06.10.2017

Tilly XV wins 2017 Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy

Photo-finish may seem an overstatement to define centenarian yachts crossing the finish line. But this is actually what happened in Saint-Tropez where eleven crews, out of twenty entrants, finished the race for the 2017 Gstaad Yacht Club Centenary Trophy, the only sailing trophy reserved to boats of one hundred years and more.

Tilly XV made the best possible debut at the regatta by snatching a well-deserved victory for a handful of seconds from Spartan, with Linnet closing in third.
The event, raced in a pursuit format with staggered starts, features an especially created and constantly refined handicap system, allowing very different boats in size and rig to compete on equal terms, with the first boat to cross the line off the Saint-Tropez breakwater to be declared the winner.

Racing started in pretty light wind, of around 5 knots, and progressively increased to exceed 20 knots at the mark positioned outside the bay. So much that several crews decided for safety reasons not to gybe, but to tack around the buoy. The leg back to the finish line, was a three-boat fight among German flagged Tilly XV, 2016 champion NY50 gaff cutter Spartan, from the USA and NY30 Linnet, skippered by Brazilian sailing star Torben Grael. Despite their bigger size and most powerful sail plan, the two pursuers could not catch up with the German boat, especially at ease in lighter air and very well sailed by her experienced crew, with skipper Juerg Moessnang and owner Siegfried Rittler.
Tilly XV was built in 1912 Germany for Prince Heinrich Von Preussen, the brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and is the fifteenth of a series of boats that all carry the same name. She is a Sonderklass racer, with a particularly contemporary design, that won the Kiel Week in the very same year she was launched. There are still some 40 Sonderklass boats, mostly sailing in Austria, Germany and the USA.

02.10.2017
Day 4 RC44 Cascais Cup – Come from behind win for Katusha in Cascais
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE4jFSJL9SI&feature=youtu.be – Video
Cascais laid on an action-packed day for the conclusion of the 2017 RC44 Championship’s penultimate event, the RC44 Cascais Cup. At the beginning of it, Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF held a slender lead, but lost it to Charisma. By the start of the third and final race Alexander Novoselov’s Katusha was leading by two points. Despite Team CEEREF sailing an immaculate final race, a second placed finish for Katusha enabled the Russian team to win the RC44 Cascais Cup by just one point.

Katusha’s 3-1-2 scoreline today was the best that any of the boats has posted all week in what has been a fairly high scoring regatta.

With the wind in the 10-12 knot range for the start of today’s first race, by the end of that race it had piped up to 20 and remained in the 20-25 knot range for the remainder of the day. This enabled the RC44s to hit their top speeds, but with considerable drama as the crews clung on to their yachts on downwind sleigh rides.

1 October-RC44 Cascais Cup-Fleet Racing Day 4

Cascais laid on an action-packed day for the conclusion of the 2017 RC44 Championship’s penultimate event, the RC44 Cascais Cup. At the beginning of it, Igor Lah’s Team CEEREF held a slender lead, but lost it to Charisma. By the start of the third and final race Alexander Novoselov’s Katusha was leading by two points. Despite Team CEEREF sailing an immaculate final race, a second placed finish for Katusha enabled the Russian team to win the RC44 Cascais Cup by just one point.

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30 September – RC44 Cascais Cup – Fleet Racing Day 3

Day three of the RC44 Cascais Cup saw three more teams come to the fore for the first time. Conditions were difficult for the race committee, who ran the first race on the ‚offshore course‘ in wind heading for the high 20s, and then had to move the race track into the Tagus estuary. Here the sea state was calmer, but an unusual offshore northerly was causing significant shifts, gusts and holes in the breeze.

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29 September – RC44 Cascais Cup – Fleet Racing Day 2

Again it was a day with three different winners and mixed results for all. Kirill Frolov’s Bronenosec Sailing Team scored the first bullet of the day. Race two was claimed by Alexander Novoselov’s Katusha, so far the only boat in the event to have won two races. There was much excitement in race three as Artemis Racing Youth led around the first mark. The young Swedes fended off a strong challenge from John Bassadone’s Peninsula Petroleum to claim the final race of the day.

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28 September – RC44 Cascais Cup – Fleet Racing Day 1

Competition out on the water for day one of the RC44 Cascais Cup showed that the two points separating the top five boats in the overall 2017 RC44 Championship to be no aberration. After three races the leaderboard is similarly tight with just five points separating the top seven boats. Not only was there three different winners, but in each case the winner was not the leader at the first top mark rounding.

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Sail in Estonia, a secret

Estonia, a secret well kept on the coast of Baltic Sea, is much closer and accessible than you think. We are bringing you the fresh breeze from Estonian sailing scene few times a year. Interesting news and content about cruising, different events and racing is expected.

Stay tuned and don’t forget to follow us!

TOP 10 things to know before you sail to Estonia
Estonia is one of the nine countries situated by the Baltic Sea – easily accessible, just in the middle and like no other of its neighbours. In Finland, you see rocky shores that are absent in Estonia, and in Latvia there are literally no islands. So read this when setting sail to Ultima Thule – country of ancient Vikings and modern technologies.

The pick of marinas in Estonia worth sailing to
In the recent years, Estonia has invested a lot in its marinas. In addition there are brand new marinas popping up run by enthusiastic entrepreneurs, or just local people wanting to enliven their village everyday life and increase the attractiveness of the region. This has helped a lot to make the marinas much more comfortable for visitors, coming from either land or sea, and offering a wide variety of services together with a warm welcome. Here is a pick of marinas worth visiting while sailing on the Baltic Sea and choosing your cruising destination in Estonia.

Legendary Muhu Väin regatta in Estonia
The famous annual one week long Moonsund Regatta (Muhu Väin) on the Baltic Sea celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, starting in Estonia and finishing in Latvia. It brought together around 1000 sailors with big and small boats, plastic and wooden, racers and hippies, locals and international sailors, and the young and old, to sail Estonian waters. This is a true sea festival with stop-overs and entertainment every evening in different marina – and the best part – you can join in too, so start planning for the next year!

Be sure to keep an eye on our channels on Facebook, Instagram and dedicated website to get the latest news, inspiration and practical information about your upcoming sailing trip to Estonia!