In This Issue:
ISAF Meeting-
Muskegon Yacht Club Awards Banquet
Featured Brokerage- 52 foot motorsailor
Around Alone Report for November 11
Rhut de Rhum
Farr 40 Nationals
Cray Valley wins Around Alone Class 2
Clipper 98- Tradewind Sailing
ISAF Meeting
The ISAF recently concluded its
Conference and General Assembly in
Palma de Mallorca Spain. 500 delegates
from 70 countries attended.
The ISAF elected its Execuctive
Committee for the next two years. One of the
new mandates was that the council must include
a woman. President Paul Henderson was relected
as he was unopposed. Seven others were elected
to the Committee including Nucci Novi Ceppellini
of Italy who is a women.
Also decided was the events slate for
the 2004 Olympic yachting events. The events
will be: Boards Men, Boards Women
Single-handed dinghy men
Single-handed dinghy women
Double-handed dinghy men
Double-handed dinghy women
Dinghy Open
Multihull Open
Keelboat Open
Keelboat Men, Keelboat Women
The classes for each category will
be determined in 2000.
Approved was a new commitee on Empirical
Handicapping. The ISAF website will soon have
a comprehensive Handicapping database.
Overall, 290 people from 50 countires serve on
ISAF committes. Over 10% are women.
Volvo is continuing its presence as a
strong sailing supporter. For the next three
years the Youth World Championships will be
supported by Volvo.
The 49er was granted International class
status. Recognized class status was granted to
the following classes: Buzz, Splash, Farr 40,
Open 60 Monohull, Maxi One Design, Hobie Tiger
and the Open 60 Multihull.
The Offshore Racing Council completed
its merger with ISAF. Although a part of ISAF,
ORC will still establish and manage international
offshore handicapping systems, and Special
Safety Regulations.
The 1998 ISAF/Sperry Top-Sider world
sailor of the year trophies were awarded.
Carolijn Brouwer won the female award and
Ben Ainslie won the male award.
Brouwer won 1st place at the Europe Class
World Championship and the Europe Class
Pre-Pre Olympics. She is the first Dutch person
to win the World Sailor of the year award.
Ainslie, from Great Britain, dominated the
Laser class. He finished first at the Laser
World's, Laser Europeans and British nationals.
For further ISAF meeting info please see:
http://sailing.org/98november/
Muskegon Yacht Club Awards
Saturday November 7th was the date for the
Muskegon Yacht Club's annual awards banquet.
Awards were presented for 14 racing events.
Noted as the overall winners of the club's
Wednesday night series were: Caramba (John Van Zee)
in the spinnaker division and Shalom (Kent Krieve)
in the Jib and Main Section.
The winner of the season's J/24 series was
Zulu owned by Scott Sikkema.
Torresen Spring Series Class winners were:
Integrity in Class A (William Moe), Caramba in Class B
and Underdog (Van Ulrich) in Jib and Main.
Fall Series Class winners were: Integrity
in Class A, Caramba in Class B, Gambit
(Matt Bombery) in Class C and WhatchaMcCollit
(Jim McColl) in Class D.
For more on the Awards Banquet please see:
http://www.torresen.com/myc/98awards.htm
Featured Brokerage
This week the Torresen Marine Inc. sales
department features a unique yacht. Shenandoah
is a 52 foot Hoernke motor sailor. To view
pictures of this classic wooden yacht go to:
http://www.torresen.com/brokerage/shenendoah_specs.asp
She is of wood construction with a beautiful
1998 green paint job. Shenandoah is the perfect
boat for a business that wishes to entertain clients
in an on the water setting.
To discuss this further please contact the
Torresen Marine Sales Department at 231-759-8596 or
via e-mail sales@torresen.com.
Route du Rhum
For the large multihulls, Paul Vatine
and Marc Guillemot's strategy is paying off.
The two skippers have chosen the option off
the coasts of Ireland on Monday to go down
to the direct route afterwards, getting around
the depression.
The situation is far from being stable
between those in the North (Paul Vatine,
Mark Guillemot) and those taking the direct
route (Laurent Bourgnon, Francis Joyon) and
those in the South (Loick Peyron).
Loick Peyron seems to be in a delicate
situation along the coasts of Spain with over
100 miles behind Paul Vatine in regards to
the goal.
As for the large monohulls, Catherine
Chabaud is continuing her projection in the
wake of Paul Vatine. She already has a 20 mile
advance on Jean Luc van den Heede who is
following the same route. These two leaders have
succeeded in getting away from their three
pursuers: Thomas Coville, Jean Maurel and
Eric Dumont.
Ellen Macarthu leads Monohull Class II
on Kingfisher. Her lead over the 2nd place
yacht is 67 miles.
So far Ellen's race on Kingifsher has
been a trying one. On her first night she
reported: "So many sail changes, almost broke
my ribs on the bow, and quite sprained,
exhausted & bruised. Only 20 mins sleep.
Really hard work, 1hr to change down to
storm jib."
Kingfisher is a rarity for an Open
class boat in that the headsails are not
furling ones. Last night Ellen continued in
adverse conditions: "Once again a freezing
gale strewn night. 30 knots, and a horrific
motion. Speed around 12 to 13 knots. Feeling a
little nervous and uncomfortable. Not sure why.
Maybe because I'm so cold. YESTERDAY was hell
as we had light airs. She is such hard work
when its light. Frustrating and exhausting.
Body still aching bad, it's hard to describe
just how draining those sails are."
Ellen has steered Kingfisher down the
middle routing option. As the fleet nears
the Azores we will see who has made the right
routing choice.
The following yachts have had to drop out
of the race: Lyland & Mac Gill-Solidaire sailed
by Patrick Coulombel, Yvan Bourgnon (Yprema) and
Mark Gatehouse (Victoria Group).
Victor Jean Noel from Guadaloupe
(Region Guadeloupe RFO) dismasted during the
night at around 90 miles from the northwestern
tip of Ushant. This means that the only sailor
from Guadaloupe, where the race finishes is out.
Eric Dumont, yesterday badly injured himself.
He was at the masthead in 40 knots of breeze
trying to repair a damaged main halyard, when
he cut himself badly with his knife. He managed
to get down and call for help to an English
ship nearby, who took him onboard for medical
treatment, and then he rejoined his yacht by
which they had been standing by.
Neither Dumont nor Noel have officially
informed race orgazniers of their drop out
status. Noel is in Brest France searching
for a mast. Noel badly wants to finish the
race as his home is Guadaloupe where the
race finishes. Dumont is enroute to Brest.
For more see: http://www.offshorechallenges.com
& http://www.rhum.org/eng.htm
November 11th Around Alone Report
Now, only 585 miles separate George Stricker
and Rapscallion III from Cape Town.ÿ Stricker's
ETA is now Sunday November 15.ÿ At last report he
was sailing at 6.5 knots and steering a course
of 114 degrees.
Remarkably now, the next boat is the 40 footer
Wind of Change. Viktor Yazkov is now 993 miles from
Cape Town. His speed of 7.6 knots is the highest in
the fleet.
In the last 24 hours, Wind of Change has
broken away from www.no-barriers.com. Wind of Change
now leads the battle with her fellow 40 footer by
18 miles.
www.no-barriers is sailing well. 7.4 knots
was No Barriers speed at last report, 2nd fastest
in the fleet.
Following www.no-barriers.com is the
rudderless South Carolina. South Carolina's
pace has slowed due to difficulty in steering
the rudderless craft by the sails.
Still, despite his less than ideal status Robin
Davie sums up much of the attraction of being at sea:
"Being away from all those things ashore that you'd
like to escape from - no telephone, junk mail,
people to intrude, and you can eat what you want,
when you want to, and better still and you don't
even have to wash unless you want to."
Behind South Carolina comes Shuten Dojhi II
and then Paladin 2. Paladin 2 is 1873 miles from
Cape Town.
The last yacht still on the course is
Modern University for the Humanities. MUH is
2116 miles from Cape Town. Modern University for
the Humanities skipper Fedor Konioukhov reports:
"This is my dream to go around the world and if
the God and boat will let me do that I will."
For daily reports please visit:ÿ
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/aanewshtm.htm
Farr 40 Worlds
The first ever world championship regatta for
this offshore one design is being held in Miami FLA.
Racing starts today and will wrap up Saturday.
Nineteen Farr 40's are entered. Countries
represented are: Australia, Great Britain, Greece
and the United States.
Favorites to win the World Cup include
John Thomson and 'Wired' and Steve and Helga
Garland's 'Solution'. The aforementioned World Cup
was donated to the class by noted yachtsman
Wictor Forss. This trophy was last awarded to
top boat in the International 50 foot class.
As is the trend in racing, helmsman must be
amatuers. Professional sailors are allowed in
the crew. Noted sailors in this regatta are:
Terry Hutchinson on 'Phish Food',Bill Fortenberry
will sail on'Wired',Robbie Haines on board 'Atalanti XI',
Jim Brady will be with 'Flyer', Tom Whidden on
'Solution', and John Kostecki, on 'Hissar'
Around Alone Class II is won by Cray Valley
At 0511 GMT 6 November 1998 J.P. Mouligne
finished his Class II victory on board the Finot 50
Cray Valley. Cray Valley now holds the Class II
record for Leg 1, 40 days 12 hours 56 minutes and
41 seconds. Cray Valley's average speed was 6.99
knots. This time bettered the previous Class II
record by one day, 20 hours, 54 minutes.
The very next day Mike Garside's Magellan
Alpha beat Brad Van Liew's Balance Bar by 1 hour and
27 minutes for 2nd place.
This means the top 3 class II boats raced
within a days time on Leg 1. So, one day of slow
sailing due to a torn mainsail can decide this
class. Certainly after one leg of the race the dash
for 1st place in Class II is still all on.
Cray Valley was the favorite and sailed an
excellent leg to merit this ranking. Cray Valley
lead most of the time except for the light going
upwinds. This is a weakness of the boat, but
light air sailing isn't a factor until Leg 4.
Both Magellan Alpha and Balance Bar showed
good speed. Both also had major problems.
Magellan Alpha had problems with her canting
keel mechanism, and autopliots. Balance Bar's
rudder bearings broke, making the boat impossible
to steer except with the autopilot at maximum
setting.
It is thought that Magellan Alpha's canting
keel will give her an edge in the heavy air off
the wind sailing of the Southern Ocean. However,
Cray Valley showed good speed, and Balance Bar
has been through these conditions once.
To see all of the Around Alone coverage
Torresen Sailing Site has please visit:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/around_alone_index_page.asp
Clipper 98
The seven strong fleet of Clipper has reached
the tradewind portion of the Atlantic. The fleet is
on Leg 2 from Mederia to San Salvador.
The leading Clipper is Ariel. 53 miles back
is Thermopylae. 24 hour runs range from 160
Thermopylae to 184 for Serica.
To follow Clipper 98 around the world please see:
http://www.clipper-racing.com/race/fs-race.htm