EuroSail News #5482

In This Issue
• Alive wins Rolex Sydney Hobart
• Jessica Watson arrives in Hobart to great fanfare
• Looked at differently - HH Catamarans
• Arkea Ultim Challenge - Brest
• Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey
• 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar
• Cup Insider: interview with Grant Dalton
• Why Jeddah Mattered
• Italian RS Aero Class ready for a youthful 2024
• Featured Charter: NOMAD IV - Maxi Dolphin
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Ocean Tec Humphreys SF400
• • Maximizer. Farr 72’ Sloop
• • Zeydon Z60 - Regulus
• The Last Word: Spock

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

Alive wins Rolex Sydney Hobart for a second time in five years
Prizegiving. Benoit Falletti, Managing Director Rolex Australia, Duncan Hine, owner of Alive and Arthur Lane, Commodore Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Click on image to enlarge.

Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine, has been declared the overall winner of the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, securing the Tasmanian boat its second victory in five years.

The win is also Tasmania's fifth in the 628 nautical mile Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's race after Hine skippered Phillip Turner's Reichel/Pugh 66 to her first victory in 2018. Alive's win adds extra polish to the pedigree of the boat that its owner, Philip Turner, bought the former Black Jack in 2014, with a view to winning the race. After its victory in 2018, Alive came close again in 2019, but placed fourth. Last year she finished 10th.

The result also signs off on a terrific performance for Reichel/Pugh in the race, as the top three overall came from their design board, with the RP72 URM Group finishing third over the line for second overall and RP69, Moneypenny, taking third place overall. "Reichel/Pugh designs are proving to be a pretty lucky for many of these races," Hine said.

Asked what was the key point of the race that shored up Alive's victory, Hine cited the last stretch up the Derwent River to the finish and their nail-biting tussle with URM Group. The skipper said, "It was a cliff hanger right up to the bloody finish wasn't it? The Derwent River always pulls something out of the bag.

Hine and his crew had to play a waiting game until this morning when the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia declared Alive the winner of the prestigious Tattersall Cup.

rolexsydneyhobart.com

Jessica Watson arrives in Hobart to great fanfare
Jessica Watson after finishing the 78th Rolex Sydney Hobart. Photo by ROLEX/Kurt Arrigo. Click on image to enlarge.

When Azzurro, the 'Little Boat That Could', docked in Hobart this afternoon just before 3.45pm on December 31st, there was a huge crowd waiting to meet her - or more precisely, one of her crew - Jessica Watson OAM, who had just finished the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

As a 16 year-old, Watson sailed single-handed, nonstop and unassisted around the world. At the time of leaving, she came up against a lot of opposition, but proved her critics wrong.

Stepping ashore from the S&S 34 Azzurro (Ella's Pink Lady which she sailed around the world was the same design), after finishing the 2023 Sydney Hobart, Watson said, "Someone asked if we had broken anything and we said 'just six people!

"We have bumps and bruises and one of the guys had a bit of a cut on the hand. But all are OK and the boat was great," she said of the boat Jack Kliner from Queensland recently bought from Shane Kearns.

Watson sailed her third Sydney-Hobart to raise awareness for the risk factors of stroke and advocating for prevention and treatment of strokes after losing her long time partner to a stroke in 2021.

Watson is one of so many women who have been lauded in the race this year. Women navigated the winner Alive and second placed URM Group. Vanessa Dudley sailed her 25th Hobart and Annika Thomson won the Jane Tate Memorial for the first female skipper to cross the finish line, while others finished top three in their divisions. -- Di Pearson/RSHYR Media

rolexsydneyhobart.com

Looked at differently - HH Catamarans
HH Catamarans is on a mission to redefine the concept of a luxury performance multihull… from 44ft all the way up to superyacht size

With the HH44, HH Catamarans launched a unique and very clever concept of sailing multihull into the market. Not reinventing, but defining a new type of luxury performance cat that has not, at least at 44ft, been available in this format. Before, there was basically a choice between luxury catamarans on one side and performance catamarans on the other and until the HH44, there has been no production catamaran that brings together these two apparently contravening worlds in such a convincing blend.

The 44 is only the beginning in a whole new generation of luxury performance cats by HH, where the ideas and innovations introduced in the 44 are being upscaled into a new HH52, and HH60. This also includes the HH80, which will be a true superyacht. It will require different parameters entirely and will, no doubt, also benefit from the creative, forward thinking design process and the vast experience of the HH company and its CEO, Paul Hakes, in advanced composite construction.

Full article in the January issue of Seahorse

Arkea Ultim Challenge - Brest
After being closed due to the weather conditions yesterday the Arkea Ultim Challenge - Brest race village reopened today Sunday, offering visitors an informative and entertaining final hours of 2023. Joseph Bizard, who is the managing director of OC Sport Pen Duick, the race organizer of the race, talks at about the village, the competitors, the commitment of the partners and how this race is one of the last great frontiers in ocean racing, and, indeed, sport.

Yves Parlier is one of the big names of ocean racing, a legendary sailor and innovator who inspires the imagination and who has always sought to challenge oneself and develop and embrace new technology. Parlier was "the extraterrestrial" (his nickname). During the 2000-2001 Vendee Globe, he memorably repaired and re-stepped his broken mast on a remote Stewart Island near New Zealand and went on to finish sixth. Yesterday he came to greet his friend, Thomas Coville and he returned again today  "This round the world race is the logical continuation of developments in ocean racing," Parlier said, " When the Vendee Globe was created in 1989, there really was this same pioneering spirit. We wondered who would be able to complete the loop. Here, we are asking ourselves the same question. Even if they go very fast, I do think that life on board the Ultims is less extreme than on the IMOCAs. But they are very complex boats. It's a great first to go this far into the southern latitudes, over time… Will they last? It looks exciting!"

Winner and record holder of the Vendee Globe (2017), recent winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre (2023), Armel Le Cleac'h is preparing to compete on his fourth round the world race but his first on a multihull. Unlike other skippers, he does not use a mental coach. His way of preparing for the start is to logically and carefully make sure he has ticked all the boxes, mastering all the elements.

arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

Holman & Bromilow's 420 Storms The Brass Monkey
Click on image for photo gallery.

With 75 entries for another breezy event in this season's stormy Selden SailJuice Winter Series, Arran Holman and David Bromilow's 420 dominated the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey...

The breezy theme for this season's Selden SailJuice Winter Series continued with a windy outing at the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey. This time it was the turn of Olympic campaigner Arran Holman crewed by David Bromilow to enjoy the planing conditions in their 420 to win both races of the one-day event.

With 75 entries from 32 classes and 40 different clubs, there was also a big youth contingent taking part, with the youngest sailor being just 12 years old. The RS Fevas made the Brass Monkey their class North Winter Championships, with five boats entered.

With Storm Gerrit predicted to batter the UK after Boxing Day, the forecasts were suggesting some extreme weather conditions for the Brass Monkey. However, after some deliberation Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club decided to give it a go, and were rewarded with good racing conditions, with the predicted stronger winds not arriving until much later in the day.

Even if the conditions were softer than expected, they were anything but easy. At least the temperature was balmy, even lifting into double figures. But with lots of rain and winds of 15 to 20 knots with occasional gusts over 30, it was still a very challenging outing. It made for great entertainment not just for the sailor but for those that came to enjoy the great YDSC hospitality and warm atmosphere in the clubhouse.

It was perfect 420 conditions, with Holman and Bromilow (Hollowell SC) winning by over a minute on corrected time in both races. Multiple dinghy champion Tom Gillard (Streaker - Sheffield Viking SC), had two seconds in his Streaker to be 2nd overall and Ben Flower (ILCA 7 - Paignton), two thirds to be third.

Overall Results Of Brass Monkey

Top Speeds from the day
RS400 Ollie Groves and Tom Parkhurst (Beaver SC) - 11.87 kts
MUSTO - Robert Richardson (Royal Windermere YC) - 11.86 kts

Top Speeds corrected on handicap
RS200 - Adam and Martyn Catlow (Leigh and Lowton SC) - 11.3 kts
RS200 - Will Taylor and Faye CASWELL (Lymington Town SC) - 11.09 kts

After three events, Ben Flower's ILCA 7 takes the overall lead with Fresh Abendstern and Ross Kemp's Graduate up 15 places to second overall, and Rob Richardson's Musto Skiff up one to third overall. -- Andy Rice

sailjuiceseries.com

53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar
The publication of the Notice of Race serves as the starting signal for the 53rd edition of the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by Iberostar which will be held from 29th March to 6th April on the Bay of Palma. The regatta will be the first qualifying event for the World Cup Series 2024 and will be the first big test of the season which culminates in the Paris Olympics.

The publication of the Notice of Race officially opens the registration period. After the success of the record edition of 2023, which brought together nearly a thousand boats and 1,300 sailors in the Bay of Palma, the organisers are expecting a fleet of the highest quality. The best in the world will compete on the Bay of Palma.

The 53 Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca by Iberostar brings together the ten sailing disciplines of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The women's ILCA 6, 49er FX, IQFoil and Formula Kite; the men's ILCA 7, 49er, IQFoil and Formula Kite; and the mixed 470 and Nacra 17 will compete in the Bay of Palma. The competition will take place between Monday, April 1st and Saturday, April 6th, when the Medal Races and Medal Series (depending on the class) will decide the champions of the 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofía Mallorca. The regatta will open the World Cup Series 2024, the world league of Olympic classes.

The Notice of Race for the 53rd Trofeo Princesa Sofia Mallorca by Iberostar is available on the regatta's official website

trofeoprincesasofia.org

Cup Insider: interview with Grant Dalton
During the 37th America's Cup preliminary regatta in Jeddah I managed to grab a short interview with Emirates Team New Zealand and America's Cup Event CEO Grant Dalton.

Our meeting took place prior to racing on the final day and Dalton's busy schedule at the event meant that time was tight. So, to make the most of my 15-minute window of opportunity I focused on three topics: the event, the team, and the AC40.

I began by asking just how satisfying for him the previous spectacular three-race day sailed in around 12 knots of breeze had been to watch - especially after the trials and tribulations of the first preliminary event in Spain three months earlier and a light wind opening day in Jeddah.

Dalton confessed to some relief that all three scheduled races had been possible on that first day.

"On the back of Villanova when the wind didn't show, on Thursday I thought: 'Well, here we go again' - although we got away with it in the end.

"Yesterday was what we have all been waiting for and we were able to see just how manoeuvrable and quick these boats really are," he said. "So it was really satisfying."

More satisfying, Dalton told me, was to be responsible for running a successful event in Jeddah where, he said, the America's Cup is leading the charge promoting sailing to a population previously completely unfamiliar with the sport.

There has been a lot of cynicism about the America's Cup choosing Saudi Arabia as the venue for the second preliminary regatta of the latest America's Cup cycle - the second under Dalton's leadership - but Dalton was unapologetic about the move and revealed that the Kingdom had been 'close to getting the whole Cup'. -- Justin Chisholm

Full interview in CupInsider.com

Why Jeddah Mattered
The Saudi Arabia venue for the second America's Cup Preliminary event was always likely to be controversial, but few expected the AC40 series to redefine high performance racing on foils - Yet that's precisely what the three day series did.

Moving six teams along with the travelling Cup circus to a country and coastline that has never previously hosted a grand prix sailing event of any kind was a bold call. But after a week of training and racing it was clear that this style of high octane racing had changed for good.

From close-quarters boat on boat tactics at closing speeds of over 60knots, to stunning performances from some of the youngest sailors the Cup has ever seen and shocks for some of the big guns, this was an event that will be talked about for some time. PlanetSail was there to witness and report on every minute.

Plus, we talk exclusively to the new IMOCA Globe Series Champion Sam Goodchild about his performance in the Transat Jaques Vabre and discover his pick of the pack in the ultra competitive IMOCA fleet as the focus draws in on the 2024 Vendee Globe. Plus, in keeping with a season famous for excess, there's two double portions of Docktalk.

planetsail.co.uk

Italian RS Aero Class ready for a youthful 2024
The 2024 calendar for the RS Aero class has been finalised, the single class prized for its lightness, ease of transport, and speed, which finds in the Italian and international class and its fans an environment where fun and organisation come together perfectly. This year's World Championship was held in Italy (Calasetta, Sardinia), next year the RS Aero Youth Team Championship, which was born just two years ago and is organised by the Lega Navale del Sulcis in collaboration with the Circolo Canottieri Ichnusa, will become world championship: a type of regatta dedicated to young people, which is exciting because of its team formula characterised by special rules and a racing strategy.

The 2024 racing season, which will feature national regattas in various Italian locations, will start as usual from the Roman coastline on 22-24 March, thanks to the organisation of the Tognazzi Marine Village.

On the first weekend in April (5-7) it will be the turn of Garda Trentino (CVArco) with the 2nd national regatta, which will be of an international level, considering that Lake Garda is always frequented by many European sailors. From 10 to 12 May it will be Porto Rotondo (CV Noc Ocean) that will host the 3rd National Regatta, while from 17 to 19 May Lake Maggiore will host the 2nd International Regatta (ANS), also open to the RS Aero 9 class. Sardinia will host a national regatta from 5 to 7 July and, after the World Championships scheduled for August, there will be a return to racing in Italy from 4 to 6 October in Rimini (CN Rimini) to close on a high note in Cagliari with the World Youth Team Race from 25 to 27 October.

The European and World Class Championships will be held respectively in France (Carnac, 21-24 June), while the World Championships will be split between youth and senior between Sweden (12-17 August Youth World Championships) and Great Britain (25-30 August, Adult World Championships).

rsaerosailing.org

Featured Charter
NOMAD IV - Maxi Dolphin. From 56,000 per week EUR.

NOMAD IV is a fantastic sailing yacht, that functions superbly for either racing or cruising. Designed by the famous architects Finot Conq and built in Italy by Dolphin Yachts. She is a new concept of large sailing yachts with a high freeboard, large beam and huge sail area allowing her unequalled sailing performances as well as huge spaces for the accommodation. She is particularly comfortable thanks to her length and her similarly large interior and exterior spaces.

See listing details in Seahorse Charters

Contact
Charter Department
Bernard-Gallay
Phone : +33 (0)467 66 39 93
Mail : or
https://www.bernard-gallay.com

See the the Seahorse charter collection

Featured Brokerage
Ocean Tec Humphreys SF400. 387500 EUR. Located in Trieste, Italy.

Rob Humphreys designed composite flying machine with unused luxury interior and ultra-competitive for inshore and offshore regattas.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Michele Antonini - Grabau International (Italia)
Tel: +39 333 74 89 281
Email:

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1991 Farr 72’ Sloop 'Maximizer'. 150,000 EuR Located in Bridgeport, CT, uSA.

A boat with a long and interesting racing history, as well as a proven ocean-capable cruiser to enjoy navigating the oceans around the world.

New Carbon Mast and Boom 2022.

Important Race History:
-Transatlantic Race 2015: 2nd in IRC3.
-Newport Bermuda 2014: Winner in Herbert L Stone, Memorial Trophy.
-Antigua Sailing Week 2013: 3rd in Class 1.
-Mountgay Barbados Race 2014-2015: Winner in Class 1.

See listing details in Seahorse's RaceboatsOnly

Contact
Jose Arozamena

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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:

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

The Last Word
Evil does seem to maintain power by suppressing the truth. -- Spock

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