EuroSail News #5491 - 23 January

In This Issue
• Warrior Won wins the 2024 RORC Transatlantic Race
• Warrior Won Video
• Leopard wins the IMA Transatlantic Trophy
• Exciting Opportunities At Fox’s Marina & Boatyard
• Coville confirms broken foil control system suffered last Wednesday
• Laperche reaches Cape Town, Caudrelier at the Kerguelens
• Driven by Data - Orient Express Racing Team
• Cup Spy: Swiss return to Jeddah2 • An Extraordinary Solo Race Around the World
• Imagine sailing on hurricane kind of wind
• Featured Charter: Beneteau First 36 #42
• Featured Brokerage:
• • X-Yachts - Xc 47
• • Alfred Mylne Glen-Coats Gaff Sloop - DUET
• • 2017 J/V Pac52 “Warrior Won”
• • Zeydon Z60 - REGULUS
• • MC62 Multihull
• The Last Word: Charlie Chaplin

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

Warrior Won wins the 2024 RORC Transatlantic Race
PAC52 Warrior Won (USA) owned & skippered by Chris Sheehan has been awarded the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy, presented by former RORC Commodore and Admiral Andrew McIrvine at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada.

Warrior Won has been on a five-year programme of racing, including winning the 2022 RORC Caribbean 600 and competing in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, Rolex Sydney Hobart and Rolex Fastnet Race. For Warrior Won's owner Chris Sheehan, winning the RORC Transatlantic Race was the ultimate ambition.

Warrior Won Strategist and Watch Captain was Stu Bannatyne, the only sailor to have won four round the world races in a Whitbread Maxi, Volvo 60, Volvo 70 and VO65.

Warrior Won Tactician was Richard Clarke who has competed in five Olympic Games for Canada and won the Volvo Ocean Race with Illbruck in 2002.

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

Warrior Won Video
Credits: RORC / Arthur Daniel / Warrior Won / Julia Castro / Editor - Corrina Haines

PAC52 Warrior Won (USA) owned & skippered by Chris Sheehan was awarded the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy, presented by former RORC Commodore and Admiral Andrew McIrvine at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. The team completed the race in an elapsed time of 11 Days 5 Hrs 18 Mins and 28 Secs. Warrior Won has been on a five-year programme of racing, including winning the 2022 RORC Caribbean 600 and competing in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, Rolex Sydney Hobart and Rolex Fastnet Race. For Warrior Won's owner Chris Sheehan, winning the RORC Transatlantic Race was the ultimate ambition.

Crew: Christopher Sheehan, Chris Welch, Collin Leon, David Gilmour, Dylan Vogel, Isamu Sakai, Matt Humphries, Richard Clarke, Sam Hallowell, Stu Bannatyne, and Tristan Louwrens.

Leopard wins the IMA Transatlantic Trophy
Farr 100 Leopard 3 (MON), skippered by Chris Sherlock has taken Monohull Line Honours in the 10th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race. Winning the IMA Transatlantic Trophy, the international team of 17 celebrated dockside at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. Leopard 3 completed the race in an elapsed time of 10 Days 17 Hrs 23 Mins 51 Secs.

"Leopard suffered a major setback just two days into the race. It wasn't a significant hit, but what was believed to be a whale, which badly damaged our port rudder, delaminating one metre up", explained Chris Sherlock. "We made a calculated decision on board to keep pushing on and to see if the rudder held, with options to pull into the Cape Verde Islands, or continue. The rudder held across the Atlantic and we have taken Line Honours, so we have achieved our goal. Our preparation for this race was really good; Gian (Ahluwalia) and his team did a terrific job getting the boat ready. Excluding the misdemeanour of the rudder damage on day two, we are very happy with how we sailed the boat."

Farr 100 Leopard's crew included both owners and a racing crew of: Michael Pammenter, Paul Standbridge, Luke Molloy, Chris Sherlock, Gian Ahluwalia, Giles de Jager, Guilermo Altadil, Charlie Wyatt, Tom McWilliam, Mark Bartlett, Gerry Mitchell, Jonas Nordlund, Samuel Wright, Mitch Booth, Will Best.

For this race, Leopard's tactician was Mitch Booth who was skipper for the 100ft Maxi Comanche for the record run in 2022. -- Louay Habib

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

Exciting Opportunities At Fox’s Marina & Boatyard
Located on the River Orwell in Ipswich, Fox's Marina & Boatyard is one of the UK's leading yacht refit and repair centres and a hub of marine expertise and passion. They are proud of their team of highly knowledgeable craftsmen, engineers, boat handlers, riggers, electricians and fabricators, most of whom have been part of the team for many years.

With the boatyard at its busiest ever and a line-up of exciting projects ahead, Fox's are seeking individuals for a range of workshop positions to suit varying skill sets. Openings cater to juniors keen to explore various fields as well as seasoned professionals looking for new challenges.

Are you passionate about precision and quality? Do you enjoy working in a multiskilled team environment? If so, Fox's wants to hear from you!

Fox's seek individuals for their busy workshops who:
- Possess proven experience in the marine industry
- Have an understanding of yacht refit and repair
- Have good time management
- Demonstrate teamwork skills with the ability to work independently when needed
- Are physically fit - able to work inside and out on vessels ashore and afloat

Flexible working hours considered.

If you are ready to embark on an exciting career with a great team visit foxsmarina.com/career-opportunities

Coville confirms broken foil control system suffered last Wednesday
Thomas Coville, the solo skipper of Sodebo Ultim 3 admitted today to having suffered some technical damage last Wednesday. Although it is not a structural failure, Coville reports, "I am handicapped on one side but I have a solution to regain the functions of the foil. I am confident for the future."

In a press release issued today on the subject of his breaking into the Indian Ocean, Coville revealed that his starboard foil lowering system had broken. "The damage has not caused any damage to the structure of the trimaran but prevented the foil from being lowered ," the press release said. "I am compromised on port tack".

Thomas Coville reported, "I had come back on the first two to catch the same front, I was happy with the boat's speeds, but it turned out to be more difficult following damage to the mechanical lowering system of the starboard foil. Together with the team, we managed to stabilize it. There is no structural damage or major problems on the boat, but at the moment I am handicapped on one side. With my technical team we have a solution to regain its functionality, I have a little work to do, but I am confident. I wasn't able to keep up with the pace of the leaders because I found myself at the back of the front when I wasn't far behind, but I'm happy to be where I am. Venturing here with a flying boat like Sodebo Ultim 3 was a dream and here we are - with the other sailors - doing something unique, it's the first time. Doing it today with my team is also a collective adventure. It's a motorsport, it's a commitment sport and it's a group sport and they're all behind me." -- Andi Robertson

arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

Laperche reaches Cape Town, Caudrelier at the Kerguelens
After suffering damage to his daggerboard and daggerboard well four days ago Tom Laperche (SVR Lazartigue) has arrived in Cape Town, South Africa and this morning was in a holding pattern waiting for the strong breeze to diminish to allow him to dock. His technical team are in attendance.

Leader Charles Caudrelier is going well and gybed north east to clear the Kerguelens, Thomas Coville is in a transition zone between two weather systems, Armel Le Cléac'h and Anthony Marchand are hooking into their first Southern Ocean depression and Éric Péron is making excellent progress on the direct, rhumb line course towards the tip of South Africa.

After a good night of sailing in a strong wind sometimes peaking at boat speeds of nearly 20 knots, SVR - Lazartigue has reached South Africa and the sanctity of Cape Town. Laperche had furled away his headsails and was under mainsail alone and was waiting for the wind to calm down to get into the harbour at Cape Town. -- Andi Robertson

arkeaultimchallengebrest.com/en

Driven by Data - Orient Express Racing Team
One of the most interesting aspects of yacht racing over the past 15 years or so has been the way in which performance has evolved so dramatically so quickly. It is a common picture both offshore and all the way to the close inshore racing in the America's Cup.

If you look back at the French K-Challenge in 2005, for example, the ACC V5 yachts were rarely exceeding 12kt; today an America's Cup AC75 will hit 50kt on a daily basis. And it's the same to cross the Atlantic where the west-east record is now below four days. Both represent huge improvements within a couple of decades. And the point here is that it's not the materials, the carbon or the alloys that have changed so much. What has changed is the data, what we are able to capture with sensors and how that informs our understanding across all sailing conditions, analysing rig and hull loads, allowing us to assess, for example, where additional stiffness and strength are most needed, and where not, continually saving weight while often increasing strength at the same time.

That data and its interpretation and application are what is driving the progress we have made at Orient Express Racing Team, in large part led by the remarkable team working with our head of design Benjamin Muyl.

Full article in the February issue of Seahorse

Cup Spy: Swiss return to Jeddah. Italians two-boat train with 'de-tuned' LEQ12
Three America's Cup teams trained on the Mediterranean. Two of them USA and Great Britain suffered breakdowns early in the session. In Cagliari Luna Rossa pitched their AC40-OD against their allegedly detuned LEQ12. The Swiss returned to Jeddah for two boat testing in the AC40s. On the Hauraki Gulf, the Kiwis had a minor issue with what appeared to be wing flap control causing to belly flop - the following day a similar issue reappeared with more spectacular consequences

What happened in the Cup - January 17, 2024:

- American Magic - A blown seal on a hydraulic ram on board NYYC American Magic's second generation AC75 Patriot halted today's sailing session within five minutes of it having begun.

- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - Returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for what is expected to be a week of sailing in their two AC40s.

- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - Sailed their LEQ12, against their AC40 sailing One Design mode. The Italians claim they have had to detune their LEQ12 to make it a useful benchmark against the AC40 OD. It is likely that the focus of the session is sail testing.

- Emirates Team New Zealand - Sailed for the first time in 2024, after towing on Tuesday Wednesday's session is covered in an earlier report. They are sailing alone, pending the arrival from Jeddah and roll-out of their AC40-OD.

- INEOS Britannia - Set up to match race their two AC40s, however initially the breeze was a no-show, but arrived after a couple of stutter-starts at 14-15kts, when the two boats started match race practice. Unfortunately there was an issue on Sienna with one of the activators, and she was towed home. Athena continued to train alone for the rest of the session.

- Orient Express Racing Team - No report.

Richard Gladwell's full commentary in Sail-World.com

An Extraordinary Solo Race Around the World
It's never been done before. In fact, to date only four people have ever completed a solo lap of the planet in a multihull.

The Arkea Ultim Challenge Brest is an extraordinary race between six exceptional sailors aboard a fleet of incredible machines, most of them fully foiling. The race started on 7 January 2024 and is expected to take between 40-50 days for the front runners.

PlanetSail went to Brest ahead of the start to talk to one of the favourites and current monohull round the world record holder, Armel Le Cleac'h aboard Maxi Banque Populaire XI.

Imagine sailing on hurricane kind of wind: Fantela brothers broke their own record in sailing 49er!
Where sky meets the sea, just below Velebit mountain in Croatia, Zadar - hometown of Fantela brothers - this is where magic is happening. Sime and Mihovil Fantela, Croatian athletes in sailing 49er reached their record speed with the help of the Bora wind.

Croatian sailors Šime and Mihovil Fantela set their 49er record with a speed of 24 knots, achieved in a strong wind near their hometown of Zadar. Bora wind is the reason that roads going from inland to coastline are often closed during the winter.

While preparing for the new sailing season, Fantela brothers decided to take a challenge and try to tame the strong Croatian northerly wind called Bora, typical for the Adriatic sea.

The bora can cause extreme weather conditions and gusts from 100 km/h, but may reach up to 300 km/h during winter season, making it hurricane kind of wind. It's dry, changeable, cold, and can reach faster speed in comparison to the other winds. Yet Sime and Mihovil decided to float out from the coast, during a strong bora which caused roads to be closed and locals to prefer staying in their homes. -- Alexia Lahoud

EuroSail News #5491 - 23 January

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