In This Issue
• Cowes Week Daily Round-Up Day 4
• Tilly's Triumph
• Lucy Macgregor Scoops Slingsby Ladies Day Trophy at Cowes Week
• Kick off the Caribbean regatta season with the Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week 2020
• ORC European Championship
• South-Westerlies beckon for the Ullswater Ultimate
• 'Tornado' hits Auckland waterfront and leaves destruction in its wake
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• RS:X Youth World Championship
• Clipper Ventures calls for independent inquiry into MCA and MAIB
• Saildrone is first to circumnavigate Antarctica, in search for carbon dioxide
• Featured Charter
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Black Pepper Code 2
• • TP/IRC 52 - "Ambition"
• • Dazcat 1795
• The Last Word: Winston Churchill
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
Cowes Week Daily Round-Up Day 4
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Competitors enjoyed a classic day of Solent racing today, with the race area largely bathed in sunshine and a west south-westerly breeze that built from 10 knots in the morning to gusts of nearing 20 by mid afternoon. For the Black Group yachts the day culminated in a classic downwind finish against the tide past the Green to the Royal Yacht Squadron, with competitors gybing frequently in a building breeze.
Today was also Slingsby Ladies Day, a celebration of the many successes of women in sailing. More than 30 per cent of competitors here are women and around 100 women helms were racing today. Class winners among them include Tilly Harrison, overall winner of the J/70 Grand Slam, Natalie Jobling in the double-handed class, Gayle Palmer's Sunbeam, Hannah Stodel on Cobra in IRC Class 2 and Dawn Bee on Haggis 2 in Cruiser Division C.
Alain Waha's Spongebob led the SB20 fleet away at the start of their first race, having correctly identified how far back from the line the outer distance mark was laid. Peter Noes' 6A Vision Homes and Charles Whelan's Breaking Bod were just behind Spongebob, while Andrew Bell's Dark and Stormy was a lone boat towards the inshore end of the line.
These four continued inshore after the bulk of the fleet tacked offshore onto port, one of the first boats to do so having been the overall leader at the start of the day, John Pollard's Xcellent. Breaking Bod won today's first race by an impressive margin, having pulled out a six minute lead on Matt and Chris Williams' Carnage. Anastasia Morozova's Am-Rusarc took third 50 seconds later, taking the mantle as first woman skipper in this race. There was much tighter competition further down the fleet - for instance the four boats in places 15-19 finished only 30 seconds apart.
Following a further two windward-leeward races from committee boats, Whelan emerged as the overall winner of the class's Grand Slam event that took place over the first four days of the regatta. Pollard was second overall and Morozova third.
IRC class 5 encompasses a wide range of designs and has therefore been split into two sections, reflecting that the IRC rule is very good at reflecting small differences between similar craft, but it's inherently much harder to quantify difference between boats of widely varying designs.
Only 28 seconds separated the top four boats on the water in IRC Class 5a. Despite having had a second-row start Mike Moxley's HOD 35 Malice soon pulled ahead to lead most of the way around the course. However, on the final run the lower-rated boats astern started closing as the wind built from the west.
At the finish Malice took line honours 15 seconds ahead of Ronsyn Borghis' Archambault 35 Tontin Pups. -- Rupert Holmes
Tilly's Triumph
26-year-old Tilly Harrison's Sorcha J has won the J/70 Mini-Series at Cowes Week. Tilly's father Peter owns the Maxi72 Sorcha, and they often race together but not on this occasion. Tilly lives in Putney with her two dogs and loves to sail in her spare time. Aptly on Ladies' Day at Cowes Week, Tilly scored her first J/70 race victory, and went on to win the Grand Slam J/70 Event.
Paul Ward's Eat,Sleep, J Repeat was always in the running, and finished the regatta with two bullets to finish second for the mini-series. New to the UK scene was Victor Migraine's team OhLaLa! Victor shared the helm with 420 World Champion Vita Heathcote from Lymington. OhLaLa! Had a star-studded crew including top Figaro3 sailor and Fastnet champion Alexis Loison, and 2018 Tour Voile champion Valentin Sipan. Jack Davies Yeti, from Yarmouth IOW was the top youth team for the Grand Slam Event.
The next event in the 2019 J/70 UK Class Grand Slam Series is non-discardable. An impressive fleet is expected for the J/70 UK National Championship, 23-26 August, hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club. 36 teams have confirmed their participation. As an open event, top teams from abroad will be competing including past and present world and continental champions: Joel Ronning's Catapult (USA), Alberto Rossi's Enfant Terrible (ITA), Jose Maria Torcida's Noticia (ESP), Claudia Rossi's Petite Terrible (ITA), and Peter Duncan's Relative Obscurity (USA). -- Louay Habib
Lucy Macgregor Scoops Slingsby Ladies Day Trophy at Cowes Week
Photo by Ingrid Abery, www.ingridabery.com. Click on image for photo gallery.
Lucy Macgregor, has been announced as the winner of the Slingsby Ladies Day Trophy at Cowes Week. The trophy recognises the outstanding contribution, commitment, or achievement of women in sailing.
The annual Ladies Day returned to Cowes Week on Tuesday 13th August, this year supported by the Official Gin Sponsor Slingsby, with a number of celebrations culminating in the announcement that Lucy Macgregor was the winner of the Slingsby Ladies Day Trophy at an exclusive evening reception held at Northwood House.
The trophy was introduced for the first time in 2006 to champion the role of women in sailing and the sheer number of female competitors racing at Cowes Week. There are some 8,000 competitors taking part in the regatta this year and around a third of them are female.
Lucy Macgregor is an Olympian and four-time World Champion in Women's Match Racing - in the USA in 2010, Finland in 2017, Russia in 2018 and just a few days ago in Lysekil, Sweden. In May this year, Lucy and her crew finished fourth at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda - a Grade 1 (open) matching event. They are the only team for two years running in the event's 68 year history to make the semi-finals with a female helm. 2012 Olympians, Lucy and her sister Kate now have a new challenge and have set their sights on winning gold at Tokyo 2020.
In addition to the Ladies Day trophy, the new Slingsby Best Female Helm Trophy was presented to Dawn Bee racing on Haggis 2 as the female helm out racing with the best overall result.
Kick off the Caribbean regatta season with the Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week 2020
Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week is one of the key events in the Caribbean regatta circuit and kick starts the sailing season from 26 - 31 January 2020. With four days of exciting coastal racing in one of the most stunning islands in the Caribbean, Grenada Sailing Week attracts keen racing sailors from around the world. With CSA classes, a strong fleet of J24's and a classic class already well established, organisers are pleased to announce a class for Carriacou Sloops. Consideration will be given to PHRF or other classes, such as bareboat depending upon sufficient entries (minimum of five boats).
Grenada Sailing Weeks unique two venue event starts on Sunday 26 January 2020 with skippers briefing at the prestigious Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in St George's where it continues for the first two days of racing and the lay day. Race day three will move with the transition race to the scenic Secret Harbour Marina in Mount Hartman Bay for the final days racing. Final nights prize giving and the grand finale will be held at at a 'to be announced' location. All venues have been specially selected to show case the beautiful island of Grenada.
The organising committee in association with the Grenada Sailing Association continue to support the youth initiative introduced last year to Grenada Sailing Week to help to bridge the gap between between youths and keel boats by sponsoring a youth sailing team to compete in one of the classes.
Register and pay before the 30 Nov 2019 to benefit from early fee of US$90.00
Online registration: yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=9522
NoR is posted online: www.grenadasailingweek.com
ORC European Championship
Oxelosund, Sweden - A mix of sun and clouds today and a highly variable southwesterly breeze greeted both race managers and competitors on the practice day prior to tomorrow's start of the SSAB ORC European Championship 2019. Principal Race Officer Hakan Andersson and his team managed starts and short races in two course areas: one for Classes A and B about a 10-mile commute from the harbor in Oxelosund, and another for Class C about half that distance away.
The 8-14 knot wind speeds and variable directions helped challenge all in their skill sets, making for near-perfect conditions for a demanding day on the water.
Some teams took advantage of the opportunity to practice on the race course today, while others focused on their own team work and practice on the water or other preparations done ashore and at the dock.
The last news was the final list of all-amateur teams eligible for the Corinthian trophies awarded in each class was also produced at this meeting: 34 entries have been approved.
In practice race action for Class A, only four teams participated and completed an 8.6-mile three-lap Windward/Leeward course. Erik Berth's Swan 45 SD Tarok 7 from Denmark bested the runner-up Aida, Lennart Evrell's XP-44 from Sweden, by 56 seconds in corrected time.
In Class B action, 18 teams raced a two-lap 5.9-mile Windward/Leeward course, with Riku Nissila's X-41 Mercedes-Benz EQ from Finland on top of the pack, only 4 seconds ahead of runner-up Jens Kuphal's modified Landmark 43 Intermezzo from Germany in second. Another 49 seconds back was Priit Tammemagi's modified X-41 Premium from Estonia in third, while C-J Marnell's Farr 40 Warpath from Sweden was only 7 seconds back in fourth. This kind of close racing in corrected time amongst teams from multiple nations is a prelude of the type of results we will expect to see this week from this class.
The forecast for tomorrow's first two inshore races of the series and the promotional fun race looks solid: southwest to west winds of 10-18 knots, and shifty again like today. Racing will continue daily until concluding on Saturday, August 17th, when three podiums of 2019 ORC European Champions will be crowned for each class. -- Dobbs Davis
South-Westerlies beckon for the Ullswater Ultimate
A wide range of boats and sailing abilities are set to compete at the brand new Ullswater Ultimate regatta this weekend, 17 & 18 August. Hosted by Ullswater Yacht Club, who hold the prestigious Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy, this is the latest event of the Great British Sailing Challenge (GBSC).
Online entry for the event closes at midnight, Wednesday 14 August, so be quick and enter here: www.sailingchallenge.org
Otherwise, it is still possible to enter on the day for a higher entry fee. The forecast looks very good, with moderate south-westerly breezes set to blow along the length of this beautiful stretch of water in the Lake District.
There's a wide range of boats already entered, from the Challenger trimarans, to Musto Skiffs, Lasers, Solos and a few RS models including the RS100, 200, 400 & 800.
The two-day event is open to all classes of monohull dinghy, dayboat or cruiser under 25ft 6ins and there will be six races over the weekend, three on Saturday and three on Sunday, with results calculated on a handicap basis using Great Lakes numbers. Using SailRacer GPS trackers there will also be other scoring categories as well as the main results.
www.sailingchallenge.org
www.ullswateryachtclub.org
'Tornado' hits Auckland waterfront and leaves destruction in its wake
A tornado-like waterspout has ripped through central Auckland's waterfront, toppling at least one shipping container and wreaking havoc on yachts, ships and cars.
Vehicles were swept into the ocean and a yacht was struck by lightning as the storm left a trail of destruction on Monday night.
A shipping container toppled on to a car at Jellicoe Wharf near Tinley St, trapping the driver. They were tended to by emergency services and taken to hospital in a moderate condition.
Coastguard duty officer Hemi Manaena said the winds had caused "significant damage" to a large number of recreational vessels at Westhaven.
The Sealink Ferry also lost its mooring at Wynyard Quarter and needed to be retrieved.
Harbourmaster Captain Andrew Hayton said there was localised minor damage to wharves and pontoons from North Head to the Harbour Bridge.
Seahorse September 2019
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
Update
Why is there still one critical danger to the sport that people refuse to talk about? New Cup class means big sail burn, reflections on a year spent Solitaire and good, bad or irrelevant... another thin cycle for America's Cup teams. Peter Heppel, Jack Griffin, Terry Hutchinson, Will Harris
Days, weeks, months...
Jo Richards spent a while winning the 2019 Round the Island UK classic but - as per usual - getting to the startline was more than half the fun
Airborne (and accessible)
The demise of the long-running Extreme Sailing Series is doing the expanding GC32 Racing Tour no harm at all. Christian Scherrer
Nothing new
Charles Lawrence goes back to where what we call 'composite boatbuilding' really all started
Unstoppable force
Brian Hancock has accepted the inevitable as the last great solo race departs from British shores
Olympians
Matias Capizzano
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RS:X Youth World Championship
Click on image for photo gallery.
Two world champions were decided today on Neva Bay, St Petersburg in what turned out to be a dramatic conclusion to the RS:X Youth World Championship. Champions were Russian Yena Reznikova and Israeli Eval Zhor.
On the final day of the championship, a wind of 5-6 knots allowed for the full schedule of races to be delivered, with thanks to the skills of the race officers and their teams. After a short pause due to the lack of the wind, there was sufficient wind to allow the days battles to take place where the medals and titles were at stake.
Reznikova won the championship by 26 points. This result brought her the championship. Pianazza was three points behind the Russian racer and took second place. Israeli Naama Greenberg finished third (45 points). On the fourth line is her compatriot Linoy Geva (55), and on the fifth is another Russian (79).
In the medal race among men, there is a similar situation. From the very first mark, the Israelis - Eyal Yohay Zror and Daniel Basik Tashtash - took the lead and moved close to each other on each mark. Until the finish line, the best friends would move clear of their rivals. It was they who competed for gold with each other. In this struggle, Zror turned out to be more successful, and he finished first and won the championship. His teammate - Tashtash - became the second in the medal race and in the overall ranking. The most fierce struggling was for the bronze medal. Israeli Ruven Hillel surpassed Greek Alexandros Kalpogiannakis only with one point
www.rsxclass.org/youthworlds2019
Clipper Ventures calls for independent inquiry into MCA and MAIB
Following an investigation into the tragic death of Simon Speirs, Clipper Ventures has called on the Department for Transport to hold an independent inquiry to establish the full extent of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigatory teams' failure of professionalism, impartiality and honesty.
On the 18th November 2017, Simon Speirs, a 60 year old retired solicitor, fell overside whilst helping to reduce sail. The yacht, CV30, owned by Clipper Ventures, was participating in an around the world race and was experiencing increasing winds and sea state in the Southern Ocean. Mr Speirs was tethered to the boat but fell overside due to a freak failure of a tether safety clip. Mr Speirs was recovered but could not be resuscitated.
The accident was investigated by both the MCA and MAIB, and their conclusions are the cause of considerable concern.
At a meeting between Clipper Ventures and the new CEO of the MCA held on 25 July 2019, it was revealed that, after a new enquiry into the actions of the MCA Enforcement Official who had initiated and headed up a number of investigations concerning Clipper Ventures, multiple errors and distortions of the truth had been discovered,
The MCA and MAIB investigations followed remarkably parallel courses and it has to be suspected that significant and improper influence was applied to the MAIB investigation by the MCA team. Clipper Ventures has often complained of lack of impartiality at the MAIB, a belief now held more strongly than ever. The safety of its crew is the highest priority for Clipper Ventures and has been since the race was established in 1996.
* A spokesperson for Clipper Ventures said the MCA boss admitted one of its investigators had misled the family over the circumstances surrounding the death, and so Clipper were now demanding ministers step in and set up an independent inquiry.
"It was revealed, after a new enquiry into the actions of the MCA Enforcement Official who had initiated and headed up a number of investigations concerning Clipper Ventures, multiple errors and distortions of the truth had been discovered," a Clipper Ventures spokesperson said.
"The MCA claimed there was a vessel within 60 miles of the yacht that could have taken the body home for burial. They have now admitted this was not true. The nearest vessel was 1,500 miles away, or five-to-six days.
Saildrone is first to circumnavigate Antarctica, in search for carbon dioxide
It was an audacious idea: To send an unmanned saildrone on a 13,670-nautical-mile journey around Antarctica alone, at the mercy of the most hostile seas on the planet. In winter.
"The assumption was the Southern Ocean would eat the saildrone ... and that would be that," said NOAA oceanographer Adrienne Sutton. "But we were willing to try, given the large role the ocean plays in the trajectory of climate change. Getting the Southern Ocean's carbon balance right is urgently important."
Despite a run-in with an iceberg that wrecked some of its sensors, Saildrone 1020 completed its mission on August 3 having successfully collected oceanic and atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements with an instrument developed by NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
The 196-day voyage was the world's first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica - a technological feat that was unfathomable just a decade ago.
Preliminary results suggest that parts of the ocean identified by the floats as potential CO2 sources were indeed emitting the greenhouse gas during winter months. Saildrone 1020 also got close enough to one of the floats to allow scientists to compare their CO2 measurements, a valuable cross-check of different robots and observing techniques.
"It was a high-risk, high-reward kind of deployment," Sutton said. "We weren't sure it was going to make it.
Meanwhile, after being repaired and relaunched, Saildrones 1022 and 1023 are finding their own their way around Antarctica now.
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The Last Word
The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learned to like it. -- Winston Churchill
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