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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1464 - 18 MARCH

Brought to you by boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.com ) Scuttlebutt Europe 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 editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

NATIONAL SELECTIONS SPICE UP THE RACING Medium breeze and sunshine provided for another day of superb racing in the bay of Palma. In many classes, the teams in contention for Olympic selections are having very close battles.

The Russian trio of Ekaterina Skudina, Diana Krutskikh and Natalia Ivanova, 1st in the ISAF World ranking, have closed the gap on country rivals after winning comfortably both races today. They have climbed to second position overall behind Basalkina/Ukraintseva/Maximova who are conserving the lead of the Yngling fleet after consistent sailing (3-3).

Last year's winners, Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi (USA) have taken the third place from the British World Champions after placing 2nd twice. In another battle for Olympic selection, the French teams are within a point of each others in 8th and 9th positions. Anne-Claire Le Berre, Alice Ponsart and Marion Deplanque, have a head start in their national selections after a 6th at the Worlds in Miami. The Trofeo Sofia MAPFRE is the second stage in their selection that will conclude at the European championship. They are facing strong competition against, Anne Le Helley and her team who have placed 5th at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The Polish Finn sailors are having a separate race within the main regatta. Placed in 7th, 8th and 9th position, it is also a tight battle for Olympic selection even if Junior sailor Piotr Kula who leads the Szukiel brothers by 11 and 16 points in this regatta has to catch up on lots of points after the first two selection events last year. The Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE is the penultimate stage with the last hurdle in Hyères late April. In another race of his own is the "untouchable" Ben Ainslie (GBR)! The Laser and Finn Gold medalist has confirmed he is still at home in Palma after taking 2 bullets today.

Faultless regatta in the Laser Radial for Petra Niemann (GER) who is adding 2 other races victories to yesterday's wins. Norwegians Anette Myhre and Catherine Gjerpen are on equal points in second and third position.

Perfect day for Ivan Pastor (ESP), who gains five places to 4th overall after 2 bullets in the RS:X class. Nick Dempsey (GBR) is conserving his lead while Israelis windsurfers Shahar Zubari and Nimrod Mashiah are collecting similar results and have climbed to second and third places on equal points.

Paul Goodison (GBR) keeps control of the large Laser fleet and his joined by team mate Nick Thompson (GBR). Both win their group last race. A DNC in the 3rd race costs 29 places to Andreas Geritzer (AUT) who falls from 2nd to 31st.

Tight scores in the 49er fleet where the Peckolt brothers are the new leaders after consistent top 3 results. The British pair Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith is dropping to 6th overall at only 8 points from the top. The European championship next week has attracted most of the top 49er sailors in Mallorca which brings a very high level of competition to the Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE.

Change of leadership in the Tornado as well with Xavier Revil and Christophe Espagnon (FRA) narrowly taking first position from the Germans Polgar/Spalteholz after winning the day's last race.

The Italian teams have taken the lead in 3 classes in Mallorca. Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol have made the most of the shifty conditions on the 470 race area to win the first race and place 5th in the second. Early leaders, Spanish Natalia via Dufresne and Laia Tutzo have not been this lucky. They drop from 1st to 5th overall after scoring 24th in the 3rd race. German team Stefanie Rothweiler and Vivien Kussatz are placing 2nd after winning the last race of the day. Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA) have progressed from 3d to 1st overall thanks to top 5 results in the regatta. They are on equal point with Javier Conte and Juan de la Fuente who have moved up 4 places after a near perfect day where the Argentineans have placed 2nd and 1st.

Women windsurfers Alessandra Sensini and Marina Alabau are still neck and neck after scoring again similar points (a second place and a win)! They are first and second on 6 points and enjoy a comfortable 20 points lead over Skandia Team GBR, Briony Shaw.

Despite a pessimistic weather forecast before the start of the regatta, the competition has been granted with medium sea breeze varying from 8 to 12 knots, sometimes shifty but fair conditions. A picturesque sunset ended the second day of racing in Palma predicting (a common knowledge here) stronger wind for Tuesday - Corinne McKenzie

http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org

DSM AND DUTCH OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESENT NEW OLYMPIC 470 Amsterdam, Netherlands: DSM, a partner of the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF), is presenting a number of major innovations for the sport of sailing. Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout, Dutch Olympic sailors in the 470 class, will be going for gold in Qingdao this summer using a new boat. NOC*NSF chair Erica Terpstra and DSM Managing Board chairman Feike Sijbesma christened the boat on March 4 at the HISWA boat fair in Amsterdam. The boat is the result of close collaboration between DSM, NOC*NSF and the Dutch Olympic sailors.

The new Olympic boat was built with the aid of a certified mold for the 470 Class by Nautivela and using composite laminates specially developed by DSM which provide extreme stiffness at minimum weight. The DSM material is based on knowledge that DSM gained in developing longer and stronger blades for large wind turbines. The material ensures optimum stability of the boat in the short waves characteristic of the China coastal waters. This will minimize energy losses and will enable the sailors to maintain boat speed. Over the past twelve months De Koning and Berkhout have been training intensively with a prototype of the new boat. 'The new Olympic boat offers the best of two worlds: a perfectly molded shape with exactly the right stiffness, which can bring speed benefits. This combination was previously not available. We are very glad that we have the opportunity to sail this boat', said Marcelien de Koning.

Another important focus of the innovation program of DSM and NOC*NSF is the rigging of the Olympic boats. All Dutch boats that will be sailing for Olympic medals on the coast of Qingdao in August will be equipped with special lines with Dyneema.

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FEDOR REPORTS SERIOUS RUDDER PROBLEMS Fedor Konyukhov, the Russian solo circumnavigator reported problems early today with a bolt connecting the starboard rudder on his Open 85ft yacht Trading Network Alye Parusa. The 56 year old sailing adventurer, who is trailblazing an extreme sailing course around Antarctica, first suffered problems while rounding Cape Horn last Monday when the bolt connecting the rudder to the above-deck steering assembly suddenly failed. This had been newly fitted before he left Albany, Western Australia at the start of this Antarctica Cup Challenge . Fedor quickly replaced this with a spare bolt but this too failed early today after only a few days.

Fedor laid his yacht hove-to for a period to improvise a second repair and is now heading on a North westerly course towards the Falklands Islands at 5.7knots.

On Sunday Fedor reported: "On Saturday morning my Active Echo Radar detector suddenly sounded an alarm signalling a radar wave signal from another vessel. I found a ship off my starboard bow on a collision course. I transmitted my call sign over the radio and notified that I'm a solo sailor heading for Western Australia. The officer on watch recognized my accent and asked if I am Russian. Then he asked - "Are you Fedor Konyukhov...?" I was puzzled and ask him why? He responded, "Who else can be down here in the deep South on a sailing yacht that talks Russian?" We had a nice chat over the radio. The crew is from St. Petersburg and have re-supplied South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Islands for the coming winter. Now the ship is heading back to Montevideo. They told me they had very rough weather a few days ago, which was no surprise to me. It was good to talk to fellow countrymen when half way away from home.

Then on Saturday evening I heard Japanese speech on VHF channel 16. I checked the radar - 2, 4, 6, 12, 18 miles - nothing. The area was clear. Just in case, I broadcast my standard radio call and suddenly I could see a clear mark on the radar screen, three miles off my port side. I ran on deck - it was a Japanese fishing factory ship over 100 meters long. They responded to my radio call and changed heading. Five minutes later they disappeared from my radar screen just as suddenly as they had appeared.

When you have not seen any vessels for weeks - two ships within 24 hours looks like a heavy traffic situation."

http://www.antarcticacup.com

ROOKLYN'S RECORD CHASE An older and more mature Warwick Rooklyn could add another major record to his impressive career log book during the Queensland Cruising Yacht Club 60th Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race over the Easter Weekend.

The Sydney blue water sailor is very familiar with the 308 nautical mile coastal passage race course and understands what it takes to drive a maxi at power sailing speed to break records.

Warwick Rooklyn was in the helming team on the spray drenched deck of the famed family owned Apollo in 1982 when she broke Helsal's 1976 record by almost two hours.

He was also a key role maker when the Rod Muir skippered international champion maxi Windward Passage power sailed before squally spinnaker sailing winds to set the new benchmark at 28 hours 57 minutes 6 seconds in 1986.

The following Easter Warwick Rooklyn teamed up with the experienced New Zealand skipper Ed Askew on the former Whitbread Globe racing maxi Castaway Enterprise to post his career best Gladstone Race time of 27-31-52.

Understandably over the past 21 years the record has been taken into a new time zone by the lighter and more modern ocean racing sprint machines Bobsled and Grundig Xena with Grant Wharington's Skandia setting the present best at 20 hours 24 minutes 50 seconds in 2004.

Warwick Rooklyn and his long term sailing mate Michael Spies firmly believe that records are only made to be broken and they will be in a record chasing mood when Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Matt Allen and his Ichi Ban crew enter their challenge against the 20 hour 15.49 knot barrier at 11 am on Good Friday.

Present weather conditions with a 25-33 knot South East breeze recorded at Cape Moreton last night (Monday) suggests the former Volvo Globe racer Ichi Ban will leave a white water wake to improve on her 2007 line honours winning time of 22 hours 20minutes 45 seconds.

Ichi Ban has the proven speed potential logging a peak speed of 33 knots during the 2007Audi Sydney to Southport race.

However while her crew remain as the favourite to win the Gladstone Pacific Nickel line honours trophy it will take a supreme fresh wind sailing performance to complete the course before 7-24-50 on Easter Saturday morning to allow Warwick Rooklyn to enter another Gladstone Race record in his log book. -- Ian Grant

IMX-45 CHARTER AVAILABLE FOR THE 2008 NEWPORT BERMUDA RACE. Xcelsior, an X-Yacht, is sister ship to IMX-45s Temptress & Cybele, winners of 2006 Bermuda Race.

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NEW RULES QUIZ UK-Halsey Sailmakers has just posted the 24th animated rules quiz to its web site. This series of animated, online quizzes has been acclaimed as the easiest way to learn the rules of sail boat racing. The newest quiz involves a port/starboard situation after rounding a windward mark.

UK-Halsey's quizzes are based on common situations when sailboats come together on the race course. The questions are not about obscure, hard to repeat, situations; they present incidents that happen again and again on the race course. Since most of the quizzes have several related questions, the library of quizzes offers a lot of sailboat racing lessons.

What makes UK-Halsey's quizzes a unique way to learn the rules of sailing is the use of animation, which allows viewers to get a much better understanding of the rule in question. The animations can be stopped and started and played over as many times as necessary for the viewer to come to their own conclusion before checking the answer. Viewers watch the boats move; spinnakers go up and come down; sails luff and are trimmed as well as move from side to side as the boats go around the racing marks.

Hyperinks are embedded in the answers when a rule or rule book defined term is mentioned so that the text of the rule or definition can be brought up in a separate window as a reference. The answers are presented in the same format a protest committee would publish a decision: First the facts found are presented followed the rule or rules broken, followed by the decision of who was at fault.

All the quizzes are free, but to see them viewers must create a login with the UK-Halsey site; some contact information is required when creating a login. UK-Halsey takes viewers privacy very seriously and does not share the information with anyone.

To take the quizzes, go to http://www.ukhalsey.com and click on the Rule Quiz link.

MEAN MACHINE TP52 HEADING TO EUROPE Nerves, excitement and lots of extra-special care to the 'cotton-wool' extreme have been the order of the day at the Salthouse shipyard in New Zealand as the build- team prepared for the departure of the brand new Mean Machine TP 52.

The brand new Mean Machine left the shipyard wrapped to within an inch of it's life, in order to protect the vessel on its passage to Europe. The mast and other equipment essential for the upcoming European season, as well as a container were also loaded onto the cargo ship, alongside the new hull.

With the new TP 52 safely loaded aboard the cargo ship taking her from the Antipodes to Europe, now the time has come for the shore crew to make their way to Belgium, where the ship is due to unload. Mean Machine will then head in mid-April to Valencia (Spain) by means of special road transport.

Five months of hard work have come togther now to deliver a brand new Mean Machine, ready to take part in what's set to be the toughest TP 52 season yet, with the Audi MedCup and the TP 52 Global Championships in Puerto Calero (the Canary Islands, Spain) ahead.

This season Peter de Ridder and his Mean Machine team will be looking to take back their MedCup title from 2006 and to improve on the third place gained at the TP 52 Global Championships last year.

http://www.mean-machine.nl

NEWPORT BERMUDA RACE ENTRIES REACH THE 200 MARK With the April 1 Application for Entry deadline looming a few weeks away, 200 boats have been nominated for participation in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race. An additional 15 skippers have begun the entry process, but have yet to name the boats they will race this year. Organizers predict up to 220 boats on the staring line on June 20, making this the second largest fleet in the history of the race, surpassed only by the 264 entries in the 2006 centennial event.

The second century of racing to Bermuda starts June 20th off Castle Hill in Newport, Rhode Island, and finishes off St. David's Lighthouse in Bermuda after crossing 635 miles of open ocean. Accepted yachts have until mid-May to complete the entry process. See who is entered to date at the race website, http://www.bermudarace.com

In addition to the big group of newcomers and the traditional core of amateur-crewed racer/cruisers, the race is attracting sailing celebrities and some fast boats eyeing first-to-finish laurels in several divisions. Nick Nicholson, chairman for 2008 said, "One of our recent entries is George David's 90-foot Rambler, which has been setting elapsed-time records and winning corrected-time victories in races all over the world."

"Rambler won't have an easy time in her push for line honors," Nicholson commented. "Her usual racing skipper, Ken Read, will be driving his new Volvo Open 70 Puma, making her offshore racing debut prior to the 2008 Volvo Ocean Race. The new Juan K 30-metre canting-keel Speedboat, nearing completion in New Zealand, will also debut in the Open Division alongside Puma." Stan Honey, winning navigator of the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean race aboard ABN Amro 1, will be guiding Speedboat down the Newport to Bermuda course.

http://www.bermudarace.com

FORT LAUDERDALE TO CHARLESTON OCEAN YACHT RACE Rosebud, the STP65 owned by Roger Sturgeon (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and recent winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, has entered the 408-nautical mile Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Ocean Yacht Race. Scheduled to start on April 23 at 1400 hours, the race is organized by SORC (Southern Ocean Racing Conference) and sponsored by the Storm Trysail Club (STC), starting host Lauderdale Yacht Club (LYC) and finishing host Carolina Yacht Club (CYC).

This event marks the rebirth of a race that originated in 1968 and ran for 10 years. The race will start just outside of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and finish just outside of Charleston Harbor.

The race record of 33hr:28min:56sec was established in 1974 by Phantom a C&C 66, owned by Ralph B. Ryder Jr.

A classic duel of ocean racing tactics and sailing endurance, the Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Ocean Yacht Race is sailed straight up the Gulf Stream, ending in one of America's oldest and most historic ports. To bring the race to sailing enthusiasts around the world, all boats will be equipped with a GPS transponder unit and tracked online.

The Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Ocean Yacht Race also is an official leg of the 2008 US-IRC Gulf Stream Series where IRC boats earn points for placement in an overall chase to be the series champion.

March 22 is the "early entry" deadline to save $100 off the entry fee. Additional information including the Preliminary Notice of Race, on-line entry and accommodations can be found at http://www.fortlauderdalecharlestonrace.org

Preliminary entries as of March 14:

Boat name, Boat make/length, Owner Name, Hometown 1. Bandana, Oyster48, David Wallace, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 2. Chasing Rainbows, Hunter Legend 37, Del Wiese, Indian Harbour Beach, FL 3. Esprit, sloop 41, Floyd Bryan, Indialantic, FL 4. Mostly Harmless, SR33, Chris Woolsey, Fort Lauderdale, FL 5. Rima2, RP 55, John Brim, New York, NY 6. Rosebud, STP65, Roger Sturgeon, Fort Lauderdale, FL 7. Time, Camper & Nicholson 3/4Ton, David Burnham East Palatka, FL 8. Tyche, Swan 57, Tony Magee, Redondo Beach, CA 9. Willy Nilly, Beneteau 30, Lowell Cox, Prestonsburg, KY 10. Phoenix, Mini Transat, Andy Abel, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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THE LAST WORD A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. -- Albert Schweitzer

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