In This Issue
• Finn Europeans
• Antigua Bermuda Race Prize Giving
• Harken Tech Team on Duty at Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week
• Scheidt's Star Schines Brightest But The Fleet Gets Tight At The Top
• Mike Slade Receives OBE
• Melges World League Returns To Sardinia
• Treasure trove of NZ's maritime history revealed
• Maserati makes it three from three
• Double Olympic Champion hits out at Windsurfer Recommendation
• Pensacola Florida scored big with American Magic
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Rapido 60
• • Swan 45-007 'Eala of Rhu'
• • Baltic Yachts 43
• The Last Word: Principia Discordia
Brought to you by Seahorse magazine and YachtScoring.com EuroSail News 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
Finn Europeans
The Finn Europeans in Athens got back on track on Thursday with three more races completed. After losing the overall lead following the opening race, Brit, Giles Scott ended the day with a 15-point lead over Hungarian world champion Zsombor Berecz. Andy Maloney, from New Zealand drops one place to third, despite winning the opening race. The other race wins went to Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland and Josip Olujic, from Croatia.
The battle to win the four places in Tokyo took a new turn today with only Norway still among the top four nations from yesterday that haven't already qualified. A great day from Jorge Zarif moves him up to 10th and second nation, just one point behind Anders Pedersen from Norway, while a fantastic performance from Nils Theuninck puts Switzerland in third, with USA fourth.
The star performance of the day was undoubtedly Theuninck. The defending U23 European Champion is now leading the U23 championship from Cardona and Finland's Oskari Muhonen.
There will be plenty more stress to come with a maximum of three races left to sail. The points are generally high and also quite close, so there is still everything to play for. The top three overall are starting to show signs of pulling away, with a 30-point gap on the fleet, but the medal race split and the Tokyo 2020 qualification is still incredibly tight.
There are two more races in the opening series scheduled on Friday, before the medal race and the final race for the rest on Saturday. -- Robert Deaves
Results after 8 races
1. Giles Scott, GBR, 28
2. Zsombor Berecz, HUN, 43
3. Andy Maloney, NZL, 50
4 . Facundo Olezza, ARG, 80
5. Nicholas Heiner, NED, 81
6. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 92
7. Josh Junior, NZL, 99
8. Edward Wright, GBR, 100
9. Anders Pedersen, NOR, 102
10. Jorge Zarif, BRA, 103
Antigua Bermuda Race Prize Giving
Click on image for the event site, photos and videos
The Prize Giving for the 2019 Antigua Bermuda Race was held at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club on May 16, 2019. Honoured guests at the ceremony were Premier of Bermuda E. David Burt, Bermuda Tourism's Daniel Johnson, and Goslings Rum Brand Director Andrew Holmes. Vice Commodore David Benevides, and Rear Commodore Charles Penruddocke represented the RBYC. Past Commodore and Antigua Bermuda Race Chairman, Les Crane was assisted by Margaret Crane. Hand-made customised plaques, fired by John Faulkner in the Royal Naval Dockyard Bermuda, were awarded to every competing yacht. Gosling's Rum and Bermuda Tourism provided drinks and sandwiches for the competitors.
Giles Redpath's Lombard 46 Pata Negra (GBR), skippered by Andy Lis, was awarded the Warrior Trophy, as the overall winner of the 2019 Antigua Bermuda Race.
"This was just a fabulous race, Scallywag was in a world of its own but all the rest of the IRC fleet finished with 24 hours of each other on a 1000 mile course. There was really tight competition for the overall win, and second place was won by just 21 minutes," commented Les Crane. "Stories, friendships and opportunities have come about because of this race, which makes it even more special. Many competitors have told us they will be back next year, and we hope to have more teams joining us in the IRC Racing, Double Handed and CSA Cruising classes."
The fourth edition of the Antigua Bermuda Race will start from Antigua May 6th, 2020.
Harken Tech Team on Duty at Menorca 52 Super Series Sailing Week
The 52 Super Super Series returns to the venue of Mahon, Menorca, for the third time since the class first visited in 2016 for the Rolex TP52 World Championship. The Harken Tech Team will be there, keeping the fleet race-ready. Technicians will be available on site from Monday, May 20, through Saturday morning, May 25, and will have emergency spare parts on hand for repairs. Sailors can contact the Tech Team via email,
The Harken Tech Team will also be present on the listed dates at these summer 2019 events:
Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, Porto Cervo, Italy (June 3-8)
Puerto Sherry 52 Super Series Royal Cup, Cadiz, Spain (June 17-22)
Superyacht Cup, Palma, Spain (June 19-22)
Cascais 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Cascais, Portugal (July 15-20)
Copa del Rey Regatta, Palma, Spain (July 27-August 3)
Rolex TP52 World Championship 2019, Puerto Portals, Spain (August 24-29)
Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Porto Cervo, Italy (September 1-7)
Porto Cervo 52 Super Series Sailing Week, Sardinia, Italy (September 23-28)
Scheidt's Star Schines Brightest But The Fleet Gets Tight At The Top
It was another tough day physically and mentally for the sailors at the Star Sailor's League Breeze Grand Slam and Star Europeans, with big scores for many.
Robert Scheidt and Henry Boening (BRA) delivered another masterclass on the second day of racing at the Star Sailors League Grand Slam Breeze and European Championship, leading the field after a big day of racing in Riva del Garda, Italy.
There will be plenty of weary sailors after an epic three-race day in winds that hovered around the high teens. But with variable winds predicted later in the week, the race committee wisely decided to take advantage of today's weather to provide flexibility later in the series.
It was not just the breeze that was taking its toll on the teams, however, as the 1.5 mile beats consistently saw a drag race to the right hand side of the course, making it an effective conveyer belt towards the windward mark and a hiking contest to get there first.
One of yesterday's top performers, Paul Cayard (USA), looked set to continue his form, taking a second in the first race of the day. But bad starts in the second and third races saw him struggling to break into the very top placings. His 2, 24, 10 over the course of the day is hardly a disaster and he did extremely well to mitigate the damage, but he'll expect better results tomorrow.
If the day cannot be categorized as a disaster for Cayard then the last race of the day will certainly be labelled such by Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Frederico Melo (POR) who were looking fast all day taking a sixth in race one and victory by a big margin in race two. "For us we have been really enjoying the downwind and I think we have been going really fast," Mateusz said at the end of the second race. But fighting for a podium position on the final run of the day the Pole's mast snapped in two leaving him to drift towards the finish - where he still managed to pick up a 27th for his drifting efforts.
Tomorrow looks set for more of the same with a 1pm start and two races scheduled, and will be streamed live on internet with expert commentary from double Olympic gold medallist, Shirley Robertson (GBR) and Star Olympic campaigner and coach, Maurice O'Connell (IRL). On the water, the latest in hi-tech camera technology, as well as 3D tracking Graphics, will provide thrilling viewing.
Top ten:
1. Robert Scheidt / Henry Boening, BRA
2. Diego Negri / Frithjof Kleen, ITA
3. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Frederico Melo, POL
4. Paul Cayard / Arthur Lopes, USA
5. Fredrik Loof / Brian Fatih, SWE
6. Eric Doyle / Payson Infelise, USA
7. Xavier Rohart / Pierre-Alexis Ponsot, FRA
8. Roberto Benamati / Alberto Ambrosini, ITA
9. Ubert Merkelbach / Markus Koy, GER
10. Marin Misura / Tonko Barac, CRO
Mike Slade Receives OBE
Mike Slade the charismatic owner of Leopard has been at Buckingham Palace today to receive his OBE for services to charity. Coincidentally Mike also completed the sale of his well travelled Supermaxi Leopard 3 today. Mike has had a continuous string of racing maxis for more than 30 years and is now taking a breather from racing at the highest level, but watch this space!
Chris Sherlock - captain until 2018
I have had the honour of looking after all 4 of Mike and his wife Heather's yachts for 27 years until joining Doyle sails Palma as Managing Director in 2018. We raced at the highest level along with some amazing cruising all over the world. Without Mike a lot less people would have been given opportunities to go onto the VOR and Americas cup - in the last edition of the VOR alone there were no less than five Leopard crew sailing. We have had literally thousands of people come through the Leopard program due to Mike's enthusiastic maxi campaigns for so many years.
Hugh Agnew - Navigator and now co-founder of A+T Instruments
I have had the privilege of sailing virtually every race that Mike and Heather's yachts have done - Ocean Leopard, Longobarda, Leopard of London and then most recently the canting keel Leopard 3.
The highlights are too many to count from breaking the Fastnet record to canting Leopard's keel to get under Sydney Harbour bridge or beating Rambler in Mike's two last regattas on the boat.
Mike has made a truly huge contribution to British and international yachting and has given many hundreds of us an enormous amount of fun.
Melges World League Returns To Sardinia
The 2019 European Tour of the Melges World League continues and, for the first time in its history, lands on the Sardinian race course of Marina di Puntaldia, a resort in the North-Easterly coast of Sardinia, few kilometers south of Olbia.
In the two upcoming weekends (17th - 19th May and 24th - 26th May) the champions of the Melges 32 and Melges 20 fleet will compete in the second round of the continental series after the seasonal debut on the other Sardinian race course of Villasimius.
The winners of the first act of the 2019 season were Donino, the team by the Argentinian owner Luigi Giannattasio in the Melges 32 class, and the Russian crew of Russian Bogatyrs by Igor Rytov among the Melges 20.
Yachtscoring event page: yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=7330
Treasure trove of NZ's maritime history revealed
A new exhibition at the New Zealand Maritime Museum celebrates the man behind the historic Fosters ship chandlery and one of the country's most recognised maritime identities, John Street.
From lobbying against Robert Muldoon's boat tax in the 1970s to introducing the Tug Boat race at the Auckland Anniversary Regatta, he's been the man at the helm of many of Auckland's maritime projects for over 50 years.
Street gifted an eclectic collection of nautical objects to the Maritime Museum in 2017. A selection of these curiosities can now be viewed as part of the exhibition, One Man's Treasure: John Street and the Fosters Collection, opening May 29 in the Maritime Museum's Edmiston Gallery.
The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to take a look inside Street's maritime treasure trove and discover the projects that have helped shape the City of Sails as well as New Zealand's maritime industry.
In 1979, as chairman of the Boating Industries Association, Street lobbied against Muldoon's 20 percent boat tax as he felt it was an unjust and fatal attack on an industry which was just beginning to develop export markets.
"We did a survey of the boatbuilding industry and found that the tax was demolishing around 83% of it," says Street.
"A lot of our tradespeople were going overseas or moving into other trades like cabinet making, so there was a vacuum of apprentices. It took years and years, maybe even 20 years, for the industry to get back to normal."
Street's other maritime accomplishments include helping to establish the New Zealand Maritime Museum, introducing the annual Tug Boat race as part of the Auckland Anniversary Regatta, lobbying for the restoration of the Percy Vos Heritage Boat Yard and, most recently, backing the 2018 salvage of DARING, a shipwrecked schooner revealed by shifting sands on Muriwai Beach.
Many of the objects in the One Man's Treasure exhibition come from Fosters Ship Chandlers, a century-old historic building located on Fanshawe Street where Street worked for around 50 years.
What: One Man's Treasure: John Street and the Fosters Collection
Where: New Zealand Maritime Museum, Auckland Viaduct
When: 29 May - 8 September
Cost: Free with museum entry (museum entry is free for Auckland residents with proof of address)
Maserati makes it three from three
Over six races in very mixed conditions Neville Crichton's Maserati team posted their third regatta winning performance of the MC38's 2019 season, which drew seven of the sexy one design fleet to Sydney Harbour.
"We've got a good team, we've been together two seasons now," said the winning skipper Neville Crichton back at the host Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. "Yesterday there was plenty of breeze, we hit 18.5 knots which is flat out. Those rides are exciting, once you get the boat out of the water it's quite easy to manage but the line between out of control and in control is very close".
"If you look at the results you could put a blanket over all of us, virtually. When we first started in this class Ginger was the yardstick, now there's no one that can't win a regatta."
Video highlights thanks to Tilly Lock Media
Back in the country having skippered Australia to victory at the San Francisco SailGP event last weekend, and calling the shots on Hooligan driven by Daniel Turner, was sailing's favourite redhead Tom Slingsby. Marcus Blackmore's Hooligan was in the running for second in the series until they arrived at the race 6 top gate at Double Bay well after their classmates and the breeze had been through. Their last and Ginger's first moved Hooligan back to third in the pointscore.
Saturday's blustery sou'wester delayed racing until the race committee deemed the worst of the conditions had passed. Nasty bullets up to 30 knots, torn sails and plenty of white-water and wipe-outs kept crews busy over three races.
The next time the one design class meets will be Act 3, June 29-30 hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
At Saturday's AGM, Shaun Lane, the co-owner of Lazy Dog, accepted the Australian MC38 Class president's role. -- Lisa Ratcliff
Double Olympic Champion hits out at Windsurfer Recommendation
Dorian van Rijsselberghe(NED), one of the most impressive sailors on the planet has sent an Open Letter to the World Sailing Council members.
Dutch sailors won the Gold and Silver medals in the 2018 Mens World Championship in Aarhus, Denmark, last August. Lilian de Geus (NED) won the Gold medal in the Womens event.
"It is with great disappointment that I note the recommendation from the Board to Council to retain the RS:X without holding sea-trials," he says in the opening summary. "World Sailing has a great opportunity to re-invigorate the sport of sailing and windsurfing and to inspire the next generation. It would be in my opinion a grave mistake for sea- trials not be held."
"I note that it is actually against Dutch interests to move away from the RS:X. We have the current Men's double Olympic Champion; The current RS:X Men's World and Vice World Champions and the Women's World Champion; the Men's European and Vice European Champions and the Women's European Champion."
"Despite the dominant position we hold in the RS:X, I believe it is our duty not only to foster talent and bring it to the top - but in fact that the overriding duty is to act in the best interests of the sport and to ensure its future, prosperity and continued success. It follows that the international body, ought have those objectives. Respectfully, if the Council follows the proposed Board recommendation, World Sailing would not be successful at discharging that duty."
Another must-read from Richard Gladwell: www.sail-world.com
Pensacola Florida scored big with American Magic
Pensacola Florida: CEO/skipper Terry Hutchinson has revealed that the New York Yacht Club American Magic team, a challenger for the 36th America's Cup defense, will be coming back to Pensacola for a second winter training program on Pensacola Bay next November. That's a big score for Pensacola.
This was fresh news to most in the audience at the National Naval Aviation Museum for an afternoon presentation on Tucker Thompson's America's Cup tour, although the plan to return to Pensacola in October was a well kept secret around the famous Blue Bar at Pensacola Yacht Club. The news brought a big round of applause.
Now everybody knows American Magic is coming back to their Port of Pensacola winter base in late October. Like last winter, they should begin sailing in November.
Hutchinson said that both AC75 #1, which should be testing in Newport in August and AM38, the MULE, will be sailing on Pensacola Bay until AC75 #1 ships out for Italy at a springtime 2020 date TBD. He said, "The local community here has been unbelievably supportive of what we are doing. Of any place we could have gone in the country, the only thing that happened here is that everyone says 'Yes'…. The bay is an untapped resource for sailing."
American Magic's plan to return to Pensacola next winter is big news for Cup fans worldwide. The activity Pensacola Bay will be intense as all the sailing world watches. Eyes of sailors around the world will focus on Pensacola. -- Talbot Wilson
* the Pensacola Yacht Club was the 2017 Wight Vodka Best Yachting Bar winner. In part because of their "Bushwacker" drink. A VERY grown-up milkshake...
Letters To The Editor -
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 (and dozens of sailors)
To whom it may concern,
We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the removal of the Finn class from the 2024 Olympic Games by World Sailing and to request the reinstatement of a class suited to male athletes over 85 kilograms.
While we understand that the main reason behind this decision was to give preference to mixed event categories, removing the Finn class eliminates a massive Olympic sailing group which includes every single male athlete over 85 kilograms. Historically, athletes of this category have significantly contributed to the sport and this category's popularity continues today. At the recent Aarhus Sailing World Championships in Denmark, 42 nations gathered and participated with athletes in the Finn class, making the Finn the third largest class at the competition.
Not only is the Finn class's popularity undeniable and the removal of this class a detriment to the Olympic Games, but it also discriminates against many sailors. Despite the initial working party and the World Sailing Events Committee Chairman's expressed respect for World Sailing's Regulation 23 and the 'all physique's' policy 70/17, the category of men over 85 kilograms has been discriminated against and effectively barred from competition due to the equipment specifications. For further evidence of this detrimental phenomenon, please see page 17 of the attached document, which illustrates that all male sailors fall into the 70-85 kilogram bracket.
The removal of the Finn class from the Olympic Games breaches World Sailing rules and policies and disregards the principles of the Olympic Charter with respect to non-discrimination of physiques, and limits access to many sailors. Therefore, we urge you to reinstate a class, like the Finn, suited to male athletes over 85 kilograms in order to guarantee the fair access to all sailors and in order to avoid the implementation of discriminatory decision from World Sailing.
In the hope that a correction will be provided without the need for further action, we remain at your disposal for a constructive dialogue on this matter at the address shown in the header of this letter.
See the Sailors Physique Survey Aarhus 2018 here
* From Jim Champ, Epsom UK:
On 10 May 2019 8:00 a.m., EuroSail News <> wrote: >
> The flow of the wind around the sails, together with sail area,
> sail disposition and sail shape, determine the level of the
> propulsive force while the flow of water around the hull and
> the hull appendages, together with their size and shape,
> determine the level of the force resisting forward motion,
> and the force resisting sideways drift caused by the wind on
> the sails. > Is that truly the way we should be thinking about it in the 21stC? We all (should) know that a sailing boat will operate just as effectively in 5 knots of current and no wind as it will in 5 knots of wind and no current. Simple observation tells us that both water and air have changed as we pass it, and it seems to me that it's dubious to claim that the wind provides all the propulsive force and the water merely lateral resistance. Would it be truer to consider that propulsive force comes from both wind and water? We could do a thought experiment in which a lighter than air craft is supported by the air and has a "keel" in the air and "sails" in the water, but if we ignore the drag that comes from supporting the craft in whichever medium, isn't the energy source exactly the same? In that case would it be accurate to say power comes from the water and not the air? Or will it be better to say we extract energy from the difference in speed in both media?
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The Last Word
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