Sailing DailySailingNorthEastWestSouth

As with many big boat regattas these days much of the action will be in a one design format. 8 of the 20 starts will be one design. 6 of the 8 one design classes will feature J-Boats of one type or another.

Block Island's biggest class will be a 23 boat J-105 class. A more vintage J design the 29 will see 9 boats on the line. 8 J-120's will race one another. The J boat one design classes are rounded out by a 7 boat J-25 class and a 7 boat J-44 class. The J-44's are the biggest one design class in length.

The other Block Island one design classes will be the 12 boat Farr 40 grouping and the 7 boat One Design 35 fleet.

The bulk of the fleet racing on a handicapped basis will sail PHRF. PHRF boats range from 30 footers rating 180 to a Santa Cruz 52 at -12.

IMS will have 3 classes. IMS I has a Rima a Carroll Marine 60 as scratch boat. The second IMS class will have a large contingent of Tripp designs. The third IMS class consists of various Swan Designs.

For more see: http://blockislandraceweek.com/

Round Europe

Yesterday saw the start of the 8th edition of the Round Europe Race. This year sees a fleet of 6 60 foot monhulls and 6 multihulls.

Leg 1 takes the fleet from Genoa Italy to Benalmadena Spain a distance of 915 miles. From Spain the fleet will sail to the finish in Lorient France a distance of 1132 miles.

One of the most interesting battles will be in the monohull fleet. Yves Parliers' Aquitaine Innovations which is a Finot design is entered with Yves back as skipper. AI won the Rhute De Rhum and so must be considered the favorite.

To challenge AI's success and Finot's historic domination of Open 60's is the Lombard designed Whirlpool. Whirlpool will be skipped by Vendee Globe veteran Catherine Chabaud.

The battle between these boats will see how much progress has been made with the new generation of Open 60's.

To follow the race see: http://www.course-europe.com/us/index.html