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DESAFIO ESPANOL 2007 SIGNS PAUL CAYARD
Desafio Espanol 2007 anounced today, Tuesday 11th of December, signing with American Paul Cayard to be the sport and technical advisor for the team. Cayard has sailed in five editions of the America's Cup and won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1992 as skipper on the Italian boat, Il Moro di Venezia.

The local team challenging for the 32nd America's Cup has signed an agreement with the Cayard Sailing Company and personally with Paul Cayard (San Francisco, 1959), who will help the team prepare successfully ESP 97 for a few weeks in the build up to the Louis Vuitton races.

Agustin Zulueta, Sporting and Technical Director of the team said that he "trusts Pauls Cayard's experience to help the team to be one of the top four". Zulueta also assured that with this agreement "we are trying to raise the level of our crew" concluding, "we want to use the best Cayard can give us and we fully trust in the crew we now have".

Cayard was the first American to win the Volvo Ocean Race and skippered a team in the last edition; he has raced in Olympic Games and won seven world titles.

www.americascup.com

VELUX 5 OCEANS
A hot and sunny day in Fremantle, Western Australia, saw a hive of activity at the Fremantle Sailing Club as Cheminees Poujoulat and Spirit Of Yukoh both lost their masts and rigging in quick succession. The two Open 60 yachts, which finished first and second respectively in leg one of the Velux 5 Oceans last week, will now go through a complete check up in order to fully prepare their racing machines for the tough leg that lies in wait.

Meanwhile, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) has been dealt another blow, losing the wind instrument from the top of his mast. He is now sailing without current wind information, leaving him to rely on his core sailing abilities.

Sir Robin does the math:
One of the problems we have on a long voyage is getting the supplies right. No one wants to take unnecessary weight as it slows the boat down, but running out of something can cause a much greater delay. This can become a nightmare when there are serious delays, as on this leg when I am running at least 2 weeks late.

Having the right supplies is as much a part of long distance ocean racing as getting the sail trim right, equally vital. If we get it wrong we either have to divert or do without. You can do without some things, I can do without coffee, or whisky, but I cannot do without fuel for the generator for example and it was up to me to make sure I had enough. The problem was this is a new Volvo engine and I am still unsure of its usage rate. I took 55 gallons of diesel on the basis of a gallon a day with an allowance in case. I have been at sea 44 days and reckon I have 15 to go from today so its a question as to whether my allowance was enough.. It is as close as that. Kergeulen can provide 80 litres if necessary, I imagine they only get supplied once or twice a year so are naturally reluctant to part with any. This would give enough to be safe for me. But do I need it? The time taken to divert is secondary to the need for sufficient fuel, and of course, quite rightly, adds to the time taken to race this leg.

I shall leave it a day or two more to decide what to do. The Kerguelens are still some 30 degrees of longitude away, which is 5-6 days at the present rate of progress and may be longer once this wind eases whilst I work on the mainsail.

Current positions:
1. Cheminees Poujoulat - Finished
2. Spirit of Yukoh- Finished
3. A Southern Man-AGD, 2923 nm to finish
4. SAGA Insurance, 2948 nm
5. PAKEA - 3915 nm
6. Ecover (retired)
7. Hugo Boss (abandoned)

www.velux5oceans.com

ULLMAN SAILS - DENMARK
Ullman Sails International is pleased to announce that GP Covers in Aarhus, Denmark has joined the Ullman Sails group. The three partners are Oluf Groenkaer, Bo Melson, and Flemming Clausen. They moved into new facilities this Summer in Aarhus, which is one of the largest sailing centers in Denmark. Lasse Rosenbech heads the sailmaking team. Recently, his sails finished 1st on an Elan boat in one of Denmark's largest keelboat regatta's. The Ullman group is delighted to have these talented sailmakers on our team. Their contact information is listed in the "Loft Locator" section at www.ullmansails.com

GLOBAL OCEAN CHALLENGE
Although there has been an amazing amount of interest in the forthcoming inaugural Global Ocean Challenge, lack of entries at this late stage of the race with just 10 months to go to the start is causing a certain amount of concern for the organisers Brian Hancock and Joss Hall.

This solo/doublehanded 40 and 50ft round the world race with stopovers which is scheduled to start next September has attracted 108 formally registered participants, but according to Hancock only eight of them have officially entered.

Although Hancock agrees that the situation is not an ideal he firmly believes that there will be between 20-25 boats on startline next year. Chatting to yachtingworld.com earlier today Hancock said: "We really hoped by now to have announced our sponsor and the start port. I am confident this will happen soon and we should then start seeing more entries sign up."

Although it's not been confirmed yet Hancock did admit that in order to ensure the event runs properly they would need at least 10 boats officially signed up for entry before the Spring, concluding: "We think there is a good market for this race and we'd rather postpone it by a year rather than risk running a poorly-supported event. Basically we need 10 secure entries by next Spring otherwise we might consider postponing the race for a year." -- Sue Pelling

Full article at:
www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20061108161205ywnews.html

THE GIFT OF WISDOM...
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BRITISH ARMY'S MERCURY CHALLENGE SAILS INTO PERTH
After overcoming storms in the Bay of Biscay, flat calms and intense heat in the Doldrums, huge ocean swells in the South Atlantic and days of beating to windward across the Indian Ocean, Her Majesty's Sail Training Craft Adventure has arrived in Perth at the end of Leg 4 of the British Army's adventurous training expedition, Mercury Challenge.

With 5 months and more than 13,000 nautical miles of her circumnavigation behind her, Adventure is currently sailing a qualifying passage from Perth to Sydney by the 14 servicemen and women who will shortly start preparing the yacht and themselves for the start of the 2006 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race.

There's a saying in the Army that 'if it isn't raining it isn't training'. As one member of the Project Team remarked recently, "If the expedition didn't present a few challenges along the way, then we wouldn't call it adventurous training!" There's no doubting, however, that the four crews who have brought Adventure safely to Perth have already had their share of challenges. Fortunately for them their job has been made easier by their navigation suite, provided by one of the expedition sponsors Raymarine. As the yacht's skipper, Major Charles Roberts commented: "The Raymarine RayTech v6.0 software has allowed us to download GRIB weather files, and the three day forecasts have revolutionised how we route the yacht across the oceans."

Although the yacht's afterguard are all experienced blue water sailors, crossing some of the worlds' toughest oceans has been a completely new experience for many crew members, and for some Mercury Challenge is proving to be a life-changing experience.

In all of her ports of call, from Portsmouth to Perth, Adventure has generated huge amounts of local interest. To find out more about Mercury Challenge and follow Adventure's progress as she completes her circumnavigation then log onto the expedition website at www.mercurychallenge.mod.uk

CRUISING WORLD NAMES BOAT OF THE YEAR WINNERS
Cruising World magazine has announced the winners of its 14th annual Boat of the Year awards for 2007. Full results will be published in the US-based magazine's January 2007 issue, which is due to hit newsstands on December 15.

An independent panel of experts named the winners after inspecting and then testing the 23 boats that won nominations to the contest. The results are as follows:

Domestic Boat of the Year - Catalina 309
Import Boat of the Year - Malo 40
Best Full-Size Production Cruiser - Beneteau 49
Best Full-Size Cruiser - Trintella 50
Best Midsize Cruiser - Malo 40
Best Special-Purpose Cruiser - Morris M42
Best Multihull Cruiser - Seawind 1160
Best Small Cruiser - Catalina 309
Most Innovative - Seawind 1160

For more information on all the winners and other nominees, visit the Cruising World website at www.cruisingworld.com

From IBI news:
www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20061112124938ibinews.html

COWES COMBINED CLUBS APPOINTS A NEW CHAIRMAN
Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK: Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC), the organisation that is responsible for running the world-famous Skandia Cowes Week regatta, has appointed a new chairman, John Grandy, replacing Peter Ralls QC who, after serving seven years in this pivotal role, has stood down.

During his chairmanship, Peter has been instrumental in bringing about some important changes in the development of CCC and of Skandia Cowes Week. These included the development of the new Regatta Centre building in Cowes and the implementation of the new Trinity Landing. Peter supported all manner of improvements to Skandia Cowes Week, whilst being careful to retain the best traditions of the Week.

John Grandy is an RYA qualified National Race Officer and has recently completed his appointment as Rear Commodore Yachting of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) during which he was the Principal Race Officer for the Squadron days in Skandia Cowes Week. -- Peta Stuart-Hunt

www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP 2007 IN THE WEST INDIES
Port Yacht Charters, North America's leading charteryacht agency, has a very limited number of crewed yachts (sail and power) who stand ready to follow the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Matches begin 13 March to 25 March in St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Trinidad. Then play moves to Antigua for the Super Eight, from 27 March to 08 April. Semifinal is 25 April in St. Lucia and the final on 28 April in Barbados. These venues are within a two day sail of each other (except Barbados). Enjoy a private yacht charter with full staff while attending these World Cup events. World class yachts, cuisine, service and islands plus World Cup Cricket, all from your own private yacht. Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see www.portyachtcharters.com/WorldCup.php

LAUNCHINGS
* Bavaria Yachtbau has selected Peters Opal to host the Bavaria 50 Vision World Launch at the 2007 London Boat Show.

The Bavaria 50 Vision will be unveiled at 10:30am, Press Day January 5th at London Boat Show. Bavaria Yachtbau's new 50 Vision is the largest of the Vision line, a performance cruiser

This Vision model has ballast ratio of over 35% and significantly increased sail area over its 50 cruiser counterpart

* Farr Yacht Design launchs the Farr 11s. Design #613 represents the culmination of intense discussions with the client, who previously owned a Farr 36 One Design. The carefully prepared brief called for an inshore boat with sufficient freeboard for coastal race capability, legs out hiking and minimal interior. The goal was to produce a very fast boat keelboat for its size (35 to 38 ft) crewed by no more than 6 or 7 intermediate level sailors. Racing venues included Key West, the Great Lakes and a variety of other regattas.

Design #613 has a 45-degree canting keel, twin asymmetric canards and twin retractable rudders on a hull with high form stability. This combination has been explored in Open 60, VO70, Cookson 50 and Leopard 3 research work. The hull shape combines the demands for minimizing light air (low speed) drag with high-speed stability and excellent handling qualities. Twin rudders will help control in extreme conditions.

The rig is a transplant from skiff rig development with a large square-headed main on a highly swept spreader, no backstay rig.

Construction is in carbon skin honeycomb core sandwich, with carbon keel fin, and an all up weight of 2400 Kg. The keel is activated by a hydraulic ram/electric pump system.

Hull #1 is due to launch in Dubai in February 2007.

* J Boats new 40 footer designed and built in Western France by J Europe was unveiled for the first time at Salon nautique de Paris. The J 122 is a cruiser designed to fullfil the most demanding racer as well as the familiy oriented day sailor.

"The J 122 fits perfectly between our J 109 and our J 133" says Didier Le Moal, managing Director of J Europe. "She's the result of the tight collaborations between J Boats in the US and its French counterpart in Vendee." The J 122, with her light displacement , less than 7 tons for 12,19 meters, and large sail area, offers great performances typical of the Johnstone design. -- www.jboats.com

* Croatian Murtic Yachts are moving up fast in the market of the up and coming GP42 class, with one boat already in the water, the second due in January, and 3rd and 4th available for delivery in May and June, respectively.

Their first Murtic GP42 ORC has been in the water since September and made her maiden racing appearances taking a few trophies and even winning a few regattas.

The Murtic racer, named Aria Azija - AA, is a Botin Carkeek design built by Murtic Yachts with the careful eye by Nicholas Beadle from New Zealand and Croatian Massimo Kovacic, managing the project.

* Designed by Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, Sodeb'O 3 is a new 105 footer for Thomas Coville. The boat is currently under constuction at the Boatspeed facilities 100 km north of Sydney.

This new tri is built for single handed sailing, with the intention of taking on Ellen MacArthur's solo circumnavigation record. Coville also has his eye on the solo 24 hour record (587 miles set in April 2006 by Yves Parlier).

See www.sodebo-voile.com and SeaSailSurf's article at seasailsurf.com/seasailsurf/actu/spip.php?article4021

Photos:
J 122: www.jboats.com/j122/j122gallery.htm

Murtic GP42 ORC, Farr 11s and the new Sodeb'O: in the Scuttlebutt Europe photo gallery, under "Launchings": scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/

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, and you may only write a single letter on a topic. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published.

* From Brian Todd: Just a further note on the Bounty made for the Marlin Brando movie: It was built at the Smith and Rhuland yard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia by many of the men that built the famous Canadian schooner Bluenose, many of the original wooden ship building methods were used.

THE LAST WORD
I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -- Kahlil Gibran

OC Events, 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) www.ocevents.org

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