In This Issue
• Final Hurdle On La Solitaire du Figaro
• Third GC32 World Championship sets sail Thursday
• Canfield Leads On Day One of LBYC 56th Congressional Cup
• Have a rigging challenge and can't find the perfect Harken solution?
• NYYC ROLEX Invitational Cup 2021
• What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine
• Xacobeo Six Metre European Championship
• Selden Sailjuice Winter Series
• Nord Stream Race
• Melges 24 European Championship
• Round Ireland Hurley 22 Struggles with Light Winds
• Featured Charter: Swan 78 Azzurro
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Baltic Yachts 43
• • SW110 Thalima
• • Kinetic Catamarans - KC54
• The Last Word: Arnold H. Glasow

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

Yes, I missed the Wednesday issue due to illness. Not Covid, thank Zod, but a vicious bug delivered by my not-at-all vicious grandson. I'd forgotten how effective small children are in transmitting microscopic nasties...

Calms Might Present Final, Conclusive Hurdle On La Solitaire du Figaro
The leadership of the decisive Stage 4 of the 52nd La Solitaire du Figaro was in the balance as the top group passed 82 nautical miles offshore of the NW tip of Brittany heading for the final finish line in Saint Nazaire on the Loire-Atlantic coast.

But while it has been Pierre Quiroga (Skipper Macif 2019) -overall leader on the General Classification - and French former 470 Olympian Pierre Leboucher (Guyot Environnement-Ruban Rose) - who have been sharing the lead on what should be the penultimate day of racing, the last 24 hours into the finish line look set to encounter very light winds which could well mean the pack compresses and reshuffles.

A big high pressure ridge is set to become established in the west of the Bay of Biscay but even the various weather modelling software systems cannot agree on its evolution tomorrow. The skippers' weather files they left the dock with on Sunday are now well out of date and they are entirely reliant on the very basic synopsis and forecasts relayed to them from Race Direction, their interpretation of them and what they can see happening on the water.

Top ten, leg 4,09/16/2021 01:33:00
1. Pierre Leboucher - GUYOT environment - Pink Ribbon, 9.4
2. Xavier Macaire - SNEF GROUP, 9.5
3. Tom Dolan - Smurfit Kappa - Kingspan, 9.4
4. Pierre Quiroga - Skipper Macif 2019, 9.8
5. Tom Laperche - Brittany - CMB Performance, 9.3
6. Fabien Delahaye - Gilbert Group, 9.2
7. Tanguy Le Turquais - Queguiner - Innoveo, 9.2
8. Gildas Mahe - Breizh Cola, 9.2
9. Erwan Le Draoulec - Skipper Macif 2020, 9.2
10. Pep Costa - CYBELE VACANCES - TEAM PLAY TO B, 9.5

Tracker

Third GC32 World Championship sets sail Thursday
Top international crew, including America's Cup winners and Olympian gold medallists, are descending on Villasimius for one of the pinnacles in foiling catamaran racing, the third GC32 World Championship. Taking place from Thursday until Sunday this event is organised by the Villasimius branch of the Italian Naval League.

The event sees a welcome return to the GC32 family, post-COVID, of Argo. In 2017, Jason Carroll's US team was the run-away winner of the first GC32 Villasimius Cup, podiuming in every race.

New to the Argo crew is British Olympic Laser gold medallist, America's Cup sailor and three time Moth World Champion, Paul Goodison on mainsheet and tactics. This will be Goodison's first time on a GC32.

Argo will be fighting with Erik Maris' Zoulou for the owner-driver prize at the GC32 World Championship, the French team having made it to the podium at the last event in Lagos.

While Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi team is the favourite to win this event as its defending champion and winner of the first two GC32 Racing Tour events this season, there are several teams showing the potential to upset them. One is Christian Zuerrer's Black Star Sailing Team, which finished two points behind Alinghi at the last event in Lagos.

www.gc32racingtour.com

Canfield Leads On Day One of LBYC 56th Congressional Cup
The 56th Congressional Cup is underway, with 10 of the world’s top match racing teams competing in stellar conditions off the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier here today. This world-class event, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and part of the World Match Racing Tour, runs through Sunday Sept. 19.

In the opening day of round robin racing - where teams duel two-by-two - Taylor Canfield (USA) ended the day undefeated; followed by Johnie Berntsson (SWE) 5-2 - his fiery performance matched by his blazing-orange crew shirts.

Canfield is the reigning Match Racing World Champion and a four-time Congressional Cup winner. His victories in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 put him in an auspicious position: tied for the most Congressional Cup wins with four other skippers: Ian Williams (2011, 2012, 2017 and 2019); Gavin Brady (1996, 1997, 2006, 2008); Peter Holmberg (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002); and Rod Davis (1981, 1985, 1989, 1993). The USVI native has his eye on a fifth victory - which would make him the winningest skipper in more than a half-century of Congressional Cup racing.

Results

thecongressionalcup.com

Have a rigging challenge and can't find the perfect Harken solution?
It's probably time to take a look in Peter's Desk Drawer.

Harken has been building hardware for 50+ years. And we get excellent suggestions for new products we should design all the time. Some of those become best sellers in our catalog. And then, there's a collection of products that take those catalog parts and adapt them very slightly. We price them like regular products (not custom) and we stash 'em in Peter's Desk Drawer. Right now we're sliding the drawer open. The products in there aren't misfit toys. They're adaptations we build on purpose—perhaps a boat builder needed the modification for a new design. Maybe there's one just perfect for your unique rigging challenge. You never know what you'll find in Peter's desk. (You can say that again!) So look in the 'Complementary Hardware' section of our catalog and website. If you don't find what you're looking for, please email Harken Technical Service. Those guys know just about every product we've ever made!

Open the Drawer

NYYC ROLEX Invitational Cup 2021
Lovell, Southern YC Drive Into the Lead on Day 2

It was just the sort of moment that the founders of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup envisioned more than a decade years ago when they created the event. Two identical boats crewed by amateur sailors blasting downwind in the late afternoon sun each with their eye on first place in the race. Eastern Yacht Club had had the lead around the top mark, but The San Francisco Yacht Club crew, always at home in some breeze, was chewing into the advantage and looking for any opening to take over the lead. It would come down to the final jibe before a long port-tack run to the finish.

the breeze held and The San Francisco Yacht Club took its first win of the regatta, capping off a marked improvement over Day 1 and putting the team within range of the podium with six races remaining. Coming in third in that race was Southern Yacht Club, which had the best day on the water and vaulted into the lead with 21 points. Royal Thames Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club are tied for second, 9 points back.

Standings after 6 races
1. Southern Yacht Club, 21 points
2. Royal Thames Yacht Club, 30
3. Royal Cork Yacht Club, 30
4. New York Yacht Club, 32
5. Eastern Yacht Club, 32
6. San Diego Yacht Club, 44
7. The San Francisco Yacht Club, 47
8. Royal Canadian Yacht Club, 53
9. Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, 53
10. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, 61
11. American Yacht Club, 70
12. Royal Swedish Yacht Club, 72
13. Noroton Yacht Club, 73
14. Nylandska Jaktklubben, 77
15. Yacht Club Argentino, 77
16. Yacht Club Italiano, 86
17. Howth Yacht Club, 87
18. Itchenor Sailing Club, 89
19. Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, 112

nyyc.org/2021-rolex-nyyc-invitational-cup

Seahorse October 2021
What's in the Latest Edition Of Seahorse Magazine

World news
Travels through times and designs in southern California, old faces big impact, upwind or down... that typical old Transpac dilemma, knots for the dollar. Also Vendée Globe bangfor- the-euro, Class40s, Imocas, Mini 6.50s all going nuts, PR games in Auckland... and peace at last for Belcher And Ryan. Patrice Carpentier, Ivor Wilkins, Dobbs Davis, Blue Robinson, Victor Kovalenko, Grant Dalton, Michael Blackburn, Ian Lipinski, Yannick Bestaven... Plus some nice final words from Patrick Tearnan in Tokyo

We're back!!!
Thanks to incredible perseverance and hard work this winter we are going to have a proper Caribbean racing season. Carol Bareuther

Blue water super cruiser
Rolf Vrolijk, Johan Siefer, Elisabet Holm And Kieran Flatt tell the story behind Vrolijk and Baltic's latest superyacht, Path

RORC - Falling close to the tree
Jeremy Wilton

Seahorse build table - (Genuinely) fit for purpose
And Paul Bieker's got us another one

Sailor of the Month
Where did we say that we'd make it easy for you?

Special rates for EuroSail News subscribers:
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Xacobeo Six Metre European Championship
Sanxenxo, Spain: With races three and four of the eight race series completed today, the rankings in both the Open and Classic Divisions remain wide open. In the Open Division Thisbee (1987 Pelle Petterson) owned by Rainer Müller and helmed by Michel Teweles, moved up from third into a single point overall lead thanks to a second and third place. Overnight leader Notorious (1986 Peter Norlin design with an Ian Howlett keel) owned and helmed by Claes Henningsson, struggled to repeat yesterday's dominant form adding a seventh and fifth to her score card which dropped her down into second overall.

Open Division boat of the day was Patrick Monteiro De Barros's Seljm (1988 Pelle Petterson), which took full advantage of the local knowledge this Portugues team has gained through sailing regularly with the Sanxenxo based Spanish fleet. Seljm won race three after a closely fought battle and followed up with a fourth in race four to move into third place overall on the same points as Notorious. Richard Goransson's Filippa, (Petterson 1981), dropped from second overall to fourth having added a fourth and eighth to her tally. The day's other Open Division race winner was Phlippe Durr and Rainer Müller's Junior (Petterson/Howlett), which won race three and took fourth in race four to leap up the ranking from tenth to fifth overall.

Four races remain to be sailed to complete the championship which concludes on Saturday 18 September. -- Fiona Brown

Open Division - top five
1. Thisbe - Rainer A Muller, SUI, 13
2. Notorious - Claes Henningsson, SWE, 14
3. Seljm - Patrick Monteiro De Barros, POR, 14
4. Filippa - Richard Goransson, SWE, 16
5. Junior - Philippe Durr/Rainer Müller, SUI, 23

Classic Division - top five
1. Astrée III - Ossi Paija, FIN, 10
2. Aida - Escotet/Botas, GER, 14
3. Alibaba II - Miguel Lago Cereceda, GBR, 14
4. Caprice - Javier Manzon, ESP, 16
5. Bribon 500 - Jose Cusi, ESP, 21

www.6mreuropeans2021.com

Selden Sailjuice Winter Series
Simon Horsfield & Katie Burridge, along with stand-in crew Natalie Johnson, have won the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series 2020-2021. This is the third consecutive victory for Horsfield & Burridge - an unprecedented achievement in the short but hard-fought history of the Seldén Sailjuice Winter Series.

The unstoppable team from Army Sailing Association / Thorney Island Sailing Club were pushed hard for overall victory by Luke Fisher from Emberton Park who sailed his RS Vareo singlehander impeccably. Fisher finished on 15.7 points from his best three out of four events, not quite enough to topple the 2000 which ended up with 12.4 points.

Third place on the podium goes to Patrick Overs' Solo from Paxton Lakes SC, with fourth also going to a Paxton Lakes sailor, Paul Carrington and his Streaker.

This was the strangest of Winter Series, not least because it concluded in late August with the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Sailing Club. Along with Rutland, the other participating clubs that managed to make events happen through all the stresses and uncertainties of the Covid pandemic deserve great credit.

www.facebook.com/SeldenSailJuiceWinterSeries

Details of the upcoming Series for 2021 to 2022 will be announced soon.

Nord Stream Race
For the first time in the history of the Nord Stream Race, a collision between the Danish and Swedish boats leads to a retirement, so that this afternoon only the teams from Finland, Russia and Germany were able to start the third leg from Stockholm to Helsinki and compete in all remaining races. In the pre-start phase for the third offshore leg in Stockholm, a collision occurred during the battle for best position on the line, when the Danish boat's bowsprit got jammed in the stern of the Swedish boat. The resulting damage could not be repaired in the short term, meaning that the Nord Stream Race 2021 ends prematurely for both teams. The Russian team won the morning's Inshore Race in a spirited duel with the Danes and took the lead in the overall ranking of the Inshore Races.

Peter Warrer, the experienced skipper of the Danish team from Aarhus Sejlklub took full responsibility for the collision: "In the pre-start sequence we were fighting for the best position, as one does. We wanted to duck behind the stern of the Swedish boat and I calculated that it was possible. Obviously, I miscalculated the space and we crashed into the Swedish boat. It's unfortunate and it's never nice to have a collision. It's especially difficult for us right now because we were leading the offshore standings and had good chances of winning overall. The team was doing awesome and it's sad that we can't continue the race in a proper manner."

The Danes still lead the offshore standings after two legs but will slip down the rankings after their early exit. The two remaining offshore legs and the Inshore Races in Helsinki will now be a three-way battle between Team Russia, Team Finland and Team Germany.

nord-stream-race.com/en

Melges 24 European Championship
Portoroz, Slovenia - Melges 24 European Championship 2021, held in Portoroz thanks to the support of Marina Portoroz and organization of the Yacht Club Marina Portoroz in co-operation with the International Melges 24 Class Association, runs at full speed: after two days of racing, the ranking counts on six races and now, with the entry of the discard, the ranking took on a less unusual conformation than the one emerged at the end of the first tricky day.

Thanks to a solid performance Andrea Racchelli's Altea (2-3-10) is now leading the fleet with 11 points margin on Estonian crew of Tonu Toniste on Lenny (7-10-3), first hour overall leader of the event and still at top of the ranking of the very competitive Corinthian division.

The day was full of "number ones" for Michael Goldfarb's War Canoe (1-11-1), that interrupts two bullets with an eleventh, demonstrating some really good speed, almost the same one that he demonstrated in 2018, when he was the winner of the Melges 24 European Sailing Series in Portoroz.

The fourth position is still in the hands of Sergio Caramel's Arkanoé by Montura (4-20-13): a convincing performance, enhanced by the presence on board of two local experts, as well as former Olympians, Karlo Hmeljak and Vid Jeranko.

On Thursday racing will resume at 1 pm: weather conditions are expected like today, with some north westerly breeze blowing between 8 and 12 knots.

Top ten results:
1. Andrea Racchelli, ITA, 20 points
2. Tonu Toniste, EST, 31
3. Michael Goldfarb, USA, 34
4. Sergio Caramel, ITA, 42
5. Jonas Berntsson, SWE, 47
6. Miles Quinton / James Peters, GBR, 47
7. Michele Paoletti, ITA, 51
8. Paolo Brescia, ITA, 51
9. Marco Zammarchi / Niccolo Bertola, ITA, 52v 10. Richard Thompson, GBR, 52

www.melges24.com/Europeans2021

Round Ireland Hurley 22 Struggles with Light Winds
Yesterday, we took our leave of Eoin Keyes of Kinsale and Leonie Conway aboard the former's Hurley 22 off the coast of Wicklow, where light and obtuse winds - combined with the strong tides - were making for very uneven progress in their bid to complete the clockwise round Ireland circuit non-stop, and doing it in a significantly small boat in order to highlight the newly-formed Irish Chapter of Sea Shepherd, the global conservation society.

Very sensibly, Eoin had kept their voyage low key until it looked as though they were going to make it, and thus in yesterday's first report we'd to use a stock photo of a standard Hurley 22 in order to come by an image that shows that Moonshine is in fact a distinctly souped-up version, with a robust rigid spray-hood over the companionway, and a bowsprit for the easier handling of a spinnaker of decidedly grown-up size.

Meanwhile, we've also been reminded in recent hours of other round Ireland circuits in boats of similar size with varying degrees of stop and go which were achieved in the sometimes very distant past, and often in support of some worthy cause. Be that as it may, we and many others are currently rooting for Moonshine, and you can continue to follow her progress here -- RM Nixon in Afloat

afloat.ie/sail/events/

Featured Charter
Swan 78 Azzurro. Located in Marina di Scarlino- Tuscany (Italy)

Delivered in 2019, AZZURRO sporting a clean, special satin black finish above deck and high gloss clear coat below deck. All of Nautor’s know-how and experience in racing and cruising yachts have been incorporated into this new Swan 78, a direct descendant of the original Swan 80 and 82 models of the past.It features an iconic Hall V-boom and full Future Fibres EC six multi strand rigging package. The new boat is faster, safer, easier to control and, more comfortable at sea. The appearance is that of neatness and efficiency. This new Swan is and will be, the best of her kind for years to come. Azzurro, the new Swan 78 delivered in 2019, offers big volumes areas in all her elegant and accommodating shape.Her hull form is beamy and very powerful, her big volumes host four comfortable cabins fully equipped for the guests. The sports/swim platform, off the Aft of the yacht, offers easy access to the sea, while also folding neatly up into the vessel for sleek storage. Incredible deck space not only creates a feeling of grandeur but it also provides guests with the ability to enjoy privacy.

See listing details in Nautor's Swan Charters

Contact
Nautor's Swan Charters - Nicolo Telese

Tel. +377 97 97 95 07

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
1988 Baltic Yachts 43. 125000 EUR. Located in Pietarsaari- Finland.

Judel/Vrolijk designed Baltic 43, recently updated and in great condition throughout. An iconic design and capable of everything from crossing oceans to sailing around the cans. Few are built better.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Jonas Renlund - Grabau International (Scandinavia)
Tel: +358408098688
Email:

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2010 SW110 Thalima. 5,900,000 VAT Paid EUR. Located in Barcelona, Spain.

SW110 Thalima is Southern Wind flagship. This yacht is the perfect blend of a high-performance and nimble yacht, fun to steer, aesthetically linear and a bluewater yacht to sail around the world in safety and comfort.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Southern Wind Shipyard (Pty) Ltd
Salita Dinegro 7/1,
16123 Genoa, Italy

Tel. +39010 570 4035

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Kinetic Catamarans - KC54. POA USD.

A performance catamaran that can be comfortably sailed by a cruising couple.

The KC54 maximizes living space with panoramic 360-degree views from inside its large main salon. The coach roof-mounted mast and traveler facilitate a large forward cockpit for both sailing and leisure and an aft cockpit free of sail controls. It is built for fast coastal and offshore cruising in comfort. It can also be configured as a competitive racer.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact

Kinetic Catamarans
USA Tel: +1 954 732 2836

Kinetic Catamarans
SA. Tel:+27 44 382 0439

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

The Last Word
One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. -- Arnold H. Glasow

Editorial and letter submissions to

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