In This Issue
• The 2020 Vendee Globe Will Start On 8th November
• Mike Sanderson on his three decades maxi racing (Part II)
• Robline Product News: POB-Net
• Restart Sailing
• First ever virtual Eric Twiname Junior Championships a huge success
• 17th PalmaVela will be held between October the 22nd and the 25th
• How Can Keelboat Racing Work with Social Distancing?
• The Mexican - Kiwi Style
• J/99: Join the experts for a Live Show with Jeff Johnstone and Hannah Le Prevost
• Racing for the Rest of 2020
• Featured Charter: Sciomachen 56 for charter
• Featured Brokerage:
• • SW100DS L'Ondine
• • Warrior for Sale
• • Aquarius Alfa - Swan 100S
• The Last Word: John Prine
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
The 2020 Vendee Globe Will Start On 8th November
Preparations for the start of the next Vendee Globe are going ahead in an uncertain context in terms of public health and the economy. The Vendee Council and the SAEM Vendee are doing their utmost in conjunction with all the partners, skippers from the IMOCA Class, their sponsors and public authorities to ensure arrangements for this ninth edition of the Vendee Globe go smoothly.
Maintaining the start date of 8th November for the race is our goal and everything is being done to achieve that.
In terms of racing, nothing prevents the race starting on 8th November, as long as the national authorities allow that to be the case. However for the Vendee Globe, which is a popular event and belongs to the local people, the presence of the public is important for us.
The organisers are therefore studying every possible situation to be able to welcome the public at an event like this in the economic and public health context, the evolution of which is hard to predict. The decision to keep Race HQ in Les Sables d'Olonne throughout the whole race will in fact help to ensure a maximum number of people can fully enjoy the Vendee Globe adventure.
At the same time, the Vendee Globe organisers are working in conjunction with the IMOCA Class towards the goal of adapting some of the deadlines for the skippers, in particular, the final date for registrations which has been pushed back until 1st September and the organisation of a preparatory solo race this summer.
A race from Vendee-Arctic-Les Sables d'Olonne to take place in July
At the same time, the Vendee Globe organisers are working in conjunction with the IMOCA Class towards the goal of adapting some of the deadlines for the skippers, in particular, the final date for registrations which has been pushed back until 1st September and the organisation of a preparatory solo race this summer.
With sailing gradually starting again, the IMOCA Class has been working over the past few weeks on organising a preparatory race, which was initially scheduled for June. In agreement with the Vendee Department, the headline partner for the event, the IMOCA Class proposed a race starting from off Les Sables d'Olonne on 4th July. This will be a solo race taking the sailors up past Iceland and into the Arctic Circle and then down to the Azores with a return to the start location planned around ten days later.
Mike Sanderson on his three decades maxi racing (Part II)
After a disappointing end to the 2000s, as Team Director of Keith Mills' Team Origin, unsuccessfully attempting to challenge for the 33rd America's Cup (ultimately a Deed of Gift match solely between BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi), the 2010s have been good to Sanderson both as a sailor and as a businessman.
For the last decade Sanderson's main grand prix sailing has been in the Mini Maxi/Maxi 72 fleet, joining Hap Fauth's Bella Mente team in 2011 aboard the team's second race boat, a Reichel/Pugh 69. In a fairly dramatic episode, during that year's Cabo Race (from Newport Beach, CA to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) they dismasted and it was all hands to the pumps to get Hall Spars to build a new rig in just two months. But they succeeded in doing this and with their brand new spar they went on to win the Transpac.
Fauth's third yacht of this size was his most successful Bella Mente - a Judel-Vrolijk 72. Fresh out of the box she won the Rolex Mini Maxi World Champonship in 2012 and then, following the formalisation of the Maxi 72 class, plus some considerable development of boat, she won back to back Rolex Maxi 72 World Championships in 2015 and 2016. "We did a whole new aero package for it and a new keel and built a new rig and put those fast sails on it!" Since then Fauth has acquired his fourth race boat, a Botin Partners design which showed moments of promise last season and is due back on the race course, it is hoped, this season.
As a fan of offshore racing, Sanderson says it is a shame that Maxi 72s have become increasingly optimised for inshore racing, but they remain great boats.
As to this season, if grand prix sailing is allowed to resume in Europe, Sanderson sees a dense period of grand sailing taking place in the late summer/early autumn which could include Copa del Rey MAPFRE, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and a rescheduled PalmaVela, but also with TP52 and 44Cup events shoehorned in too.
James Boyd's full interview:
www.internationalmaxiassociation.com
Robline Product News: POB-Net
As one of the biggest maritime ropes suppliers, Robline is always dedicated to look for rope-related inventions. So did we introduce already some time ago the Hook & Moor product where Robline has the worldwide distribution rights. Some years later, we now want to introduce another fabulous product invented by the Austrian Hermann Cisar - the POB (person over board) -NET.
With this newly developed rescue system people and objects can be saved easily and fast out of the water within three steps: Capturing, Securing, Rescuing. In comparison to conventional person over board systems the POB-NET obviates the risks of the person to be rescued. The difference is that the POB-NET consists of a self-expandable, tubelike net where a person can rescue the victim who might even has lost consciousness. The clue is that the system only has to be slipped over the person's head and can be winched on board by attaching the POB-NET to the Halyard before.
The rescue system will be delivered with a storage bag, on which the individual application steps are listed. In addition, a QR code is printed on this storage bag, which leads you directly to a video presentation of all application steps.
For more information watch the introduction video below or contact your local dealer.
Restart Sailing
Sunday's PM announcement on the easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures brought a pleasant surprise with grass roots activities, including sailing, given the go ahead to resume this week, under self distancing measures. The media talk the previous week had been of a return of elite sport, including the Premier League being given priority. It seems that even with matches played behind closed doors, there are still many issues to overcome, notwithstanding the need for several hundred people to be on-site in close proximity to each other.
It looks like some casual sailing will be starting this week, where access to the water is available. Many clubs will be reliant on their landlords and those who control the water (eg harbour authorities) to allow sailing to restart. Now we have an official roadmap, there is much hard work to be done, but at least we have started the journey back to some normality. The journey is likely to be a long one, so we need to adapt and learn to live with this new normal.
It is good to see the RYA issuing guidelines to sailing clubs, helping them develop their own plans to suit local conditions, the hard work starts now.
#restartsailing Task Groups
It has been great to see a significant number of the sailing community offer to help with the Task Groups, some with some highly relevant experience outside of sailing. The Task Groups will start to meet this week.
restartsailing.org/page/task-groups
#RestartSailing survey
The first #RestartSailing survey analysis has now been received and highlights the many different challenges the sector is experiencing. The good news is the C19 situation is bringing the sailing community together, working on solving many major problems in collaboration.
Executive Summary
- Sailing sector (clubs, classes and trade) facing massive financial struggle with all activity cancelled and drop in membership renewals due to Covid-19 situation.
- 59% stated they have financial concerns.
- Mixed levels of support available (good to bad)
- Concerns over time and money needed to restart as facilities and equipment has been effectively mothballed
- The need to reassure the sailing community and neighbours that sailing is being responsible and taking the C19 risks seriously.
- Long term concerns over long term impact over Covid-19, particularly a lack of confidence in people returning to sailing and reputational damage of sailing seen to return too soon
- Need to reboot sailing and use the Covid-19 crisis to bring much needed reform
- Lots of good ideas emerging
First ever virtual Eric Twiname Junior Championships a huge success
YA London and South East's Max Steele won the first ever virtual Eric Twiname Championships over the early May bank holiday, taking the title ahead of over 200 young racers.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of the event proper, British Youth Sailing and the Eric Twiname Trust quickly came up with a solution: to hold the regatta virtually.
Traditionally held at Rutland Sailing Club, this year junior racers pitted their skills in the computer-generated seas off Portsmouth Harbour in J70s for the Virtual Regatta event.
The fleets were open to youngsters eligible to compete at the original regatta with the Laser 4.7 and RS Tera Sport classes open entry.
Podiums were decided over the first two days of racing in each class with the top two advancing to the final day's three race showdown.
The finals, commentated on by the British Sailing Team's Luke Patience and yachting journalist Mark Jardine, were a closely run affair with Laser 4.7 sailor Steele eventually coming out on top. The finals can be viewed on the Yachts & Yachting Online Youtube channel here.
Top three results
Topper Fleet
1st - Reuben Hudson (London & South East) - Reuben48177
2nd - Oliver Bull (Scotland) - Wng Cdr Oli
3rd - Roo Purves (Scotland) - Rooboat
Optimist Fleet
1st - Platon Khodykin (South) - Platon K6283
2nd - Thomas Peace (South) - Splash-2
3rd - Ben Welfare (North) - Ben5500
Feva Fleet
1st - Rose Hallam (South West) RocketR
2nd - Freddie MacLaverty (Wales) Bobby3465
3rd - William James (South West) WilliamTera
Techno Fleet
1st - Tommy Millard (South) CEO of funny
2nd - Olly Cooper (North) Olly13
3rd - Dylan Galloway (Scotland) Dylan-Techno293
Tera Sport Fleet
1st - Mark Jenkins Jauma (South) Mark2616
2nd - Dara Jenkins (North) Tera915
3rd - Freddie Sunderland (Midlands) - freddie tera
Laser 4.7 Fleet
1st - Max Steele (London and South East) 21MaxSteele6648
2nd - Oscar Shilling (North) ShillsToPayTheBills
3rd - Henry Redmond (Midlands) Henry R 206839
Showdown Final
1st - Max Steele (London and South East) 21MaxSteele6648
2nd - Tommy Millard (South) CEO of funny
3rd - Oliver Bull (Scotland) - Wng Cdr Oli
Full results can be found here.
17th PalmaVela will be held between October the 22nd and the 25th
The Organizing Committee of the PalmaVela regatta has now set the dates for the 17th edition of the regatta. It will be held between the 22nd of October this year and the 25th, as long as the health and sports authorities authorize it.
On the past 25th of March it was announced that the regatta, scheduled for its usual dates of May, between the 6th and 10th, was postponed due to the worldwide problem of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was taken even before the health and sports authorities had forbidden any professional and amateur sporting events.
Now, eight weeks after the state of alarm was announced in Spain, and with the advancement of sports restrictions in the de-escalation phases, the Organizing Committee sets the penultimate week of October as the date to hold this edition of the PalmaVela.
The president of the Real Club Náutico de Palma, Emerico Fuster, has spoken on how the postponement of the regatta had been managed: "After watching over the health of the our employees, our club members and the athletes who use the club's facilities regularly, we believe that, after having entered Phase 1 of the Transition Plan towards the New Normality, we are already in a position to set the dates for the celebration of the PalmaVela, in which security measures for its organization will prevail above all."
How Can Keelboat Racing Work with Social Distancing?
Olympic helmsman, professional sailor and coach Mark Mansfield takes a look at how it may be possible to return to keelboat racing while maintaining social distance onboard.
The latest Government five-phase programme appears to allow the reinstatement of boating and sailing from May the 18th, under certain restrictions.
The RNLI and Coastguard will likewise need to lift their advisory notice as well for this to happen.
Irish Sailing is liaising with the yacht clubs in Ireland and the Government to get clarity on specific aspects of this five-phase plan. In the interim, commencing racing appears to be positioned in Phase 3, which would begin on June the 29th but many sailors are asking; how can this happen under the requirement to also socially distance ourselves from others?
Olympic helmsman, professional sailor and coach Mark Mansfield takes a look at how it may be possible to return to keelboat racing while maintaining social distance onboard.
The latest Government five-phase programme appears to allow the reinstatement of boating and sailing from May the 18th, under certain restrictions.
The RNLI and Coastguard will likewise need to lift their advisory notice as well for this to happen.
Irish Sailing is liaising with the yacht clubs in Ireland and the Government to get clarity on specific aspects of this five-phase plan. In the interim, commencing racing appears to be positioned in Phase 3, which would begin on June the 29th but many sailors are asking; how can this happen under the requirement to also socially distance ourselves from others?
Mark Mansfields full article in Afloat afloat.ie/blogs
The Mexican - Kiwi Style
Click on image to enlarge.
On April 9, UK Sailmakers on our website posted an instructional How-To article about how to execute a Mexican spinnaker takedown. As an aside at the end of that article, we recounted the popular lore that it was "invented" and named by Buddy Melges sailing America3 off San Diego in the 1992 America's Cup trials doing modified float takedowns in leeward port roundings and ending-up pointing at Mexico afterwards. This same article noted that "Down Under," these takedowns are referred to as Kiwi drops. Ever curious, we floated the challenge for someone to explain the derivation of the Kiwi nomenclature. To our glee, Freemantle, WA, sailor Mark Wheeler, with subsequent input from David Clark, responded with the answer...and more.
Stick with us here as we connect the dots:
Dave says that the 'Kiwi' was actually invented by mistake!! This was during the run-up to the '87 America's Cup series (in mid-86) in 12 Meters in Fremantle. When debriefing a video of a bottom mark 'cluster' with their coach (after having gone late into late bottom mark gybe, starboard approach at bottom for left turn...delay dropping chute until just on/after gybing), they decided it was actually a handy maneuver.
J/99: Join the experts for a Live Show with Jeff Johnstone and Hannah Le Prevost
Since 1977, nearly 15000 J/Boats have been launched. The J/99 is the latest design and in many respects, truly innovative as a J Boat. Hull #40 has just been delivered to J/Boats co-founder Rod Johnstone, and nearly 50 boats have been delivered worldwide to date.
Join us for an hour long live interview with J/Boats President Jeff Johnstone, and Key Yachting Ltd Sales Director Hannah Le Prevost, for a detailed discussion on the J/99. The live feed will have detailed pictures, videos and the latest updates on the J/99.
Note: the live show has been fully archived:
Racing for the Rest of 2020
Like all sports organizations, with 49er Class and Nacra 17 Class sailors wait at home while critical workers around the globe try to clean up and keep us going through this covid pandemic. It is our privilege to sail and race as much as we do and of course that must be put on hold while such a serious medical contagion is being tackled.
In coming weeks or months, constraints at various locations will be relaxed as per the instructions of the governments at which point teams will hit the water again. However, going out for a sail is quite different from getting together at a regatta with friends from 30 or 40 different nations.
As such, we have asked each of our regional fleets to come up with a plan for racing closer to home for the rest of 2020. Geographies and politics are different from place to place, so our guidelines are loose, but essentially we have asked our fleet to put in place regional, and national championships with some coordination so that if travel is possible neighboring regions can cross attend. This might look like a Pacific Coast Championship in the USA and Canada, an Australian and New Zealand series down under, or a series of national championships across Europe, for examples.
As an international federation, we are still prepared to host our Junior World Championship and European Championship should conditions allow. Equally, we are prepared to forgo these championships if it is not safe or possible for them to be carried out.
Our Junior Worlds are scheduled for late August in Lake Como, and we will make a final decision about whether this championship will happen in late May. For our Europeans, we have a venue that we can race at in late September, and likewise, we will make a final decision about this championship in June.
Featured Charter
Sciomachen 56 for charter. POA EUR, Located in Alicante Spain.
Available for Mediterranean, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands crossings. Berthed in Alicante.
See listing details in Seahorse Charters
Contact
E-mail:
Mobile: +34 693756352
See the the Seahorse charter collection
Featured Brokerage
2008 SW100DS L'Ondine. 4,650,000 VAT Paid EUR. Located in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Deck Saloon version of the popular SW100 series, L'Ondine has been optimised and improved to keep her looking like new while the modernised systems have increased efficiency and reliability
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
Southern Wind Shipyard (Pty) Ltd
Salita Dinegro 7/1
16123 Genoa Italy
Tel. +39 010 570 4035
-----------------------------------------
2011 Cookson Volvo 70. 1095000 USD. Located in Rhode Island.
WARRIOR ( ex CAMPER) is seriously for sale and open to offers.
See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly
Contact
William Jenkins
410 353 7862
410 267 9419
-----------------------------------------
Aquarius Alfa - Swan 100S PRICE Located in Valetta, Malta.
Aquarius Alfa is a sleek looking semi raised Swan 100 S which was designed by German Frers. She is the first SWAN 100S to feature the ‘Semi-Raised Saloon’ configuration incorporating a low-level coach roof. The yacht has four en-suite guest cabins sleeping up to nine people. This yacht is beautifully appointed and in excellent overall condition. Viewing is highly recommended - she is VAT paid. Aquarius Alfa is Malta registered.
See listing details in Carrswood Yachts Brokerage
Contact
Tel: +44 (0)7476 888639
See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/
The Last Word
If I can make myself laugh about something that I should be crying about, that's pretty good. -- John Prine
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.eurosailnews.com/advertise.html