In This Issue
• Pavant Out Of TJV As Multihulls Fly
• 44Cup Calero Marinas Lanzarote
• Dinghy Star Pro Ultra STS
• Sailing World on Water, November 19.21
• Eileen Ramsay - the Queen of Yachting Photography
• Strong start to M32 World Championship
• Iain Brambell set to lead sailing's path to Paris
• Vote for World Sailing Awards 2021
• Canadian 'Zingara' hoists Bushwhacker Cup
• Jean-Pierre Champion
• Letters to the Editor
• Featured Brokerage:
• • Mills 41 - "Ambush"
• • Cannonball M72 Custom Maxi Racer
• • Outremer 51 - New Boat
• The Last Word: Winston Churchill
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Pavant Out Of TJV As Multihulls Fly
A breakage aboard HBF-Reforest'Action forces her to become the first Class 40 boat to abandon the race. Sam Davies chases the IMOCA leaders whilst Leyton wins a night-time duel in the Ocean Fifty.
Class 40 - down to 44
The Class 40s are approaching the island of Sal in Cape Verde - the crucial waypoint that will see them turn right and head west to Martinique. Their options are many; go round all the Cape Verde islands or slip between them? The only rule is to keep Sal on starboard. "The question is where it will go best, there are still windless areas. It looks like it will be good to go south to get the trade winds, so we'll probably do the long way around." concludes Simon Koster (Banque du Léman).
With the front of the fleet having compressed overnight, Britons Brian Thompson and Alistair Richardson continue to sit in the leading pack. However there's a chasing group, that includes Croatia Full of Life co-skippered by former world champion skier Ivica Kostelic and Japan's Masa Suzuki aboard Milai, who are steaming in and could really mix up the leaderboard.
HBF - Reforest'action has withdrawn from the race. Kito de Pavant and Gwen Gbick saw their bowsprit explode under the pressure of the gennaker while sailing at 20 knots. Without this piece of rigging, it is impossible to hoist the headsails that are essential for the rest of the race. In a note received overnight, the crew said: "The decision was taken quickly. We are abandoning the race. We are now heading north to the Straits of Gibraltar, over 1000 miles away. It will probably take us a good week. The disappointment is great, as is the energy of the whole team over the last few months to optimise the boat, but we have to accept these blows of fate... this is not the first and unfortunately won't be the last."
IMOCA - leader grows her advantage
Leader LinkedOut is widening the gap on its two closest rivals Charal and Apivia. The doldrums have so far, not slowed the leading 60 footers too much although there's still a long 250 miles ahead of them before they escape.
The chasing group are making hay whilst the wind blows - under spinnaker in a lightly disturbed trade wind - but it's not expected to last as the conditions in the doldrums are forecast to worsen as they enter the zone. "There is a lot of uncertainty in these Doldrums, we have seen the frontrunners go much more east than usual, we are going to deal with it as best we can," explained Loïs Berrehar (Nexans - Art & Fenêtres) on the radio this morning.
Briton Sam Davies on her older generation boat, Initiatives Coeur, is in fourth place 200 miles behind the leader whilst USA's Charlie Enright is 100 miles further back in 11th on board 11th Hour Racing Team's Malama.
44Cup Calero Marinas Lanzarote
The 44Cup Calero Marinas Lanzarote, final and deciding event of the 2021 44Cup, got off to a difficult start today. To race the nimble RC44s only need 5/6 knots of wind and on several occasions the race committee valiantly began a start sequence in more than this, only for the wind to disappear.
Finally, moving the entire race course north towards Lanzarote's capital Arrecife enabled one race to be held. In this, there was a tight-run battle between Hugues Lepic's Team Aleph, John Bassadone's Peninsula Racing and surprisingly, newbie 44Cup team Valeriya Kovalenko's ARTTUBE. Among the nine racing, this trio did the best job of reading the shifts and the awkward current coming out of the mid-left. Then, on the final run, as the wind was getting ever shiftier and softer, Chris Bake and Team Aqua benefitted from a massive flier out to the right side of the course. Finding marginally improved pressure there pulled the reigning RC44 World Champions up to second place but the move was unable to advance them far enough to catch Team Aleph, which won what would prove to be today's only race.
Ranking (After one race)
1. Aleph Racing (FRA) - 1
2. Team Aqua (GBR) - 2
3. Arttube (RUS) - 3
4. Ceeref Powered By Hrastnik 1860 (SLO) - 4
5. Peninsula Racing (GBR) - 5
6. Artemis Racing (SWE) - 6
7. Team Nika (RUS) - 7
8. Charisma (MON) - 8
9. Atom Tavatuy (RUS) - 9
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Sailing World on Water, November 19.21
It was a return to old time 18 Footer Racing last weekend as Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake, in Tech 2, battled to, firstly, start, then get round the course, in the breezy conditions. They capsized again just at the finish, and had to re-right their skiff before John Winning in Yandoo, the following boat, could catch them. It's a nail bighting sequence.
The Ultims in the Transat Jacques Vabre are at their virtual way point near Brazil, and are turning heading to the finish in the Caribbean. They should finish in a week.
The same heavy weather conditions in Sydney were effecting the offshore fleet in the Cruising Yacht Club's Bird Island Race. The overall race winner was Matt Allen's Ichi Ban. and Matt Donald and Chris Townsend's TP52, Gweilo was second. No Limits was third.
Eileen Ramsay - the Queen of Yachting Photography
Eileen Ramsay was at the centre of a unique period in yachting history, and this wonderful book, featuring her classic photography, celebrates an extraordinary woman and her extraordinary subjects. Eileen's heyday was between 1950 and 1970 - a time when eccentrics ruled, records were there for the setting, and women weren't often to be found behind the lens. But Eileen established herself as one of the greatest yachting photographers of her time, taking famous portraits of sailing icons like Francis Chichester and Eric Tabarly, Olympians, including Rodney Pattisson and Keith Musto, and historic pictures from the first Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic (OSTAR) Races. She was the only photographer Chichester allowed on his Gipsy Moth yachts, and commissioned to photograph notorious charmers like Uffa Fox and Max Aitken, learned to stave off their amorous advances.
Eileen, now into her 90s can remember just about every photograph she has taken and relate an anecdote or story about each one. Many of these memories are also recorded in the book.
Eileen Ramsay - the Queen of Yachting Photography, is a spectacular celebration of a pioneering photographer and a fascinating time in yachting history.
Order from South Atlantic Publishing
Strong start to M32 World Championship
If the two days of pre-worlds racing Monday and Tuesday this week were any indication of the competition to come, you can expect a strong title fight from Don Wilson on Convexity, Pieter Taselaar on Bliksem, and Anthony Kotoun on Catapult. Convexity and Bliksem are no strangers to the top of the M32 podium, but Catapult is a dark-horse team. Kotoun has been more often a tactician than a helm.
At the end of day one, Wilson sat in first with Kotoun in second, only two points behind. Of course, as the old racing adage goes, it can be bad luck to win the pre-worlds. Ryan McKillen and his team Surge were out to prove that point today with 23 points across five races, a performance solid enough to put them in third place going into day 2 and striking distance from the top of the podium. "You can't win on the first day, but you can lose it," Said McKillen, "so we're happy to be in the mix."
Iain Brambell set to lead sailing's path to Paris
Highly regarded international sports administrator and Olympian Iain Brambell has been charged with leading Australian Sailing's High Performance program after being announced as its new High Performance Director.
The appointment is another significant step for the Australian Sailing Team, which over the past twelve months has seen the development of the Australian Sailing High Performance Strategy "Towards Paris 24 & LA 28", the launch of the Athlete Development Framework and the appointments of Michael Blackburn as Technical Director and Ken Lynch as National Performance Pathway Manager.
Brambell is a three-time Olympian and an Olympic bronze medallist in the Men's Lightweight Four in 2008. He has spent the past four years as the medal-winning High Performance Director at Rowing Canada.
Brambell said he was looking forward to leading an Olympic program that has won 13 Olympic medals including eight Gold over the past four Olympics.
Iain will commence in the role in early December.
Vote for World Sailing Awards 2021
The World Sailing Awards 2021 - celebrating the outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions to sailing - is now open for online voting!
A total of 13 athletes - including Olympic medallists, major offshore series winners, a kite world champion and new around the world record setter- have been shortlisted.
World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award
World Sailing and 11th Hour Racing joined forces in 2018 to celebrate the delivery of high impact and replicable sustainability within the maritime industry aligned to World Sailing's Sustainability Agenda 2030.
One of the four projects shortlisted will win the 10,000 USD prize to fund their continued sustainability efforts and the iconic trophy made from recycled carbon fibre from an America's Cup boat infused with bio resin.
World Sailing's 146 Member National Associations and its 119 Classes have nominated a record number of 39 athletes representing a total of 19 nations from across the entire discipline spectrum for the Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2021.
These nominations have been shortlisted by an expert nine-strong panel, including five former World Sailing Award winners - Jo Aleh (NZL), Theresa Zabell (ESP), Santiago Lange (ARG), Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL) and Shirley Robertson (GBR) - alongside Dee Caffari (GBR), Craig Leweck (USA), Yann Rocherieux (FRA) and Luca Rizzotti (ITA).
Canadian 'Zingara' hoists Bushwhacker Cup
Pensacola Yacht Club: Yes, the travel was worth the trouble. Canadian Richard Reid's 'Zingara' came all the way from Port Credit, Ont, to Northwest Florida to win first place overall in the 2021 Bushwhacker Cup hosted by Pensacola Yacht Club. For the six-race regatta, Reid and his team of Rebecca Anderson, Richard Clarke, Bill Gooderham, Brian Kamilar and Goncalo Ribiero scored bullets in the first and final races to score 1 -[14] -5 -6 -2 -1. With one race to drop, 'Zingara' won with a score of 15 points.
Top Corinthian boat and overall Atlantic Coast Champion was Steve Suddath's '3 1/2 Men'. Suddath and crew Shawn Burke, Steve Burke, and Jack Smith ended with a line score of 7 - 8 - 8 - 3 - 3 - [22/UFD]… They got to drop their final race 22/UFD, a 'U' flag disqualification. The Jacksonville team ended with 29 points, in sixth place overall.
Third place overall and first place in the Gulf Coast Regional Championship went to New Orleans skipper Dwight LeBlanc iii on 'Triple D's'.
Top five for the overall Bushwhacker Cup were:
1. Zingara, Richard Reid , CAN - 1 -[14] -5 -6 -2 -1 ; 15
2. Nefeli, Peter Karrié , GER - 3 -5 -4 -1 -[7] -4 ; 17
3. TRIPLE D's, J Dwight Leblanc iii , USA - 4 -1 -3 -2 -9 -[22] ; 19
4. PACIFIC YANKEE, Drew Freides , USA - [19] -12 -1 -4 -1 -3 ; 21
5. Gamecock, Peter McClennen , USA - 2 -3 -6 -[10] -4 -7 ; 22
Jean-Pierre Champion
It is with great sadness that the Federation Francaise de Voile reports the death of Jean-Pierre Champion, aged 73.
Jean-Pierre Champion was President of the FFVoile from 1996 to 2017, Vice-President of the French National Olympic Committee from 2005 to 2009 and President of the Yacht Club de Cannes from 2019 to 2021. Jean-Pierre Champion died of cancer, the 8th of November 2021.
In 1996, he succeeds to Jean-Louis Monneron as President of the French Federation. Convinced that the development of sailing will benefit of quality teaching, he encouraged the network of the French Sailing Schools created by the Federation as well as all kind of fun and sport activities, because, as he used to say, sailing is as much a sport than a leisure.
During five successive mandates (20 years), he managed the Federation with great thoroughness, strengthening faithful partners, reinforcing the network of clubs and territories, accompanying new disciplines and being more and more involved in the NOC as administrator and later on as vice-president
Equally involved within World Sailing, he was one of the supporters in favor of integration of cruising sailing in the Olympic Games as well as all new disciplines, such as Kiteboarding.
He enjoyed sailing on Dragon, Sunfish and even more on his own Finn in Cannes waters. After twenty years, he withdrew from management of the Federation and became President of the Yacht Club de Cannes, his club, just before the onset of disease, leading to his resignation. Jean-Pierre died on the 8th of November, having stamped his name indelibly on French sailing.
"Jean-Pierre was a passionate and committed president, who achieved to give our Federation the place it deserved within the sports world. He contributed in large to the development of sailing, with a tremendous expansion of offshore race we know today, but always keeping in mind one goal: the promotion of sailing in all forms. On behalf of the Federation Francaise de Voile, I wish to extend sincere condolences and a message of support to his family." -- Jean-luc Denechau, President of the FFVoile
Letters To The Editor -
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* From Adrian Morgan:
Seahorse focuses on sustainability this month with an honest admission by 11th Hour that the yacht building industry has a very long way to go. But, you say, wind turbines also use high tech carbon and concrete too. Yes, but they are solutions to help solve a problem; race boats, and the yachts of millionnaires, well... let's just leave it there (as the latter do by leaving their superyachts idling in ports the world over, month after month, burning up fuel, waiting for their owners to jet in for a few days at a huge cost of 1,000s of tonnes of CO2 every year.) Recognising the problem as 11th Hour Racing honestly do (read the Seahorse report) is a start.
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The Last Word
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill
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