
32nd AMERICA’S CUP LOGBOOK BY LLADRO
The 32nd America’s Cup and Valencia’s most famous company, Lladro, have
joined forces to create some memorable items for the big event.
Now available at the 32nd America’s Cup webstore, the Lladro collection is
not what you would expect. All products feature a high-tech, modern look
and make excellent and timely gifts.
Of most interest to Scuttlebutt Europe readers will be the two sizes of
logbook which feature plenty of bonus content about the event and its host
city, as well as a number of accessories. A letter opener and clip round
out the range.
http://www.americascupstore
BAYLIS WINS 2007 ROLEX WOMEN’S MATCH
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA: Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif.) and her San
Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team won the 2007 Rolex Women’s Match,
hosted by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.) from April
5-9. Sailing with Baylis were crew members Lee Icyda (Stuart, Fla.), Karina
Shelton (Watsonville, Calif.) and Suzy Leech (Simsbury, Conn.). A total of
10 teams competed in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 3
match-racing regatta, where world match racing champion and five-time Rolex
Yachtswoman of the Year Betsy Alison (Newport, R.I.) conducted the two-day
match-racing clinic that preceded competition in Sonar keelboats. With the
win, Baylis, along with second-place finisher Rachel Silverstein (St.
Petersburg, Fla.), gained an automatic invitation into the Rolex Osprey
Cup, an ISAF Grade 1 regatta, to be held October 18-22, at the St.
Petersburg Yacht Club.
The race committee, led by Principal Race Officer Pat Seidenspinner, held
17 flights of matches, for a total of 85 matches. The last day of racing
was shortened slightly with the cancellation of the last flight of matches
by Seidenspinner with co-organizer Tom Farquhar, who also served as an
Umpire.
Final results 2007 Rolex Women’s Match
1. Liz Baylis, USA, Lee Icyda, Karina Shelton, Suzy Leech
2. Rachel Silverstein, USA, Jee Lee, Kristen Herman, Becca Thomas
3. Sandy Hayes, USA, Nancy Haberland, Cindy Olsen, Kiki Zainea
4. Rossana Ramos, BRA, Raquel Aimone, Mariana Lacerda, Sandra Branchine
5. JoAnn Fisher , USA, Linda Hiller, Emma Jones, Lindsay Bartel
6. Arabella Denvir, USA, Jessamine Lewis, Lisa Denvir, Saskia Van Rijt
7. Maegan Ruhlman , USA, Martha Fisher, Amy Linton, Ashley Jerman
8. Louise Bienvenu , USA, Sarah Paisley, Jenn Millar
9. Verian Aguilar, USVI, Kelly O’Brien, Christine Thompson, Jessica
Rosenberg
10. Karen Park , USA, Trisha Birkenstock, Liz Laborde, Merrill Varn
http://www.spyc.org
http://www.rolexwomensmatch
NORFOLK SEND-OFF
The skippers of the Velux 5 Oceans, the solo round the world yacht race,
are making final preparations to their yachts down at the Waterside Marina
in Norfolk (Virginia, USA), ahead of the final sprint back across the
Atlantic to Bilbao (Basque Country).
The yachts will leave Norfolk at 13:00 on Sunday April 15 and the City of
Norfolk is preparing a farewell that none of the skippers will soon forget.
The programme kicks off with the official race exhibition, which opens on
Thursday April 12 at 10:00. Entry is free and there will be shops selling
race clothing and official merchandise. A race showcase will feature the
highlights and low points of the race thus far, including the dramatic
abandonment of HUGO BOSS (Alex Thomson) in the Southern Ocean and the
rescue by his fellow competitor, British skipper Mike Golding, who was then
forced to retire with a broken mast on ECOVER.
On Friday, April 13, from 16:00 – 15:00, there will be the Velux 5 Oceans
“Party in the Park”, sponsored by Sinclair Communications, to officially
celebrate the Norfolk stopover. The public is welcome and encouraged to
come on down and enjoy the festivities.
The race restart will be from a point just south of the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge Tunnel. At precisely 13:00, the starting gun will release the
sailors on their final journey. But not without a send-off that involves a
British aircraft carrier, a helicopter journey out to the start line for
the skippers from downtown Norfolk, as well as music and festivities for
the crowds of Norfolk well-wishers waving goodbye to the sailors from the
Waterside Marina.
HMS OCEAN, the largest ship in the Royal Navy’s fleet, has agreed to offer
its world class services to the Velux 5 Oceans. She will provide facilities
for media and the skippers alike, as helicopters from HMS OCEAN will take
the skippers straight from downtown Norfolk out to the start area, before
delivering them to their yachts via military power boat. HMS OCEAN will
host journalists, guests and VIPs, providing one of the best views of the
start at the mouth of the Chesapeake.
40TH ANNIVERSARY OF ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua: With a new sponsor onboard and with a fresh
injection of energy and spirit into what was already one of yacht racing’s
most anticipated annual events, the countdown to the 40th running of
Antigua’s classic week of sailing and partying has begun. Preparations for
the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week festivities, scheduled for April 29-May
4, are already in full swing.
At the top of the list of changes for the venerable regatta is a new title
sponsor: Stanford International Bank Ltd.
With three weeks still to go, 137 boats have thus far registered for the
2007 event. At the very top of that list is ABN AMRO ONE, the radical Volvo
70 that demolished the fleet in the recent running of the Volvo
Round-the-World Race. Fresh from convincing victories in the St. Maarten
Heineken Regatta and the BVI Spring Regatta, ABN AMRO ONE is in prime
position to take overall honors in the 2007 Caribbean Big Boat Series.
Skipper Mike Sanderson and his all-star crew will be looking to complete
their trifecta of perfect scores during Stanford Antigua Sailing Week.
But ABN AMRO ONE is hardly the only boat with long-distance credentials.
Andrew Pindar’s Open 60 Pindar Alphagraphics is also a veteran of the
marathon round-the-world circuit. Pindar and his crew will face staunch
competition from local favorite Johnny Malbon on another Open 60, Artemis
Ocean Racing. Both 60-footers will hope to hold off the charge of the
67-foot Adventure, a yacht that competed in Chay Blyth’s Global Challenge
race. Now crewed by a team of British Army soldiers, it’s on a 10-leg tour
around the planet with Antigua a welcome stop on the voyage.
In other Grand Prix action, the racing is expected to be close and up for
grabs amongst three well-sailed, 60-foot Swans: Sir Peter Ogden’s Spirit of
Jethou, Leonardo Ferragamo’s Cuordileone and Jim Swartz’s Moneypenny. The
Big Boat Racing division boasts another trio of top-flight yachts: Rivet
Gaeton’s turbo Andrews 70 Renegade, Clay Deutsch’s Swan 68 Chippewa and
Andrew Recordati’s Wally 80 Indio. This year, multihulls will also be back
in the Antigua mix, with John Winter’s 80-foot catamaran Fat Cat topping
the field thus far.
Visit the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week website at
http://www.sailingweek.com
BURSARIES AVAILABLE FOR PRINCE WILLIAM’S AMERICAN VOYAGES
The Tall Ships Youth Trust are pleased to announce that special bursaries
are now available for young people aged 16-25 to take part in the ASTA Tall
Ships Challenge Atlantic Coast Series along the east coast of the USA.
Giles Pritchard Gordon, Tall Ships Youth Trust Trustee, has generously
donated a limited number of bursaries of up to 500 pounds (USD1,000) per
person for young people aged 16-25 to take part in the Voyages detailed
below.
This means that on some voyages, young people may only need to find the
cost of the flight! What a great opportunity to take part in the American
Tall Ships Challenge.
Application instrucctions and list of voyages at
http://www.tallships.org
BALTIC SPRINT CUP
Start: Copenhagen 20th July – Final prizegiving 3rd August.
Following entries confirmed so far:
Yacht LoA ft
GUNVOR XL – 46.0
Schuddelfrost – 36.1
TUI – 41.0
Xtra fun – 37.2
deep blue - 39.4
MELTEMI - 42.2
Tiger – 38.0
Solair – 60.0
Philomena – 46.0
Lille Bee – 42.0
Reiseschwein – 44.0
Haspa Hamburg – 47.5
Anna v Braun – 38.9
UNIVERSITAS – 39.6
TUULE – 44.7
Vakare – 44.7
Calypso – 82.0
CHAOS 40 – 39.6
XXL – 52.0
SINFONIE SYLT – 69.9
6 countries, 7 ports, 624 miles, 2 weeks and 2 days, 7 great parties -
don’t miss it!
The Baltic Sprint Cup 2007 is sponsored by Bank DnB NORD, Copenhagen.
http://www.balticsprintcup.com email //Alan%2EGreen [Email address: //Alan%2EGreen #AT# sailrace.org/ - replace #AT# with @ ]
MADDER THAN CUT SNAKES
“You see that boat with the sails up? Don’t anchor near him; he’s crazy”.
As some eagle-eyed forumites have spotted, a bizarre report entitled ‘ The
Crazy Frenchman of Portobelo’, relates the true story of a sailor who has
recently been ramming other boats in an anchorage at night and setting fire
to them.
Joshua Coxwell and Cheyenne Weil’s fascinating cruising blog recounts one
of the most bizarre stories of mental unravelling I’ve heard. This guy is
madder than a junkyard dog! — from Elaine Bunting’s blog,
http://www.ybw.com/yw/blog
To read the full story with updates, go to http://sv-timemachine.net/?p
PRIDE OF BILBAO INCIDENT SANK OUZO
When three bodies were discovered floating south of the Isle of Wight on 22
and 23 August last year, a maritime tragedy unfolded that has stunned the
sailing community in the UK. The arrest and subsequent charges against a
Second Officer of the Pride of Bilbao, a P&O ferry heading for Bilbao from
Portsmouth, seemed to confirm everyone’s fears about the mysterious
disappearance of the 25ft yacht, Ouzo.
Now, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published a full
report into the disaster including these important findings:
1. The Pride of Bilbao reacted to a close encounter with a yacht on 21
August but thought the yacht had passed clear astern and did not stop to
ensure she was safe
2. At no time did the yacht show up on the ferry’s radar screens
3. The ferry reached a waypoint and slowly altered course towards Ouzo,
without seeing her, only 4 to 7 minutes before the incident.
4. The lookout did not see the yacht’s lights until it was about 300m away
5. The lack of an EPIRB, liferaft or waterproof VHF aboard Ouzo meant the
crew in the water were less likely to survive
6. Had help been called, it’s likely at least one of the yachtsmen would
have been rescued
Full story on Practical Boat Owner:
http://www.ybw.com/auto
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – //editor [Email address: //editor #AT# scuttlebutteurope.com/ - replace #AT# with @ ]
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 Ron Holland: I am sorry to inform you that Michelle Dunne, my long
time assistant passed away last Thursday evening April 5th after a short
illness. As a significant member of Ron Holland Design for over twenty
years, I know our friends and clients will miss her as we all will.
CORRECTION
The link used in the Louis Vuitton Cup Pairing List story last night was
wrong. It should be:
http://blog.bmworacleracing
THE LAST WORD
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them
yourself. — Andy Warhol
==============================
The opinions expressed in Scuttlebutt Europe do not necessarily
reflect those of its editors, boats.com or OC Events
OC Events, http://ocevents.org , organisers of two major IMOCA 60 oceanic
events, the new double-handed Barcelona World Race 2007, and the original
solo transocean race, The Transat 2008 (ex-OSTAR) plus the Extreme 40
Sailing Series for The iShares Cup.
Over 90,000 boats for sale at http://www.boats.com
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, go to
http://www.scuttlebutteurope
Letters and submissions to: //editor [Email address: //editor #AT# scuttlebutteurope.com/ - replace #AT# with @ ]
For advertising rates and information:
Graeme Beeson //gb [Email address: //gb #AT# beesonstone.com/ - replace #AT# with @ ]
–
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com –
Welcome to Kaizenlog.com If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed , Twitter You can contact us by using the contact form or submitting a comment. You can also share this post with your friends by clicking on the 'ShareThis' button above. Thanks for visiting!
Print This Post
Entries (RSS)