Update
was supported by some awesome social events. Doug Douglas (Goombay Smash), Jason Carroll (Argo) and Alec Cutler (Hedgehog) sponsored some fantastic parties. Alan Block of Sailing Anarchy emceed the evenings and, whether you were winning or losing, everybody had fun!
In the end Jason Carroll and Argodefended their 2013 world title. Guided by tactician Cameron Appleton, Argoalways showed the strength to come back. Inevitably to win an event like this you need to turn those deep top marks into single digits… something that Argodid quite well.
As 2014 comes to an end I am sitting in Palm Beach working on 2015. I am incredibly grateful to all the owners (Alex Roepers, Doug DeVos, Hap Fauth, Vladimir Prosikhin and Alessandro Rombelli) and teams I have had the privilege to work with in 2014. And, as should each and every professional sailor, I also have a lot of gratitude to the people who make it happen. In particular there are the class leaders in the Farr 40 (Geoff Stagg and Tink Chambers), TP52s (Rob Weiland) and the RC44 (Bertrand Favre and Hubert Detrey). These hard-working supporters of our sport keep it moving forward and remind me why I have a greatjob! Standing by 11 December 2014, Palm Beach, Florida
SILVER ANNIVERSARY – Guy Nowell
It’s November, and it’s cold in the UK. You’ve been to Cherbourg umpteen times… so why not head off to warmer climes, a bit of adventure, and something genuinely different? The Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta just celebrated its 25th anniversary: three passage races up the Malacca Strait from Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur) to Pangkor to Langkawi, with pauses for inshore racing in Penang and Langkawi. There’s even a rickshaw race series thrown in. The Royal Selangor Yacht Club is host, with some pleasantly lavish parties. First race for the 39-boat fleet was the 90nm coastal stage to Pulau Pangkor – a straight line on the chart, but a little more tricky when you take into consideration the Angsa Bank, the Malaysian fishing fleet (‘we do not stop for race yachts’) and the ‘Sumatras’... high-powered thunder cells that come off the land after dusk. The tactical conundrum is whether to stay offshore for more breeze (and current), or race closer to the shore in less current (and less breeze) in the hope of getting some advantage from a 30kt blow… accompanied by big, really big, rain. Matt Humphries, on Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes, observed, ‘You can do a 3,000nm leg in the Volvo and see big breeze, no breeze, torren- tial downpours, scorching heat – everything. A Raja Muda race will throw the whole damn lot at you in 12 hours. It’s not boring.’ Neil Pryde (HiFi) won the first passage race handsomely, arriving soaking wet after only 8½ hours of racing. After a short break to allow the rest of the fleet to catch up (and don’t forget the karaoke evening, ouch!), the next race was from Pangkor to Penang. Another straight line for 60nm, but this time it’s the Kra Bank that guards the finish line like a bunker in front of the green. Last year’s winner, Bill Bremner on his King 40 Foxy Lady(ex-Blondie), took the honours after a frustratingly slow race that involved more holes than the Albert Hall, and left HiFiscrambling in last place. Two windward-leeward races in Penang, the rickshaw races and a prizegiving at the undeniably spectacular Khoo Kong Si, and then off on the last distance race to beautiful Langkawi. This was a quick trip, with boats recording 38kt across the deck approaching the finish. HiFiwas first over the line in just 5h 18m for the 60nm, but Paul Winkelmann’s almost-new made-in- China JV42Island Flingwas second finisher and handicap winner. Two more days of inshore racing in Bass Harbour in front of the unlikely skyline of Gunung Machinchang started soft and slowly and ended up fast and furious with a 25kt buster from the south. On closing night the silverware was graciously presented by HRH Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the Sultan of Selangor, one of the founders of the event. (‘Raja Muda’ means Crown Prince, and 25 years ago HRH was not yet the Sultan). Bremner and the Foxy Lady boys lifted the trophy for the second consecutive year, just 2pt in
10 SEAHORSE
front of Island Flingafter nine races. It took Bremner 10 years and five boats to win this event last year… He said, ‘Some regattas are near perfect, and the RMSIR is one of them. It is a delightfully balanced package of challenges that rewards you if you get it right, and bites your backside – hard – if you get it even a bit wrong.’ Next November – when it is getting cool in the Solent – consider the Raja Muda. It’s in the RORC calendar, so you can’t forget it. Take on the Malacca Straits on anything from a TP52 to a 102-year- old pilot cutter… Eveline, a regular competitor. A week of sailing and boisterous parties that somehow seems to take about a month… most curious.
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Seventeen hotels… and a total of just 2,000 beds That's what… they are saying about Bermuda in January 2015 In other words… it’s all (only) about the TV Good luck… with that It’s begun… the Cup ‘will’ pump at least US$300million into the Bermuda economy Alternatively feel free… to insert any other number you fancy Bye for now… Niklas ‘Skype’ Zennström has put his expansive Rán programme on hold for a couple of years while he secures (at least) his third fortune… Buy… whatever he’s buying, folks Brave boy… allegedly Jimmy Spithill not only won the 34th America’s Cup but he did it while secretly nursing a damaged elbow So it was… the cortisone shots what won it for Oracle Bravo… to Chris Bake and Team Aqua – RC44 season champions for the fourth time Well done also… to Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Faith who won the 2014 Star Sailors’ League in Nassau And to the… Great Cup 32 circuit which this year goes Europe- wide full-foiling with a new five-event race series Farewell… this month to Bob Salmon, who gave the world the Mini Transat Race And… in turn the Mini 650 class itself Bro’ on sis… Rob ‘Mapfre’ Greenhalgh is now racing Libby ‘SCA’ Greenhalgh in the Volvo Somehow… Alvimedicacame out of 12 hours’ standing by Vestasin a better relative competitive position than they went in… So… what was everyone else up to? In case… any were still wondering, Matt Belcher and Will Ryan crushed the other men’s 470s at the ISAF World Cup in Abu Dhabi So… back to business as usual Some consolation… the navigator (Simon Fisher) who put Telefónica Blueon the bricks in Sweden in 2009 was among Ian Walker’s first hires for the VO65 Azzamin 2014 Sledgehammer... and nut. The canting-keeler Leopard 100has knocked 2d 6h off the previous record for the ARC race Leopard... now holds no fewer than four separate Transat records Ben Ainslie Racing... will indeed avail itself of the technical skills marketed by Adrian Newey and the Red Bull Advanced Technologies division Can’t... keep a good ’n down. Twelve hulls have already been ordered of a new Phil Morrison National 18 class design Bonne chance… Piet ‘Tonnerre’ Vroon has as his new boat the former Varuna, a fast Ker 51 first launched nearly two years ago Tonnerre 4… since you ask Still rollin’… the former Farr IOR 50, then re-hulled Mark Mills IRC 50 Mandrake, won the latest King’s Cup in Phuket with Dee Smith conducting operations All… leave is (probably) cancelled… The message… that went out to Persico staff when building a new VO65 suddenly became an option for their Christmas ‘break’ Fast is indeed fun… after several ‘tired’ editions using the unloved M34, the switch to the new Diam 24 tri has resulted in 31 advance entries for the next Tour Voiles And yes… all the big names are back Now please… check out ScuttlebuttEurope and RaceboatsOnly at
seahorsemagazine.com
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