In This Issue
• Grenada Sailing Week Sea Hawk Paints Race Day Three
• Grenada Workboat Regatta
• Solent Showdown, Get your Tickets!
• Competition Tight After Second Stage Of EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour
• Warren Jones International Youth Regatta
• Race Format Confirmed For ACWS Sardegna - Cagliari Regatta
• Mild and breezy forecast for this weekend's Tiger Trophy
• SB20 Grand Slam Week
• Launchings
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • SW78 Ocean Horse
• • Soto 40
• • Custom Harry Dunning 42, Baby Bella
• The Last Word: Isaac Asimov
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
South Side to Secret Harbour: Grenada Sailing Week Sea Hawk Paints Race Day Three
Jonathan Gittens' Morgan 41 Shangri La. Click on image for photo gallery.
Racing continued at Island Water World Grenada Sailing Week with Sea Hawk Paints Race Day 3. All classes enjoyed a lively passage race from Grand Anse Beach on the sheltered west coast of Grenada to the south side of the island more exposed to the trade winds emanating from the Atlantic Ocean. Competitors reported a lively 17 knots of wind with a modest ocean swell. All classes except the Classics enjoyed further short course racing on the South Coast of the Spice Island. There were race wins today for: Liquid (ANT), La Morrigane (FRA), Rasmus (AUT), C-MOS (TRI), Shangri La (BAR), Die Hard (GRN), Fadeaway (BAR), and Jabal (LCA).
In CSA 1, Pamala Baldwin's J/122 Liquid (ANT) continue to impress in the big boat class scoring a 1-2-2 today opening up a five point lead at the top of the class from their nearest rival, Richard Szyjan's Hobie 33 Category 5 (GRN). Rob Butler's Reflex 38 Touch2Play Racing (CAN) stays on the podium. Sea Hawk Paints Race Day was a great success for Tristan Marmousez La Morrigane (FRA). The day did not start well, when La Morrigane failed to finish the transition race. However, two bullets rounded off a great day for the team from Martinique.
In CSA 3, Dieter Huppenkothen's Swan 43 Rasmus (AUT) revelled in the conditions to score two wins today, propelling the team from Vienna to first in class. Norman Da Costa'a Soveral 42 C-MOS was leading the class but drops to second today after a 4-2, C-MOS is just a point behind Rasmus. Edward & Jonathan Kacal's First 38 Petit Careme (TRI) is third in class.
In the Classics Class Jonathan Gittens' Morgan 41 Shangri La (BAR) scored their third bullet and now has an unassailable lead for the regatta.
Cumulative Results on YachtScoring.com
Westerhall White Jack Grenada Sailing Festival - Workboat Regatta
Click on image for photo gallery.
Grand Anse Beach, St.Georges, Grenada, West Indies: Boat building in the tri-island state of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique has been a tradition for over 200 years. Every year since 1994, the traditional workboat regatta has been held on the Spice Island of Grenada. Title sponsor Westerhall Rums, in association with the Grenada Tourism Authority, support the regatta alongside generous sponsors supporters and friends. The regatta is this weekend, 01-02 February
Sailors take part in the Westerhall White Jack Grenada Sailing Festival come from all over Grenada plus the sister Islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Communities with a strong sailing and boat building heritage race each other off the award winning Grand Anse Beach outside Grenada's capital St. Georges.
Traditionally the boats raced are 16 or 17 feet long, made from local hard woods and with masts of bamboo. Today boats are built specifically for racing and on average it takes four to six weeks to build a boat from scratch. On the Saturday of the festival, teams from each Grenadian community race each other to become their own community champion. In recent years, a new Woburn Class has been introduced to encourage the continued participation of young community sailors - the 'Young Guns' who wish to sail faster and harder.
On Sunday afternoon the winners of the community classes race against each other using the one design GSF 16s - the fleet of boats that Grenada Sailing Festival had built specifically for match racing. This fleet of boats is also used for the very popular National Team Sailing finals where each community nominates a junior and senior crew to race. This is a very high-profile competitive end to the regatta and generates tremendous community support for the participating crews. The long-term commitment of the Grenada Sailing Festival continues to be the continuation of involvement in, and interest in Grenada's strong boat building and sailing heritage. -- Louay Habib
Solent Showdown, Get your Tickets!
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Saturday) at 1000 for the UK's most exciting sailing event this summer, the Emirates America's Cup World Series Portsmouth, taking place across 4-7th June.
To celebrate the America's Cup racing returning to British waters, event organisers are offering a 15% early bird discount for one month across all ticket options which can be purchased online via Ticketmaster.
Portsmouth is hosting the second event on the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) 2020 circuit and it will be the third time the city has hosted the racing. 2020 is set to be another exciting, entertainment-packed weekend, enjoyed by everyone. Teams will come together from across the globe; New Zealand, America and Italy to join the local home team, INEOS TEAM UK - led on the water by five time Olympic medallist, Sir Ben Ainslie - for the fastest sailing show on the Solent.
The Solent is the most iconic and historic America's Cup venue, dating back to 1851 when the inaugural Cup was a sprint around the Isle of Wight. Spectators can watch the action unfold across four days of highly-charged racing, during a two hour race window each day.
The Race Village Fanzone will open daily from 10.30 - 18.00 and you can choose from one day, weekend and four-day event passes for general admission to the Race Village Fanzone, Premier Grandstand seating to a weekend of hospitality in the prestigious Emirates Lounge. Children five and under go free and those aged six - 15 half price with an adult purchaser of a general race village admission ticket.
Find out more on the ticket and event packages at Ticketmaster
Competition Tight After Second Stage Of EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour
Photo by Sander van der Borch, sandervanderborch.com. Click on image to enlarge.
A strong rivalry is developing amongst the top three teams EFG Bank, Groupe Atlantic, and DB Schenker following Stage 2 of the 2020 EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour in Duqm, Oman.
While the top three remains unchanged from the opening Stage in Salalah, EFG Bank's lead on top of the rankings has reduced following strong performances from both Groupe Atlantic and the all-female team DB Schenker in Duqm.
The conditions in Duqm, a major port city on the Arabian sea in central-eastern Oman, didn't make things easy for the eight teams taking part in the tenth edition of EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour. However, Groupe Atlantic, made up of Clement Cron and Aristide Gasquet of France and Spanish sailor Richard-Nebla Romèn, excelled to take out day one honours.
Four stadium races were held on day two and despite a shaky opening race, EFG Bank rallied to come away with two wins to keep hold of the top spot in the overall rankings.
A total of eight teams are taking part in the 2020 EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour, made up of sailors from Oman, France, Switzerland, and Spain. Over 15 days from 26 January-8 February, the teams will race onboard a fleet of DIAM24s in five diverse and beautiful locations along the Omani coastline.
Following the opening two stages in Salalah and Duqm, the 2020 EFG Sailing Arabia - The Tour will continue to make its way up the Omani coast, stopping in Masirah Island and Sur, before holding the championship deciding two days of racing in Muscat on 7-8
Warren Jones International Youth Regatta
It all comes down to this. Four teams will battle it out in the semi-finals best of 3 series to decide our final two, for the chance to win the 2020 Warren Jones International Youth Regatta. Join us LIVE on Facebook.com/WarrenJonesRegatta for LIVE on board Footage throughout the dayas we crown our 18th Champion.
Two live feeds will be available to allow you to ride along with your favourite team. Semi Finals Begin from 3pm AWST with the Finals Immediately following!
Race Format Confirmed For ACWS Sardegna - Cagliari Regatta
Four international teams from New Zealand, Italy, the United States, and Great Britain have been confirmed for the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) regatta taking place in Cagliari, Sardinia from April 23-26 - the opening event of the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada.
The event will see current America's Cup holder Emirates Team New Zealand and Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team from Italy, be joined by the British and American challengers INEOS TEAM UK and NYYC American Magic for four days of match racing on the Gulf of Cagliari at the Southeast part of the beautiful Mediterranean island of Sardinia.
The regatta is the first of three ACWS events in 2020 and marks the first occasion the teams will compete against each other aboard their revolutionary foiling AC75 Class monohull yachts.
Racing is scheduled for 1400 - 1600 each day and fans can book a spot on an official spectator boat to get close to the action. Alternatively they can watch on jumbo screens dotted around the race village.
For the first three days of the regatta there will be four races per day of round robin competition when all of the four teams will race each other twice. The races will be held on a windward-leeward configuration racecourse and last around 20 minutes each. Race winners will score one point and the losers zero points.
On the final day the bottom two teams will contest a single playoff race to decide third and fourth, while the top two teams will face off in a first-to-two-points final.
The ACWS Sardegna - Cagliari event will be followed in 2020 by ACWS regattas in Portsmouth, England from June 4-7, and in Auckland - along with a separate Christmas Race regatta - in the timeframe December 17-20.
Following this in January and February 2021 the Challengers will race for the Prada Cup to decide which of them will take on Emirates Team New Zealand in the Match for the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada scheduled for March 6-21.
Mild and breezy forecast for this weekend's Tiger Trophy
There are more than 110 boat entered for the John Merricks Tiger Trophy, the sixth event in this season's Selden Sailjuice Winter Series. The 15 to 18 knot forecast could be good for the trapeze boats, with three back-to-back handicap races scheduled for Saturday, followed by a slightly lighter wind for Sunday's non-discardable Pursuit Race. Among an entry of almost twenty 420s are recent winners of the Bloody Mary, Dylan McPherson and Jack Lewis, who might fancy their chances of another massed-fleet handicap victory.
Perhaps the catamarans such as the Nacra 15 or the Nacra Carbon 20 could come to the fore in the full-power conditions expected on Rutland Water this weekend. Meanwhile there will be plenty of hard-fought battles throughout the fleet. Penny and Russ Clark will be racing their 505 hard against the reigning National and European Champions, Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane. The GP14 has attracted some of the UK's best sailing talents this winter and there's a good turnout from the hiking doublehander this weekend, with multiple Endeavour winner Nick Craig/ Roger Phillips up against the likes of Scorpion National Champion Pete Gray sailing with Richard Pepperdine.
There's a whole range of boats competing, from the 2.4m sit-in keelboat along with the K1 and K6s, some Challenger trimarans, a smattering of catamarans and a whole host of hiking and trapezing monohulls up to an SB20 sportsboat.
The Tiger Trophy is also a celebration of the memory of John Merricks, the winner of the first Tiger Trophy before he went on to win an Olympic silver at the 1996 Games with Ian Walker in a 470. The Tiger Dinner takes place again this year at RSC starting about 7pm on Saturday evening.
The cost is £10 if booked online beforehand on SailjuiceSeries.com, or you can order from the RSC office before Saturday (01780 720292). It is £12 if booked on Saturday. The menu will be John's favourite of Bangers & Mash with Peas and Onion Gravy. Sausages will be usual Lincolnshire or if preferred, vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free sausages - please specify your requirements in advance. This is followed by apple crumble and custard and cream.
This event is a major fund raising event for the John Merricks Sailing Trust. After racing from after 5pm, there will be a "Happy hour", with pint bottles of Tiger Bitter provided by Everards being sold at £2 each, with money donated to JMST. A perfect way to enjoy the Six Nations Rugby which will be playing on the big screen in the bar. Either before or during the dinner, there will be a "Experts Q&A" session compered by Ian Walker. A number of top sailors at the event will be open to questions and share some of their experiences and advice on how to improve performance and results. So bring any questions you want to ask.
SB20 Grand Slam Week
The SB20 Asian Grand Slam Week will be on 5-9 February 2020 at ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove. The event will combine two regattas: the Singapore National Championship and the Asia Pacific Championship (APAC). This is the first time these two regattas are run back to back, and this combination will function as the practice regatta for the SB20 World Championship in February 2021.
25 teams from all over the world will be competing for the APAC trophy. 14 nationalities will be represented, including Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom and USA. The international sailors will meet up with the local fleet, which includes nine Singaporean university teams.
Last year's APAC champion, team Glasgow Kiss with Nils Razmilovic at the helm has this year teamed up with former laser world champion, Nik Burfoot. They are once again one of the favourites for the trophy, but will be challenged by former SB20 World Council Chairman, Ed Russo and his team Skin in the Game from France.
Launchings
Click on images to enlarge.
Royal Huisman just made one helluva splash.
The Dutch builder has rolled out the world's largest aluminum sailing yacht to the delight of marine enthusiasts everywhere. The 266-foot schooner, known as Sea Eagle II, spread her wings and left the nest on Tuesday with her new owner in sight.
Built for prominent Taiwanese businessman, philanthropist and owner of the first Sea Eagle, Dr. Samuel Yin, this gargantuan vessel is Royal Huisman's largest vessel yet. Apparently, the serial yacht collector took the yard's mantra "If you can dream it, we can build it" quite literally. The epic three-masted schooner eclipses the original Sea Eagle by more than 120 feet. It also boasts a further 800 GT in volume than its predecessor.
Sporting exterior lines by Dykstra Naval Architects, Sea Eagle II features a striking monochrome palette that is softened by the golden brown wooden deck. To reduce weight and increase performance, the schooner boasts a plumb bow, carbon rigging by Rondal and carbon fiber masts which measure more than 190 feet. Her 13-foot rudder is the biggest ever to be crafted out of carbon composite.
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The Hylas H60 brings a new level of innovative design and construction to a well established brand. We are excited to continue our long partnership with world class designer Germán Frers, once again testing the boundaries of performance, functionality and quality for bluewater cruising yachts. We are also ensuring our reputation for great value stays intact. This new project being developed at the home of Hylas - Queen Long Marine, Taiwan—brings Hylas to a level of performance and head turning good looks that will certainly capture the attention of our competition.
The world debut of the H60 is at the Miami Boat Show, Friday February 14 at Hylas stand - Booth 933-935
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Dufour is one of the most venerable brands in the world sailing market and today still is one of the most popular brands of sailboats in Europe, particularly in France, where the company regularly outsells Beneteau and Jeanneau.
With a long history and a solid tradition of building elegant performance cruising and racing boats, you might think that the company would rest on its laurels and emphasize in their new boats the qualities that made the company successful in the first place. But, in its latest iteration and under the new ownership of catamaran giant Fountaine Pajot, Dufour is once again innovating, breaking norms and moving fast.
Last year the company introduced to North America two new designs, the 390 and 430, that were designed by Felci Yachts Design in Italy. These new and thoroughly modern racer cruisers have a very distinctive and edgy look and are notable for their sailing performance and ease of handling.
In 2020, Dufour will launch the all-new 530, which they call their "innovation pioneer." The boat has a Felci performance hull that can be adapted into three very distinct variations called Performance, Ocean and Easy.
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Jimmy Buffett's delightfully famous lifestyle, infused with copious amounts of "island escapism," pairs perfectly with the personality of the Surfari 48 that Friendship Yacht Company is presenting in a scaled-back version of its Surfari 54 announced November 2015. The new Surfari 48 designed by naval architect Edward "Ted" Fontaine and built by Pacific Seacraft in North Carolina, anticipates that the new design's more compact length and personally approved adaptations - including those for short-handed handling - will "simplify" his life on the water as he uses the yacht for a home away from home.
"It's the perfect extension for living the life he enjoys, whether it's in Sag Harbor for the summer or the Keys and the Caribbean in the winter," said Fontaine about Buffett enjoying the Surfari 48's most intriguing features. "A high performance auxiliary powered sailing yacht, it has as strong an emphasis on speed under sail as it does speed under power, which means…it goes places. And once it's where it needs to be, it becomes a luxury indoor/outdoor living platform that allows its user to enjoy the destination as much as the journey."
"Buffett epitomizes the demographic that would get the most out of the Surfari 48," said Fontaine, adding that target markets include experienced performance racing yacht owners who have exhausted their appetites for competition and the extensive demands of their campaigns. "Having honed their sailing skills to near-professional levels, these potential owners associate high performance with high technology. They want to go fast and get there in style, and now that they are approaching their retirement years their need for speed is being seasoned with a newly appreciated desire for comfort and versatility afloat."
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 Michael Brown: re: Seahorse Sailor of the Month nominee Josh Junior
Thanks for recognising the achievements of Josh Junior as a nominee for sailor of the month but I just wanted to let you know he's yet to secure Olympic selection. The boat has been qualified for New Zealand but the New Zealand selectors have yet to confirm who will represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics and it's far from certain given Andy Maloney is also in the mix.
* From John Waugh:
Almost every day we hear of some new sailing record broken in astonishingly time on some monster foiling multihull. Around the World, Trans-Atlantic around the Atlantic, TransPac, the Tea Route to name just a few. While I don't deny the great effort, skill and amazing technology required to achieve such things, nor even the positive effects that trickle down can have from such exploits, I do worry that the real reason people sail is being ignored.
Whenever I fly anywhere around the World, in concerns me that, not only am I adding to the woes of the planet below me but also I am flashing past countries, cultures, environments both natural and man made without seeing or experiencing any of them. Are we not in danger of doing this to sailing in our relentless pursuit of speed.
I think it was one of the Herreshoffs who made the comment that the enjoyment of sailing is directly proportional to the speed at which it is done, however, I think even he would have baulked at the idea that boats tearing round the planet in 40 days was the apotheosis of all that is good about sailing.
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See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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racing-yachts.com/soto-40-496.html
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2004 - Refit 2015 SW78 Ocean Horse. 1,800,000 (VAT Paid) EUR. Located in Genova, Italy.
Ocean Horse is the fourth hull of the 78’ miniseries, one of the most successful Southern Wind projects, that boast the design partnership of Reichel Pugh Design and Nauta Design.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
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2015 Custom Harry Dunning 42, BABY BELLA. 395000 USD. Located in Portsmouth, RI - USA.
Offshore friendly 40 ft racing yacht, that does inshore and offshore with verve. Full planing hull and larger sail plan than her peers. Excellent option for the 2020 ORC and IRC worlds in Portsmouth, RI.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Ben Cooper
Telephone: +44(0) 1590 679222
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. -- Isaac Asimov
Editorial and letter submissions to
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