In This Issue
• Lorient will host the start of The Ocean Race Europe
• North Sea Regatta to Host New Race: The C-19 Windmill Race
• Ocean Safety's Fastnet Webinar
• Gladwell's Line: Will the Lockdown Cup morph into a quick fire five day regatta?
• Protecting us from ourselves - Exposure OLAS
• Backstage in Lockdown
• Over 100 registered entries for 2021 ORC World Championship
• British Marine clarifies UK government guidance on the easing of restrictions
• IRC Welsh National Championship
• World Sailing Trust launches global Participation Study
• Featured Charter: IKIGAI - 82ft JFA Sailing Yacht
• Featured Brokerage:
• • 1929 Classic International 12M
• • Swan 115 Odin
• • FarEast 28R - NEW BOAT
• The Last Word: Marcus Aurelius
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
Lorient will host the start of The Ocean Race Europe
The iconic port, in the heart of the renowned 'Bretagne Sailing Valley', will host the start for both the IMOCA and VO65 fleets as they charge south across the Bay of Biscay.
This will mark the first racing under The Ocean Race banner for the high-tech IMOCA class boats and the one-design VO65 class.
For the teams, The Ocean Race Europe will be the first step on the journey towards the 2022-23 edition of The Ocean Race round the world event and for some IMOCA teams for the Vendee Globe 2024 as well.
The Ocean Race Europe brings together the top international sailors and teams from the two classes that compete in the next around the world race, the VO65s and the IMOCA 60s.
The two fleets will race in a fully-crewed configuration in stages between iconic European cities, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and a finish in Genoa, Italy in the third week of June.
Lorient will host the start over the last weekend in May. As the home port for many IMOCAs, Lorient La Base is well positioned to welcome the race boats and teams ahead of the start of The Ocean Race Europe.
The fleets will assemble in Lorient ahead of the start from the 28th May. Prior to arriving in Brittany, the VO65 fleet will participate in The Ocean Race Europe Prologue event, beginning in the Baltic Sea in early May and winding south before gathering at Lorient La Base at the end of the month, alongside the IMOCA fleet.
North Sea Regatta to Host New Race: The C-19 Windmill Race
RORC North Sea Race and Vuurschepen Race both cancelled due to travel restrictions in the UK. NSR to organize exciting replacement race.
During this year's upcoming Ascension Day Weekend, on Friday May 14th and Saturday May 15th the North Sea Regatta will host a brand-new Race: the NSR C-19 Windmill Race.
The NSR C-19 Race will cover a figure eight course providing exciting and challenging racing around existing marks such as buoys, wind farms and platforms on the North Sea, starting and finishing in Scheveningen. The ORC/IRC 1 and 2 divisions and the Double Handed division will sail a 160 NM long course and the ORC 3 and SW-division will follow a short course of 130 NM.
De NSR-19 Windmill Race counts as a qualifier event for the Fastnet Race 2021. In order to qualify to participate in the Fastnet Race at least 50% of the crew (with a minimum of 2) including the Person in Charge is required to have sailed 300 NM of offshore races, where an offshore race is considered to be more than 75 miles including at least one night at sea.
With the cancellation of the originally scheduled races there is even an opportunity to organize an extra Fasnet qualifying race on Tuesday May 11th and Wednesday May 13th. Interested skippers can send a mail to
Ocean Safety's Fastnet Webinar
Marine Safety experts Ocean Safety and Dee Caffari MBE to present live webinar to Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 competitors at 6pm GMT 18th March 2021
Ocean Safety are delighted to be working in partnership with RORC, organisers of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, to share their marine safety knowledge with the competitors of the classic offshore race which will going ahead on 8th August. The company's marine safety experts will be sharing the webinar platform with Ocean Safety ambassador and racing veteran Dee Caffari MBE
During the webinar the specialist panel will cover the RORC safety check list, with a focus on the latest safety equipment required for the race and coding, including changes made since the last edition of the race. Other topics to be covered include sea survival training, equipment hire options and the importance of servicing.
There will be an option to ask questions during the webinar via the chat function, which will be answered during the live Q&A session. Attendees can also send in questions prior to the webinar, via
All crew members planning to compete in the race are encouraged to join the webinar, since the importance of safety equipment is relevant to everyone onboard.
The webinar will take place on 18th March 2021 at 6pm GMT. Register here.
Gladwell's Line: Will the Lockdown Cup morph into a quick fire five day regatta?
The 36th America's Cup was again put on hold after the New Zealand Prime Minister held a media conference at 9.30pm on Saturday night to announce that Auckland was again being put into another COVID19 triggered Lockdown.
The unexpected announcement by the New Zealand Prime Minister, carried on live on Saturday night TV at 9.00pm, caught the 36th America's Cup in the lockdown spider's web for a second time in just over a fortnight. This time the start of the Match on Saturday March 6th was caught, with various scenarios being touted for a commencement of sailing hostilities.
The temptation is just to insert a new first race start date into the original America's Cup, but that loses five days from the original program, and compresses the end of the regatta into a situation where racing is held every day.
And of course there is the opportunity for one team to try and screw the scrum to gain an advantage. The rejigged series start, to be fair to all, must be the same as those on the original packet - which are the Match Conditions, agreed on February 5, 2020. Part of those conditions, the wind limits, were contentious and were mediated by the Chairman of the Arbitration Panel, David Tillett (AUS).
The situation is not the same as a regular sailing reason/risk for a loss of sailing days caused by too much or two little wind. The reason the regatta can't start on the scheduled time is because of COVID19 - which has twice been ruled on by the America's Cup Arbitration Panel (ACAP) as a Force Majeure situation, and if they believe they are affected by the effect of a Force Majeure situation, either team can make an Application to the Arbitration Panel for resolution.
There is also the secondary issue of repeating the removal, for COVID reasons of stadium courses, as was done in the last two days of the Prada Cup Finals, and instead racing on the one-way tracks of Course Areas A and E.
Richard Gladwell's full editorial in Sail-World.com
Protecting us from ourselves - Exposure OLAS
This is surely among the most intelligent marine applications of wireless technology yet seen?
Two overboard location alert systems (OLAS) from Exposure Lights can make the difference between life and death. The first, OLAS Guardian, is a wireless kill switch for RIB drivers. It is designed to protect us from those times when we do the thing that we tell ourselves only "other people" ever do. It's that moment when you unclip your kill cord to walk to the front or the back of the RIB and then forget to clip back on again.
It consists of a small battery-powered transmitter that the skipper wears round the wrist, a waterproof receiver that is wired into the boat's kill switch system and a simple panelmounted control switch for the helm itself. It can also be linked to a free OLAS app for added functionality although this is not needed for the core kill cord function.
Full article in the March Issue of Seahorse
Backstage in Lockdown
The recent Covid lockdown in Auckland has forced the organisers of the 36th America's Cup to press pause, but there's plenty going on behind the scenes. Matt Sheahan explains what's going on and why both teams are having to use their crystal balls more than they might have expected.
Over 100 registered entries for 2021 ORC World Championship
Tallinn, EstoniaL Organizers from the Kalev Yacht Club and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) have announced a change to the Notice of Race that will broaden participation in the 2021 ORC World Championship being held over 6-14 August 2021 in Tallinn, Estonia. Currently there are 120 entries from 14 countries that are divided into three classes, the largest turnout of entries at an ORC World Championship in five year since the 2016 ORC World Championship at the Royal Danish YC in Skovshoved, Denmark.
Due to this strong interest, organizers for the Tallinn Worlds have chosen to amend the Notice of Race to accommodate all existing and possibly even more entries since there is a capacity limit of 50 boats on each starting line. Currently Class A has 7 entries, Class B has 38 entries, and Class C has 75 entries, and World Championship titles are awarded in each of these three classes.
The NOR change would allow organizers to divide a class that has at least 60 paid entries by 1 June into two groups within the same class. A plan for heat scoring, if needed for a class being raced in two groups, would be published on 15 July.
Having been the site of the 1980 Olympic Sailing events and with sailing and iceboating being major and very successful watersports activities here ever since, the City of Tallinn is a major supporter of the 2021 ORC World Championship, investing more than €800K in total in this and other sporting events taking place in Tallinn this year.
British Marine clarifies UK government guidance on the easing of restrictions
From 8 March, all forms of watersports, including the use of privately-owned craft and self-drive day hire boats for single households, can go ahead in England
Following the UK Prime Minister's recent announcement outlining the roadmap of when restrictions are likely to be eased across England, British Marine met with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to clarify the guidance specific to the leisure marine industry.
Furthermore, it has been concluded that marinas can open from 8 March to allow recreational boating to take place and boat brokerage can open in line with non-essential retail from 12 April.
"This roadmap provides hope and reassurance, and I am pleased that the collaboration between government, other user groups and ourselves has resulted in aligned guidance for marine businesses and participants," says British Marine CEO Lesley Robinson. "It is welcome news that parts of our industry should be able to re-open in time for the Easter holidays. I am cautiously optimistic about the months ahead, based on the assumption that, as the vaccine rollout accelerates, the phased easing of restrictions is achievable."
Guidance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differs, and British Marine remains engaged with government on the individual plans set out by the devolved administrations.
Members can keep up to date with the latest information by visiting British Marine's dedicated Coronavirus hub.
IRC Welsh National Championship
The IRC Welsh National Championship Organising Committee invite entries for the 2021 event, to be held at Plas Heli, Pwllheli, North Wales from the 13th - 15th August
We plan to run both the IRC 1 and 2 class and the popular NHC cruisers class at this years event. The IRC class will race a mixture of windward/leeward, fixed marks and a short coastal race, which will also be a club coastal race, and will hopefully attract a big fleet.
This style of racing is the suggested format from the IRC congress and matches the programme used for the IRC European and World Championship events.
Should Government restrictions and guidance restrict our activities in any way, we can adapt our classes and racetrack styles, switching on or off various components with the minimum of lead time, and allowing us significant leeway, like last year and it's not until mid-July before we need to make any big decisions.
The Notice of Race is published here and online at the championship website www.ircwelshchamps.com
The Sailing Instructions are scheduled to be published by July.
World Sailing Trust launches global Participation Study
The World Sailing Trust is today launching a global Participation Study to assess the status of sailing in terms of equity, diversity and inclusion.
Almost two years after the launch of the Trust's global survey on women in the sport, the Participation Study will serve as a benchmarking survey to assess the sport of sailing in all its disciplines, on a global scale.
The mission of the Participation Study is to build a sport that is able to attract, retain and enable talent across in all its forms, and has a robust equity, diversity and inclusion policy. This will support greater participation and improved performance and will strengthen the future of sailing on a global basis.
The publication of the World Sailing Trust's Strategic Review into Women in Sailing in 2019 highlighted major issues of gender discrimination in the sport of sailing, confirming long-held anecdotal evidence that the sport was gender biased at every level. The results revealed a lack of diversity and inclusion, highlighting the need for action to ensure that sailing is ready for the seismic shift towards greater equity across all global cultures.
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See listing details in Seahorse Charters
Contact
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The Last Word
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. -- Marcus Aurelius
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