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ROLEX FARR 40 PRE-WORLDS
Copenhagen, Denmark: The Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds provided plenty of warm-up action on the race course in preparation for the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship which starts on Wednesday, August 29 and continues through Saturday, September 1st with thirty-six teams from twelve countries competing.

Finishing the two days of Pre-Worlds competition at the top of the leaderboard was a familiar sight, two-time Rolex Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richardson's navy blue-hulled Barking Mad (USA) with finishes of 1-8-11-4-13 for a total of 37 points overall. Second place was Matt Allen's Ichi Ban (AUS) and third was Wolfgang Stolz's Opus One (GER).

The second day of racing in the Pre-Worlds saw more breeze - west-northwesterly at 12 - 18 knots - still puffy and shifty, but with more pressure than the previous day's racing. Tacticians had their hands full with the huge wind shifts that came down the Oresund Strait, the body of water between Denmark and Sweden.

There is ample talent throughout the fleet, and onboard the German boat Struntje Light, Jesper Bank is sailing as tactician. Bank is a 3-time Olympic medalist in the Soling class (gold - Sydney, 2000; gold - Barcelona,1992; bronze - Pusan, 1988).

The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship begins on Wednesday, August 29th. The Rolex Farr 40 Worlds Skippers Briefing is Tuesday, August 28 at 1700.

Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds Results/Final

Overall top 10 (35 entries)

1. Barking Mad, James Richardson, USA, 37 points
2. Ichi Ban, Matt Allen, AUS, 49
3. Opus One, Wolfgang Stolz, 50
4. Monick - Tuborg, David Holm, DEN, 55
5. Nerone, Antonio Sodo Migliori, ITA, 58
6. Sputnik, Ivan Wheen, AUS, 59
7. Twins, Erik Maris, FRA, 62
8. Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, ITA, 66
9. Baloo 110, Jens Erik Host, DEN, 67
10 Groovederci, John Demourkas, USA, 74

Full results online at farr40.kdy.dk

LIPTON CHALLENGE CUP 2007
Cape Town, South Africa: The 2007 Lipton Challenge Cup regatta got off to a thrilling start in Table Bay Sunday with 12 - 15 knot north westerly breezes and choppy seas whipping up ideal conditions for defending champions Greg Davis and Gareth Blackenburg on Theewater Sports Club's Dalys Insurance to dominate the 27 boat fleet from yacht clubs around South Africa in a tight tactical first race.

Threatening to overhaul Dalys with a neck on neck duel during most of today's square round-the-buoys course was Shosholoza skipper Mark Sadler on Royal Natal Yacht Club's Orion but it was Royal Cape Yacht Club's Greenlight co-skippered by father and son duo Dave and Roger Hudson who just managed to get ahead on the last beat of the 12 mile course to take second place across the finish line.

Royal Natal Yacht Club was third. Zeekoevlei Yacht Club' Alexandra Security co-skippered by brothers Paul and Graeme Willcox were fourth and Transvaal Yacht Club's Roto Hexe "Bumbo" skippered by Shosholoza mainsail trimmer David Rae fifth. A surprise sixth came from 15 year old Asinati Jim co-skippering with Shosholoza crew Sieraj Jacobs on Imperial Yacht Club' MSC Foundation for Youth.

Light winds are expected for Monday's racing which is due to start at 12 midday. The event which is being hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club in Table Bay ends on Friday 31 August. -- Di Meeks

* Mock water battles were the order of the day for the 27 boat Lipton Challenge Cup 2007 fleet as they bobbed about in windless conditions in Cape Town's Table Bay today before racing was eventually abandoned at 2.30 pm this afternoon.

The fleet representing the cream of South African sailing from yacht clubs around the country made the most of the unexpected few hours "holiday at sea" and despite intermittent rain showers got up their usual fun tricks when the wind dies - launching mock battles and water bomb attacks on their opponents.

"The good news is that we expect more sunshine on Tuesday but the bad news is that even less wind is forecast - about 2 to 7 knots. We can race in light winds, that's no problem, but what we have to have is steady winds in order to hold a race," said Nicholas Mace, chairman of the organizing committee..

www.liptoncup.co.za

* Pictures by Trevor Wilkins at picasaweb.google.com/wilcopix/Lipton07Sunday

FINN SILVER CUP - JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Moscow, Russia: The Finn Junior World Championships for the Jorg Bruder Silver Cup has concluded in Moscow with six more races held over three days in a range of conditions. Jan Kurfield (GER), one of the three German Finn sailors in Moscow as part of the Finn Foundation scheme moved into the lead after only placing once outside the top nine and maintained his concentration to take the title on the final race. Piotr Kula (POL) the 2006 bronze medalist placed second while Sergey Komissarov (RUS) led home the strong home nation team

After light winds plagued the opening races of the series, nine races were finally completed with a worthy winner in the shape of Jan Kurfeld (GER). The 2006 bronze medalist Piotr Kula (Poland) won the silver, while Sergey Komissarov (RUS) managed to cling onto third despite being disqualified from the final race. -- Robert Deaves

Final top five results

1. Jan Kurfeld, GER, 39
2. Piotr Kula, POL, 48
3. Sergey Komissarov, RUS, 56
4. Ilya Strakh, BLR, 61
5. Michal Strusinski, POL, 68

Class website: www.finnclass.org
Event website: silvercup.moscow-finnclass.ru
Moscow Finn Association: www.moscow-finnclass.ru

SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW
The Southampton Boat Show in association with ITV Meridian returns to Mayflower Park this September. Celebrating its 39th year the Show, which has Europe's largest purpose built on-water marina, takes place from 14-23 September 2007. This year, the Show will see an exciting line up of famous boats on the feature berth of the Hydropool Marina. Not only will Sir Robin Knox-Johnston be there with his Open 60 "Lombard Marine Finance:, along with Mike Golding and the Open 60 ECOVER but TEAMORIGIN, Official Challenger for the 33rd America's Cup, will bring the newly liveried GBR 75 race training America's Cup boat to the Show.

www.southamptonboatshow.com

BRITTANY FERRIES RACE
The skippers engaged on this first edition of the 1000 miles Brittany Ferries arrived at Plymouth early this morning. After a crossing of the English Channel without incidence, the Class 40 monohulls slowly the English coasts. It was Domenica Vittet on "Atao Audio System" who crossed the finishing line at 5 a.m. 49 minutes and 32 seconds in first place.

It was at 10 a.m. Sunday morning that the eight monoshells started from Malo Saint for the first leg of their 1000 mile journey. "The conditions of this crossing were really very pleasant: wind medium, sea punt and afterwards, the splendid moon" said Cecile Poujol.

The competitors were obliged by race rules to spend a minimum six hour pause before setting out towards Santander, a distance of 430 miles. The conditions at departuer were very light. Winds were expected to pick up towards Monday evening.

Arrival positions at Plymouth:

1. Dominique Vittet - Atao Audio System - arrived at 5h 49min 32s
2. Damien Grimont - Chocolats Monbana - 1min 57sec behind the leader
3. Peter Harding - 40 Degrees - 15min 24sec
4. Cecile Poujol - Merci les amis - 23min 11sec
5. Yvan Noblet - Appart City - 26min 35sec
6. Benoit Parnaudeau - Jardin Bio Prevoir- 35min 27sec
7. Eric Galmard - Dimension Spa - 42min 6sec
8. Jean-Edouard Criquioche - Choice Hotels - 1h 3min 40sec

www.class40.com

ERRORS OF JUDGMENT
Excerpts from Stuart Alexander's blog:

This who love, are fascinated by, or just take a an interest in yacht racing are being let down at the highest level by poor judgment in two of the world's top showcase events. A third can plead mitigation, but may have created a slippery slope for itself.

Invevitably, leading the march into weary frustration is the America's Cup now that the first edict from the New York Supreme Court has been handed down by Justice Herman Cahn. The Societe Nautique de Geneve, through whom Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi syndicate has successfully both challenged and defended, has, apparently, chosen to ignore the 22 August deadline to respond to a petition lodged by the Golden Gate Yacht Club at the behest of Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle. Was that an error of judgment?Courts take themselves very seriously and don't like being ignored.

The petition claimed that the challenge from the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela and accepted within seconds of Alinghi beating Team New Zealand 5-2 in July 2007 was invalid. It further asked that GGYC's own challenge, for a race in 10 months (July 2008) in a boat up to 90 feet long and with a 90-foot beam, should be accepted by SNG.

Further detail is available in earlier missives, but the future is of more concern. After a long silence, America's Cup Management, Bertarelli's vehicle for drawing up the new protocol and partners with Valencia (both city and region) and the Spanish government in running the whole event said, rather feebly, that it was "disppointed". Even detractors can only sympathise with ACM's communications machine for being so flaccid. That is the fault, and it is an error of judgment, of its masters.

Public relations should be a matter of clever stategy, brilliant and varied implementation, and the ability to coach non-protagonists, like dumb-cluck coporates, in the public bit of the relations...

Chance was seen as likely to be the determining factor on the Olympic Games track chosen for sailing by the Chinese, endorsed by the IOC and fought not hard enough by the International Sailing Federation. Fans in Britain must be happy with the lottery as they bagged five golds and silver, saw recognised talent rise to the top, and laid down a marker that, whatever the sailors may think, must have sent shivers down the spines of many rival national coaching teams. There are plenty more where these winners came from.

But the fact is that Qingdao is not worthy, in normal August conditions, of being an Olympic level sailing track. The authorities in that authoritarian country have not seen fit to sell the counter-argument and the feeling is made worse that, 700 kilometres out of the sight of Beijing, it is out of the mind of an organisation focused on delivering a huge propaganda return from the main stadia in the capital and giving a huge television audience that is not going to be concerned with sailing, the message it - and the major sponsors - want.

But an error of judgment it is and it is very unlikely that the whole game will be given much of an aspirational boost to the youth of the world because the arena is so poor.

Whether the decision to delay the start of Fastnet Race by a day was the right one remains to be seen. It didn't seem to make much difference to the competitors, most of whom retired long before they hit the vulnerability zone of the Irish Sea. In Plymouth, none of the early finishers had a good word to say for the delay, but few were injured, no-one was killed, the emergency services had only a light workout, and a new record was set.

The big question mark was over whether the age-old rule that it is the skipper and crew that decides whether to start or continue had been slightly undermined. In a blame culture era it is reasonable to see that organisations will try to protect their backs from meddling politicians and uninformed journalists. But the precedent is now set.

The full read on this must-bookmark site: www.stuartalexander.eu

KEEP THE OCEAN WHERE IT SHOULD BE
You're resting in a lurching pipe cot, listening to the rising wind, when you get the call you've been expecting: 'Standby watch on deck, bring the Code 4 with you.' A minute later, you're clipped on, crawling the tack up to the bow as waves thump into you, searching for a way in. It's good to know the new Dubarry Fastnet boot's elasticated gaiter top keeps the ocean where it should be - on the outside. The new Dubarry Fastnet boot: comfortably the best.

www.dubarry.com

CHRIS VAN TOL (USA) WINS THE 2007 KNICKERBOCKER CUP
Port Washington, New York, USA: The Bayview Yacht Club Match Racing Team, with skipper Chris Van Tol, Mike Hoey, John Van Tol and Mike Rehe have won the 2007 Knickerbocker Cup, beating Andrew Arbuzov (RUS), the leaders going into the semi-final round with a score of 2-0. It took three races to determine third and fourth place winners, with last year's Cup Champion, Martin Angsell (SWE) beating John Loe (USA) 2-1 in the Petit Finals.

The pre-start of the first race of the finals had Arbuzov, with Igor Bychkol, Anton Sergeev and Alexander Kapalin, setting spinnaker to catch up to Van Tol as they raced around bow of the Race Committee boat. Emerging at the stern, Arbuzov dropped spinnaker, rounding up to sneak between Van Tol and the Committee Boat. Van Tol's protest didn't hold, but he was able to maintain an advantage at the start and held it throughout the race. The next start also went to Van Tol. This time, the two were neck and neck at the line, with Van Tol inching ahead. At the gun, Van Tol covered Arbuzov's air and shot ahead to take a huge lead that lasted throughout the race. A jubilant team crossed the finish line and now will have their names engraved on the Knickerbocker Cup along with past winners - racers who have made their mark in the sailing community: Ed Baird, Peter Holmberg, Peter Gilmour, Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Terry Hutchinson, Ian Williams, and Long Island Sound sailors, Dave Dellenbaugh, Dave Perry and Rich du Moulin.

Final Results:

Chris Van Tol (USA)
Andrew Arbuzov (RUS)
Martin Angsell (SWE)
John Loe (USA)
Dave Perry (USA)
Keith Swinton (AUS)
Przemek Tarnacki (POL)
Brian Angel (USA)
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA)
Matteo Simoncelli (ITA)
Nick Cherry (GBR)
Robert Gibbs (USA)

www.kyc.net

SALVATORE SARNO AWARDED SOUTH AFRICAN SAILING FEDERATION COLOURS
South African Sailing federation colours were awarded last night to Captain Salvatore Sarno, founder and managing director of Team Shosholoza in recognition for what he has achieved for South African sailing and for transformation in the sport through the country's maiden challenge for the America's Cup.

"Captain Sarno has done more for sailing in this country than any sailing organisation or any sailor. We are proud to honour him in this way," said Rob McCrystal, chairman of South African Sailing (SAS) the national administrative body.

The award was made at the opening ceremony of the Lipton Challenge Cup 2007 in Cape Town last night.

In recounting the mistakes and valuable lessons learnt in the years leading up to the 2007 America's Cup, Sarno said he was very proud of his crew and what they had achieved.

"I did the 2007 America's Cup campaign because I wanted to show the world what is South Africa. Team Shosholoza has been doing that these past years. Together we have shown we can do great things. This is why I have decided not to stop now but to do another campaign. I want to bring the America's Cup to South Africa. Believe me it is not an impossible dream. If I say it is possible, we can do!"

Captain Sarno said Shosholoza is one of the most acclaimed teams at the America's Cup. The South Africans didn't have the budget of most of the other teams but it didn't hold them back.

The commodore of Royal Cape Yacht Club, Craig Middleton, said Sarno had been made an honorary life member of the club. -- Di Meek

USA NATIONAL HALL OF FAME VIRTUAL FILM LIBRARY
Annapolis, Maryland, USA: The National Sailing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce that the film Of Boats and Brother: The Yacht Building Herreshoffs will launch the Virtual Film Library on the Hall of Fame's new web-site www.nshof.org

This historic film chronicles the achievements and relationship of the famed John and Nat Herreshoff. These two determined brothers from Bristol, Rhode Island, overcame all obstacles, including blindness, to earn a world-wide reputation in yacht design and construction.

During the Golden Age of Yachting, the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company designed and built America's fastest and most beautiful boats. This important sailing film, presents in the narrative, the devoted relationship that propelled theses brother to success. You will see interviews with Herreshoff descendants, scholars and historians. Unique period photographs of Herreshoff yachts, combined with footage of restored Herreshoff boats racing and an original musical score make this documentary an important part of America's Sailing Legacy.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Anthony Richards: I am not aware of any legal basis that suggests that postponement of the start took any responsibility or choice away from the skippers competing in the Fastnet and wonder if Jack Turnstin's view is based on anything other that speculative personal opinion. When you consider that over two thirds of the fleet retired it is quite clear to me that the skippers were offered a much easier decision making process with refuge closer to hand, thus reinforcing the notion of skipper resposibility.

As to slowing or stalling of the weather system it is just a matter of Newtonian physics (very simplistically put, admittedly) and the Met Office (and other meteorological organisations around the world) is much more on top of this when looking forward 24 - 72 hours than they were not many years ago. It should be recognised that the Met Office was making warning noises about the system several days before the scheduled start and both the Met Office and RORC deserve a pat on the back.

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THE LAST WORD
We live in what is, but we find 1,000 ways not to face it. Great theatre strengthens our faculty to face it. -- Thornton Wilder

OC Events, www.ocevents.org , organisers of two major IMOCA 60 oceanic events, the new double-handed Barcelona World Race 2007, and the original solo transocean race, The Transat 2008 (ex-OSTAR) plus the Extreme 40 Sailing Series for The iShares Cup.

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