EuroSail News #5446 - 6 November

In This Issue
• An (almost) direct route to Fort de France
• British Team Brutus III Wears the J/70 World Champion Crown
• Vote for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award
• Night of the Weather Bomb
• One of a kind bit of yachting history for sale
• Bacardi Cup U30 Program
• Figaro 3 Boat Is A One-Trick Pony?
• Ocean Race Documentary
• Salty Dawg Caribbean Rally Underway
• Droleen Dinghy in Focus at Talk by Vincent Delany
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Zeydon Z60 - REGULUS
• • Swan 105-002 'Selena'
• • 2015 Botin TP 52
• The Last Word: Pablo Picasso

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

An (almost) direct route to Fort de France
The 40 IMOCAs will set sail from Le Havre on Tuesday morning. Once out of the English Channel, they will be heading for Fort de France leaving the Azores to starboard. The 3765 miles look like being rough and tactical until they reach the trade winds allowing them to speed towards Martinique.

Fives Group-Lantana Environnement will be the first to cast off at four in the morning (local time) on Tuesday. She will be followed by the 39 other IMOCAs all raring to set off into the Atlantic.

The boats will pass through the Eure Dock and the Bellot harbour basin in Le Havre before the gates open between 0445 hrs and 0630 hrs. They will then make their way out to sea to prepare for the start, which will be signalled in Seine Bay at 0930hrs local time. “The SW’ly wind is forecast to be around 15-20 knots with decent seas for the start and the passage around the Cherbourg Peninsula,” according to Christian Dumard, who has carried out lots of routing analysis over the past few days to establish the course for each of the classes with the Race Directors.

The 40 double-handed crews will not have long to settle into the race after the long wait last week following ten days in the Village in Le Havre. By the morning of Wednesday 8th November, with the final boats rounding the tip of Brittany, a front awaits them with 30 knots of wind, gusting to 35-40 knots. “They will be sailing in the same sort of winds they saw in the Fastnet,” said Christian Dumard. “The seas behind the front will not exceed 4m with a long period for the waves.”

* Racing resumes with restart Monday for the Class40 and Ocean Fifty.

The six Ocean Fifty multihulls and Class 40 fleet will resume their race Monday from Lorient where they were stopped to avoid the storm force winds and big seas.

The ULTIM fleet left last Sunday on schedule. Outpacing the huge storms they are today approaching the Doldrums.

It's almost a week since the start of the 16th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre started last Sunday in Le Havre. This period was spent with the race direction and race management teams watching closely for an opportunity to restart the race for the all the boats which had their races put on hold.

www.transatjacquesvabre.org

British Team Brutus III Wears the J/70 World Champion Crown
Photo by Hanna Lee Noll. Click on image for photo gallery.

St. Petersburg, Florida USA: Tom Mallindine and Charlie Thompson’s Brutus III (GBR), with team Chris Grube, Ben Saxton and Elisabeth Whitener, are bringing the J/70 World Championship title to the United Kingdom from St. Petersburg Yacht Club in Florida.

Ten races were sailed in spectacular conditions from October 31 through November 4. Brutus III started the regatta with a 53 (later discarded), but then never finished lower than 13 to demonstrate their determination to win and ending with 54 net points. Bruce Golison’s Midlife Crisis (USA) withstood a UFD penalty in Race Two to fulfill the runner-up position with 81 net points. Laura Grondin helmed Dark Energy (USA) to third place overall and top female skipper. She was awarded the perpetual Heli Trophy, in memory of Helen Chisolm Johnstone.

Two-time US Corinthian National Champions Lee Sackett and Dave Kerr on 1516 won the battle for the Corinthian World Championship edging out the family team on Ducasse Sailing Team (CHI), led by Andres Ducasse.

Top Five Overall (83 boats):
1. Brutus III, GBR1123, Tom Mallindine/Charlie Thompson - [53] -3 -6 -8 -2 -1 -6 -8 -13 -7 ; 54
2. Midlife Crisis, USA26, Bruce Golison - 5 -[84] -2 -39 -1 -4 -2 -6 -17 -5 ; 81
3. Dark Energy, USA819, Laura Grondin - 4 -2 -9 -15 -12 -12 -[48] -21 -5 -28 ; 108
4. Savasana, USA49, Brian Keane - 21 -5 -[26] -7 -17 -23 -13 -5 -21 -3 ; 115
5. Mindset, BRA1226, Ralph Rosa - 1 -[36] -18 -1 -26 -24 -11 -2 -20 -22 ; 125

Top Three Corinthian (28 boats):
1. Lee Sackett and Dave Kerr, 1516 (USA)
2. Andres Ducasse, Ducasse Sailing Team (CHI)
3. Ragna Agerup, Ragnarok (NOR)

Top Three One-Pro (13 boats):
1. Tim Ryan, Vamos (AUS)
2. Ahmet Eker, Eker (TUR)
3. James Golden, Derecho (USA)

Full results on YachtScoring.com

Last opportunity to vote for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award 2023
144 yacht racing photographers representing 30 nations have submitted an image for this year's photo contest dedicated to competitive sailing.

The top 80 images selected by the international jury are online and the public is invited to vote until 8 November at midnight (CET) on yachtracingimage.com

The top 20 images will be exhibited at METSTRADE Amsterdam, where the prize giving will take place on November 16 at 4:30 pm. Places are limited and registration is mandatory (). Priority will be given to yacht racing photographers; other guests will be accepted on a first registered first served basis.

yachtracingimage.com

Night of the Weather Bomb
The "Weather Bomb" has exploded on the fleet which luckily is hove up in docks in Le Havre and Lorient. The ULTIMS which are racing have seen an increase in winds and now are thumping along a great speeds towards their turning point off Brazil. It's all here in our report. Keep watching the World on Water Channel for more reports and the race starts this week. -- Geoff Waller

One of a kind bit of yachting history for sale
Click on image to enlarge.

Your humble narrator continues his artwork and library downsizing, and has on offer this one of a kind item. It's from the 1999 Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup. Includes is a poster that RORC had on offer to the press, competitors and, frankly, anyone who asked nicely at the event HQ tent.

But it also includes the CMAC logo stickers... and the bow stickers (FRA) that would have been on the infamous IMS 50-footer Krazy Kyote Two, owned by Ortwin Kandler (father of Stephan Kandler, head of the Orient Express America's Cup team).

The French team, incensed at a last minute re-rating of the wing-masted Krazy Kyote Two, withdrew from the CMAC in protest. Which did not please Champagne Mumm, or the Royal Ocean Racing Club. It did seem to please the other teams...

Yachting World published the whole sordid story here.

I was in Cowes handling the RORC website and the event site, strolled into the tent at the marina, and when I spotted the bow stickers, I was informed by a person who shall go unnamed that I was welcome to them. His comments included a number of epithets and suggested anatomically impossible acts that the French team could and should perform on themselves.

The poster has some thumbtack holes at the corners, as i was too cheap to have it framed, but it will frame up nicely. No major creases. The bow stickers still have the backing paper on them and should smooth out with a bit of work. They will certainly flatten right out when placed on any boat bow or hard surface, ie, matte board.

Click on the image at right to enlarge to see poster and stickers.

Yours for $275 USD including shipping to anywhere in the USA or Canada, will advise for elsewhere. Contact

Bacardi Cup U30 Program Paves The Way For Young Star Class Sailors
The Bacardi Cup U30 Program, which launched in 2023, is a commitment to nurture the next generation of Star Class sailors. The primary goal of the program is to offer promising young sailors the opportunity to chase their racing dreams at the prestigious Bacardi Cup in Miami, USA. The program extends complimentary entry to the regatta and financial support to cover sailors’ expenses associated with participation, for up to ten teams from around the world.

The 97th Bacardi Cup will take place from March 3-9, 2024, at the Coral Reef Yacht Club, Miami. With a six-race series, the event promises to deliver passion and world-class competition. Every year, the regatta boasts a blend of sailing legends, World Champions, Olympians, and professional sailors who compete alongside enthusiasts. Miami in spring provides the perfect stage, with its warm weather, consistent breeze, camaraderie, and exceptional Bacardi hospitality.

Bacardi and the Star Class will be reaching out to U30 sailors with further details. In the meantime, sailors who are interested in the Bacardi Cup U30 Program may contact

As a continuation of Bacardi’s commitment, the 97th Bacardi Cup U30 Champions will not only enjoy their victory but also secure financial support from Bacardi to compete at the 2024 Star Class World Championship taking place from September 8-13 in San Diego, California, USA.

bacardiinvitational.com

Insult To Southwest Ireland Suggests Figaro 3 Boat Is A One-Trick Pony
Tom Dolan making fast in the marina at Dingle in the gathering dusk on Tuesday evening. Note the special fender required to protect the vulnerable foil. Photo: Gary Delaney. Click on image to enlarge.

A statement from Tom Dolan Racing, issued at 07:54 on the morning of Wednesday, November 1st after his anti-clockwise Round Ireland Campaign from Dublin in his Figaro 3 had been abruptly brought to a halt at Dingle on Tuesday evening (October 31st), when it had seemed to be very successfully on track, has since been causing controversy with a comment about the availability or otherwise of safe havens on the coast of southwest Ireland between Dingle and Kinsale.

We cannot allow the slur on the havens of southwest Ireland to pass un-challenged, particularly as it is not a direct quote from Tom himself. For Tom Dolan, having first sprung to prominence through his outstanding showing as a sailing beginner and then an instructor with Glenans in Baltimore, is surely well aware of the string of wonderful natural harbours – safe havens every one – that are there to be found between Dingle and Kinsale.

The fact is that, for any well-found cruising boat in the southwest area, it’s simply a matter of having proper and more-than-adequate ground tackle, and efficient means for its convenient deployment, retrieval and stowage, for which chain is still the best of all, as it’s self-stowing when given a proper vertical locker directly under the windlass.

But this emphatically doesn’t apply to a Figaro 3. Have you ever seen a photo of a Figaro 3 lying to a mooring, let alone swinging gently to her own anchor? Me neither. They are One-Trick Ponies, built exclusively to be raced short-handed from one fully-furnished and 24/7 staffed marina to another, with all shoreside facilities – preferably in a town or village – available in every case. They are not built to lie to their own anchor or a mooring, though if you were trying to avail of the latter, you’d find it easier to come to it stern first.

WM Nixon's full editorial in Afloat.ie

All-access documentary - A Voyage of Discovery: The Ocean Race - to be released Friday on Eurosport
A three-part documentary featuring a deep dive into the lives of the sailors and teams competing in The Ocean Race 2022-23 will be released on Friday 3rd November on Eurosport. It will also be distributed within the USA on Max at a future date, with further global distribution to come.

“A Voyage of Discovery: The Ocean Race”, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), follows key sailors from the five IMOCA teams racing around the world, including the skipper of the winning 11th Hour Racing Team, the American sailor Charlie Enright.

Viewers are taken behind the scenes and given ‘all access’ to live the drama of the toughest fully-crewed race in the world, experiencing all of the highs and lows as the best sailors in the world take on this iconic offshore challenge.

Preview video:

Salty Dawg Caribbean Rally Underway
This fall the Salty Dawgs have nearly 100 cruising boats signed up to sail in the rally to the Caribbean and Bahamas from Hampton, VA and Newport, RI. About 80 boats are sailing from Hampton and of those about 20 are heading to the Bahamas while 60 will make Antigua their destination.

In Newport, the Dawgs joined forces again with the NARC to form a fleet of about 20 boats. Six boats departed Newport on October 28 for Bermuda and then the Caribbean and the remainder were scheduled to depart in synch with the Hampton boats on or after November 1. After 24 years, Hank Schmitt, the founder of the NARC as well as Offshore Passages Opportunities, is stepping down as the NARC’s rally director and will hand the rally’s reins over to the volunteer Salty Dawgs.

For the next two weeks, the western North Atlantic will be home to roughly 400 passage makers in the rallies. You can track their progress on rally sponsor Predict Wind’s website here.

From Cruising Compass, the newsletter of Blue Water sailing

bwsailing.com

Bray Sailing Club and the Droleen Dinghy in Focus at Historical Society Talk by Vincent Delany
Floating on air…..the new 12ft Bray Droleen, built to a design of 1896, is of a remarkably powerful shape - with 6ft beam, her width is half of her length. Click on image to enlarge.

A talk on the maritime development of Bray Town in the 19th century will be held by Vincent Delany, a renowned maritime historian, at the Royal Hotel in Bray on November 16th, 2023 at 8:00 pm.

During the talk, Vincent Delany will highlight the key people who held important positions in the town in the 19th century. He will delve into the great Regattas that took place in Bray from 1862, which attracted thousands of visitors from Dublin who travelled by train to attend them.

The Regattas contributed to the establishment of the Bray Sailing Club in 1896, whose members built a unique one-design dinghy for Bray known as the Droleen that did not survive for long.

Vincent Delany will describe the reasons behind the collapse of the class and how it was revived in the 21st century. Today, there are six known Droleens ready to race.

afloat.ie/sail/historic-boats/

Featured Brokerage
Zeydon Z60 - REGULUS, 2008; refit 2020/21. 550,000 EUR. Located in Marmaris, Turkey.

A super cool Zeydon Z60 - fresh from a large refit including new carbon sails. Her design has been very carefully thought-out, especially how the space flows from on deck to down below.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Ben Cooper
Berthon UK
Tel: 0044 (0)1590 679 222
E-Mail:

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Swan 105-002 'Selena' 7,950,000. EUR VAT Paid. Located in Lanzarote, Spain.

Commissioned by an experienced owner using Nautor Swan, Frers Naval Architecture and Beiderbeck Design has made this yacht one of the most unique builds in Nautor Swan history. Not only does Selena have excellent sailing performance, her design maximises space both on deck and in the interiors, special attention was paid to keeping a low noise level throughout the yacht.

On deck, SELENA features a bright and spacious cockpit area with mahogany finished seating and dining area adjacent to the twin helm positions. A fixed carbon cockpit bimini provides protection from the elements with retractable sun shade, removable side curtains and a forward glass panel, able to slide continuously from closed to completely open, while the integrated mainsheet point allows a walkthrough cockpit arrangement.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Lorenzo Bortolotti

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2015 Botin TP 52. Price Reduced - POA.