In This Issue
• Champagne start to 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro
• 695 miles around the Fastnet Rock with Henry Bomby and Shirley Robertson
• Dubarry Aquatech Range
• GC32 World Championship 2021 - gearing up for Villasimius
• 2021 Evli 12Mr World Championship
• Revving Up For The Tiger Trophy
• A race official's view of the Olympic Games
• Bournemouth Digital Poole Week: Sun, Shifts, Snakes and Ladders
• 52 Super Series Fleet Is Ready to Rumble
• Peter Hay
• Featured Charter: Vismara 80' LUCE GUIDA
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Cantiere del Pardo Grand Soleil 42 LC FELI
• • Marten 49
• • SW78 Ocean Horse
• The Last Word: Grace Slick

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

Champagne start to 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro
Saint-Nazaire, on the French west coast some 40 miles west of Nantes, laid on perfect conditions for the start of the 52nd edition of La Solitaire du Figaro. Light WNW'ly breezes of 10 to 12 knots and flat seas at the mouth of the Loire Estuary ensured that the 34 solo skippers were allowed a relatively straightforward opening to the 627 nautical miles leg downwind across the Bay of Biscay to a turning mark close to the NW Spanish coast at La Coruna and back to Lorient.

The stage got under way after one general recall in what France 3 commentator, Vendee Globe racer Clarissa Cremer described as "champagne conditions". Bright sunshine, moderate winds and blue skies gave the fleet a brisk opening circuit to the La Solitaire du Figaro buoy where favourite Tom Laperche led the fleet towards the open sea and the Rochebonne mark. Britain's Alan Roberts and Ireland's Tom Dolan were well placed.

While the course is broadly an extended windward-leeward to the windy corner of Galicia where big seas are likely to prevail followed by a long slog back upwind, it might be the tactical decisions and timings how best to deal with three exclusion zones - set up to prevent competitors straying into a French Navy exercise - that shape the final podium. But most weather advisers and their skippers concur that a final shut down of the breeze on Thursday afternoon might actually prove decisive.

Time For Action, Building Wind Expected For Overnight Sprint to La Coruna's Turn

Half way across the Bay of Biscay on the 305 miles downwind to a turning mark at La Coruna, Stage 1 of the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro the lead is being traded between young favourite Tom Laperche (Bretagne CMB Performance) and Olympian turned solo racer Pierre Leboucher (GUYOT Environnement - Ruban rose) as the 34 strong fleet start to feel the wind build in advance of a fast, bumpy rounding of the most southernmost buoy en route for Thursday's finish in Lorient, Brittany.

Since the race started from Saint-Nazaire on Sunday at 1757hrs Sunday the first night at sea was relatively gentle with the wind shifting to the NE as forecast to produce a dead downwind sprint from the Rochebonne plateau mark - off Les Sables d'Olonne - which Laperche led round at 0256hrs last night.

Race Tracker

www.lasolitaire.com/en/

695 miles around the Fastnet Rock with Henry Bomby and Shirley Robertson
Shirley Robertson and Henry Bomby have just released the film of their 2021 Rolex Fastnet challenge. The pair have spent the year training for their Double Handed attempt at the biennial offshore classic, this film sitting as the fourth episode of a behind the scenes series documenting their progress.

Determined to put in a solid challenge, preparation for the race was hampered in part by Robertson's absence while reporting for the BBC from Tokyo 2020. Bomby too has suffered from time off the water but with a well setup boat, the pair were anticipating a solid challenge in their class.

Four static cameras onboard 'Swell' were filming the action and as the team ate up the miles they both regularly reported into their onboard handheld 'diary-cam'. It was a tough edition, as the race unfolded twenty five of the fifty nine double handed entrants would be forced to retire. All the while, onboard 'Swell', Bomby and Robertson were putting in a resolute performance. Soon they were locked into a race for the line with French Fastnet star Alexis Loison on board 'Leon'.

It's rare to get such an in-depth glimpse of life onboard a double handed Fastnet attempt, but Robertson and Bomby both filmed throughout the entire race - the result is a unique and exciting glimpse into a genuine Fastnet challenge, a sailing film that documents their race from start to finish as they relentlessly push their Sun Fast 3300 over four days of intense racing.

The film is available to view on YouTube on Shirley Robertson's Sailing Podcast channel and marks the finale of a four part series filmed and edited by Tim Butt of Vertigo Films.

Dubarry Aquatech Range
Sailing makes a lot of demands on a pair of shorts. Dubarry's new Aquatech range includes three styles of shorts that are up to the job, with useful features built in.

You want full freedom of movement with a bit of stretch, and hard-wearing yet lightweight fabric with full UV protection and water-repellent properties, which also dries fast when it does get wet.

A protective seat panel is important because, let's face it, sailing involves quite a lot of shuffling your backside across rough, grippy surfaces. Another key feature is a comfortable, contoured non-slip waist with a high back and a precisely adjustable fit, so the shorts stay put when you're wrangling a sail on the foredeck and can't let go of it to hitch them back up.

Pockets are also important: ones you can open easily with one hand while hanging onto the boat with the other, and easy to close securely, so your multitool knife and mobile phone won't go for an unscheduled swim. And wouldn't it be handy when you're on the helm to have an eyewear cleaning cloth on a bungee cord in one of the pockets, to wipe the salt spray off your shades?

Dubarry's Aquatech shorts deliver all of the above in several men's and women's styles: Imperia for high-octane sailing, and smart, classic Cyprus and Minorca crew shorts for all-round sailing use. For ladies there's also the elegant Corsica skort with stretchy technical shorts built in.

See the range at Dubarry.com

GC32 World Championship 2021 - gearing up for Villasimius
In one month's time the GC32 Racing Tour is set to return to the idyllic Sardinian seaside resort of Villasimius for the headline event of its 2021 season: the GC32 World Championship.

While the first two events of the 2021 GC32 Racing Tour have taken place in Portugal's Algarve with exclusively European teams, the slow easing of international travel restrictions due to COVID-19 means that overseas teams from afar afield as Australia and USA have signed up to compete in the World Championship, taking place over 15-19th September.

At least nine teams will be on the start line, including Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi, winner of the first two events of this 2021 season and also the defending GC32 World Champion having been crowned in Lagos, Portugal in 2019. Returning to have another attempt at gaining the title is another from Switzerland, Team Tilt, skippered by Sébastien Schneiter, winner of the first GC32 World Championship in 2018 with a crew including Australian, Glenn Ashby, a three time America's Cup winner and 10 time A-Class catamaran World Champion. Schneiter has recently returned from representing Switzerland in the 49er at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Also making a welcome return will be GC32 Class Association President Simon Delzoppo with his .film Racing team from Australia.

Designed by Luna Rossa's Design Co-ordinator Dr Martin Fischer, the GC32 is currently the only foiling catamaran 'big boat' class recognised by the sport's governing body, World Sailing. This endorsed has permitted the GC32 Class Association to hold an annual world championship, which it has done since 2018.

GC32 Racing Tour 2021 leaderboard after two events
Position - team - Helm - Owner
1. Alinghi - Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) / Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI)
2. Black Star Sailing Team - Chris Steele (NZL) / Christian Zuerrer (SUI)
3. Red Bull Sailing Team - Roman Hagara (AUT) / Roman Hagara (AUT)
4. Zoulou - Erik Maris (FRA) / Erik Maris (FRA)
5. Team Rockwool Racing - Nicolai Sehested (DEN) / Nicolai Sehested (DEN)
6. Swiss Foiling Academy - Loic Forestier (SUI) / Julien Monnier/Loic Forestier (SUI)

www.gc32racingtour.com

2021 Evli 12Mr World Championship
Helsinki, Finland: After navigating 2 years of shiftin. circumstances caused by Covid-19, racing at the 2021 Evli 12mR World Championship (postponed from 2020) hosted by Nylandska Jaktklubben r.f. (NJK) finally got underway on August 16. Finland's capricious weather presented a wide range of wind speeds and sea states to challenge the fortitude, skill and patience of the nine 12mR teams who had arrived at the regatta from Denmark, Germany and Norway— all on their own keels- after traversing hundreds of nautical miles on the Baltic Sea. This in itself was a rare and impressive achievement for the fleet of Vintage yachts that range in age from 82 to 103 years old.

Even with two second-place finishes in Races Six and Seven, Vim (US-15) never slipped from the podium position she had established on Day One. When the final scores were tallied, Patrick Howaldt's team reigned supreme completing the series with a total score of just 8 points over the 7-race series to claim the 12mR World Championship crown. Howaldt, who also serves at the International Twelve Metre Association's (ITMA) Vice President of Northern Europe said: "NJK, the Organizing Committee, all of the yacht owners, sailors, volunteers and sponsors did an incredible job to create a truly spectacular regatta. We are of course happy with our results, but equally gratified by the high level of competition and excellence exhibited by the Baltic 12mR fleet."

In the overall standings of the 7 race series (with one toss-out), the top 3 teams are World Champions Vim (US-15) with 8 points, Blue Marlin (FIN-1) with 18 points and Flica II (K-14) in with 22 points.

12mR - Vintage
1. Vim (US-15), Helmuth Henning, Patrick Howaldt & Ditley Wedell Wedellsborg, Copenhagen, DK: 8 points
2. Blue Marlin (FIN-1), Henrik Andersin, Kotka, FI, 18
3. Flica II (K-14), Alexander Falk, Hamburg, DE, 22
4. Jenetta (K-1), Thomas Muller, Flensburg, DE, 24.4
5. Nini Anker (N-15), Christoph Avenarius, Hamburg, DE, 27
6. Wings of Cowes (K-15), Philipp Skafte-Holm, Copenhagen, DK (with Finnish & Danish crew), 34
7. Vanity V (K-5), Mikael Stelander. Helsinki, FI, 34
8 Vema III (N-11), Johan Troye, Oslo, Norway, NOR, 40
9. Thea (D-1), Jacob Holst, Copenhagen, DK, 45

Full report

Revving Up For The Tiger Trophy
If you ever thought of competing in the legendary John Merricks Tiger Trophy but didn't fancy getting cold at Rutland Water, next weekend is your opportunity. Taking place on 28/29 August 2021, the Tiger Trophy marks the finale of this season's long-extended Seldén SailJuice Winter Series.

As usual the event is open to a wide range of dinghies and other small craft including sportsboats, catamarans and Challenger trimarans.

Racing takes place under the Great Lakes Handicap numbers, the well-proven variation on the standard RYA PY numbers.

Already we're seeing a good sign-up from the 420 fleet, Lasers, RS Aeros, as well as Challengers and 2000s.

Some are already entered specifically with the aim of winning overall honours in the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series. Here's the standings so far...

The format is three back-to-back handicap races on Saturday and a Pursuit Race on the Sunday. The legendary Tiger Dinner will take place at Rutland Sailing Club on Saturday evening starting at 6.30pm.

www.sailjuiceseries.com

A race official's view of the Olympic Games
New Zealand's Megan Kensington was involved in the recent Tokyo Olympics as a race officer and writes about her experiences.

The Venue
One of the big challenges was the depth of the water where the sailing took place, with it ranging from 20m to 110m. As a result, anchoring was done in a way I have never seen before.

The committee boats were 40-foot Lagoon catamarans and they had set up two anchors, one for each bow. The anchors were laid by the mark layers and then passed up to the boat. This process took about 15 minutes.

The Japanese teams had done a lot of practice anchoring both the boats and the marks, taking in to account the breeze, current and swell, which was not always easy. At times they had to lay a stern anchor to stop the boat swinging in the current.

All the lines were then weighted down with chain so they were not hit by the boats.

Another challenge was the language barrier. The Japanese teams would be given instructions by their course race officer and we would then have to get them to explain what they were doing.

Fortunately, we gradually got our routines sorted by the time we had done three days of on-the-water practice and started the event. But the language challenge can be more noticeable when the anchor is dragging in 80m of water, 1m-2m swells and plenty of breeze with finishers coming down to the finish.

www.yachtingnz.org.nz

Bournemouth Digital Poole Week: Sun, Shifts, Snakes and Ladders
Photo by David Harding. Click on image for photo gallery.

Having been forced to take a year out in 2020, competitors in Bournemouth Digital Poole Week were more than ready to get back afloat this year.

Further encouragement was provided by conditions for the first day of racing that might have been specially designed to tempt anyone on to the water. As the time for the first start approached just after lunch on Sunday, the clouds cleared and the breeze held up at an average of around 8-10 knots although, being from the north-west, it was far from consistent in either direction or strength.

The fleets were split between two courses. Sailing from the committee boat start line in the harbour's top triangle were the Flying Fifteens, RS200s and the ILCA 7s and 6s (Laser full-rigs and radials as they used to be known.) Further down the harbour, using Parkstone Yacht Club's starting platform, were the Wayfarers, Darts, XODs, Dolphins and the fast and slow handicap fleets.

In the Flying Fifteens, Crispin Read Wilson, sailing with Steve Brown, ended the day tied on points with Pete and Jo Allam, each having a first and a second. Jackie Dobson and Dave Mitchell ran away with the first race in the Wayfarers but fared less well in the second. Changes to the course in the run-up to the start caused some confusion among the fleet and team Dobson and Mitchell ended up sailing the wrong one and having to retire.

Strong leaders at the end of the day emerged in the Dolphins, Darts, ILCA 6s, slow handicap and XODs, all of which had double race-winners.

There's much to look forward to over the coming five days of racing. -- David Harding

Provisional results on www.pooleweek.org

52 Super Series Fleet Is Ready to Rumble
After two days of practice races on the Bay of Palma, the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week & 20th Anniversary Invitational fleet is primed for action and ready to start racing for points and prizes Tuesday.

Karl Kwok's Beau Geste - built as Onda - has Gavin Brady and Ken Read combining their talents in the afterguard and they have been consistently up with the 52 SUPER SERIES boats and lifted the informal prize for the all-in fleet practice race today winning on the water ahead of Harm Muller-Spreer's Platoon and Hasso Plattner's Phoenix, which has been consistent with project manager Tony Norris steering and Cameron Dunn and Tom Slingsby on strategy and tactics respectively.

Honours have been shared during formal and informal racing. Owner Doug DeVos flew in today to take the helm of Quantum Racing a team which as four times champions has lost nothing of its lustre, and welcomes the return of their talisman Terry Hutchinson, who is delighted to be back in the class where he has prospered since the first Quantum Racing competed here in 2008, clinching the then title on these waters.

"It's awesome to be back."

Grinned Hutchinson, "Doug and I were talking here about the opportunities we've had over the last few years to experience completely different aspects of our sport. Yet you come back and start racing these TP52s and realise how refined the boats are and how good all the teams are and every inch that you earn is exactly that. It is an earned gain."

Absent for two years on America's Cup business, Hutchinson observes,

"I think the things that you see if that all the boats have evolved and everyone is at a higher level. The thing that's the most noticeable is how even the fleet is. More so than ever the game of inches in critical."

www.52superseries.com

Peter Hay
Peter Hay, right, lifts the America's Cup in 1995 with Sir Peter Blake. Photo by Ivor Wilkins. Being commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is a prestigious position but it took on even more significance on May 15, 1995.

On that day, Peter Hay, as Squadron commodore, officially received the America's Cup from the San Diego Yacht Club after Team New Zealand had whitewashed Stars and Stripes 5-0.

Hay, who passed away on August 4, will forever be known as the first New Zealand commodore to receive the America's Cup (and second in the Cup's long history) but he contributed so much more to the New Zealand yachting and boating landscape.

He gave 45 years service to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, joined the general committee in 1983, served as commodore from 1994-96, was a trustee from 1999 and made a life member in 2015.

Hay worked closely with Sir Peter Blake as a member of the planning group for the 2000 America's Cup defence, and also served on the Sir Peter Blake board.

One of Hay's last races on his beloved Zamzamah was at Bay Week earlier this year when he helmed the boat to a race win, which was a fitting result.

Peter Hay is survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren.

Featured Charter
2011 (refitted 2018/19). 33000 per week EUR. Located in France.

Extensively updated and refitted in 2018/2019, LUCE GUIDA is one of the most iconic performance cruisers to come out of Italy. Full carbon composite construction, telescopic keel, twin engines and all possible comforts are included in this ‘ready to go’ package.

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Lisa Spiller
Charter Manager
Bernard-Gallay
Phone 1 : +33(0)6 33 42 45 09
Phone 2 : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail :

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
2019 Cantiere del Pardo Grand Soleil 42 LC FELI. 445000 EUR. Located in Porto Cervo.

The offered Grand Soleil 42 Long Cruise named FELI comes from a very experienced and demanding owner with no costs spared to keep the boat in better than new condition. FELI is in fully optimized and debugged condition with many improvements.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

+33 467 66 39 93

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2009 Marten 49. 715000 USD. Located in Antigua, Caribbean

Marten 49 SUMMER STORM is about the best sub 50ft cruiser/racer that money can buy. Full recent refit and a number of regatta successes in the past few years keep her current and a very comfortable yacht to cruise. The benefit of the lifting keel really does come into its own.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Ben Cooper
Telephone: +44(0) 1590 679222

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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

Contact

Tel. +39 010 570 4035
www.sws-yachts.com

See the RaceboatsOnly.com collection at seahorsemagazine.com/brokerage/

The Last Word
Some of us don't want to be a housewife. When you live alone, you can do anything you want to do anytime you want. I really like it. -- Grace Slick

Editorial and letter submissions to

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.eurosailnews.com/advertise.html