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LINE HONOURS LEADER WILD OATS EXPECTED IN EARLY HOURS
At 1300 local time this morning Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI had 100 miles to go to reach the finish line off Hobart's Constitution Dock where local experts are predicting she will arrive after midnight tonight. The latest update shows her to have a 13.8 mile lead over her other 30m rival, Grant Wharington's 2003 line honours winner, Skandia and 25.6 miles on Matt Allen's Volvo Open 70, Ichi Ban. The boats are half way down the east coast of Tasmania with Skandia inshore and Ichi Ban offshore.

Before reaching the finish line, Wild Oats XI has still to round Tasman Island at the southeast corner of Tasmania where she will pass first Cape Pillar and then Cape Raoul, known for its famous vertical columns of rock known locally as the 'organ pipes'. From there the race leader must turn northwest and negotiate Storm Bay. Here in previous races, boats have been becalmed enabling those astern simply to sail around them although this is unlikely to occur this time with a southerly breeze forecast. Through Storm Bay the boats head for the mouth of the Derwent River leading up to Hobart where there is even greater chance of gusts, sudden wind shifts and calms.

"It is going to be pretty tough to catch them from here, but obviously we're hoping the wind will shut down in the river tonight and it will give us another chance," said Skandia skipper Grant Wharington this morning, his fingers crossed.

While yesterday Skandia broke her daggerboard and was expected to be overtaken by Ichi Ban overnight, Wharington and his crew have done an admirable job of hanging on to their position. This may have partly been due to the conditions overnight which at one stage saw the big blue and white maxi becalmed.

The wind is forecast to be southerly all the way to the points on the south side of Tasman Island, and if this proves true then Wharington reckons they will have to put in another losing tack off to the east. This is not helped by their broken daggerboard. "We have about half the righting moment we would otherwise have so that makes the boat quite tippy and obviously we go a bit sideways as well. So not really ideal," said Wharington. Given this situation Wharington believes there is a good chance they will be caught by his old Volvo Open 70, now Matt Allen's Ichi Ban. "Everything is great. The boys are in good spirits. But they are very wary at this stage that the fat lady hasn't been sighted yet," he concluded.

Further offshore, the wind went light overnight for Ichi Ban, but they were not becalmed, although the wind also clocked right around. They were also able to hoist their downwind sails in the early hours this morning, but by dawn the wind had backed to the south-southeast blowing 14 knots.

Despite being further offshore than Skandia with a better angle into the coast, even Ichi Ban at present wasn't able to lay the southern end of Tasman Island, reported Coxon.

After a dramatic 24 hours of dismastings and a sinking, last night was quiet with no additional problems reported among the 69 boats that are still racing.

On handicap the lead has reverted to the smaller boats with Lou Abrahams, a veteran of 43 previous Hobarts races, ahead on his Sydney 38 Challenge, but only 14 minutes ahead on corrected time from Graeme Ainley and John Williams' Petersen 44 Bacardi. Simon Kurts' venerable 1974 and 1978 overall winner Love & War is third.

In the battle of the 50 footers, Geoff Ross' brand new Reichel Pugh 55 is leading on the water and on handicap in Division B, while Ray Roberts' Cookson 50 Quantum Racing is on top in the larger Division A.

www.rolexsydneyhobart.com

*Images of ABN AMRO One under jury rig and injured crew being airlifted from the dismasted Maximus are in the Rolex Sydney Hobart album of the BYM Photo Gallery:

www.bymnews.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=216

BLAKE'S SON TO FULFIL ANTARCTIC PLEDGE
The son of the late yachtsman Sir Peter Blake is heading to Antarctica to fulfil a pledge his father made to help save the historic huts near Scott Base.

James Blake, 19, is in Christchurch preparing for a six-week trip to work on the three huts used by Antarctic explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott, near where Scott Base now stood.

Blake will work as a general hand alongside conservation carpenters and professional conservators for the Christchurch based Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Sir Peter Blake was murdered by South American pirates while sailing on the Amazon on a trip on his yacht Seamaster in 2001.

The trip had included a visit to Antarctica. Antarctic Heritage Trust executive director Nigel Watson said James Blake would fulfil the pledge his father had made to assist the trust with its work on the huts.

"Before his expedition to the Antarctic peninsula and in anticipation of an expedition to the Antarctica's Ross Sea, Sir Peter had offered to assist the trust in any way that he could," Mr Watson told the newspaper.

"Given he never made the planned journey to the Ross Sea, it is fitting and very special that James can participate now." -- New Zealand Press Association, xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-6747229,00.html

NOT YOUR USUAL LONDON STREET SCENE
The January sales took on a new meaning when London shoppers witnessed a full size America's Cup racing yacht 'sailing' through the streets of London. The 24-metre yacht, belonging to American syndicate, BMW ORACLE Racing was making its way to the Collins Stewart London Boat Show, which is taking place at the ExCeL Centre from 5th - 14th January.

The BMW ORACLE Racing yacht, USA-61 was seen travelling through Park Lane, Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch and Parliament Square before finishing its journey in the Docklands, where it will be on display for the public to enjoy.

This is the first time an America's Cup yacht has exhibited at the London Boat Show at ExCeL.

The BMW ORACLE Racing stand promises to be one of the leading attractions at this year's show. Weighing 2 tonnes, the 24-metre hull will take pride of place in the North Hall on exhibition stand N425 which will also feature two virtual simulators, offering visitors a taste of what it is like to helm these incredible yachts.

The Collins Stewart London Boat Show is anticipating over 140,000 visitors through the doors of ExCeL during the 10-day show. Over 700 exhibitors will showcase more than 1,000 of the world's leading boats. The most expensive yacht and the only super yacht ever to be on sale at the London Boat Show is the Sunseeker 37 metre Tri Deck yacht - available for a cool 8.75 million pounds.

Photos of the boat in transit at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos under the America's Cup gallery section.

INTERNATIONAL SOLING CLASS WORLD RANKING
A big success the ranking counts now with more than 400 people being listed and certainly more will appear in the future after they join the ISA.

Unlike 2005 where one crew member won the Ranking, this year was time for GER 300 Marinepool team skipper Roman Koch, who sailing with different crews in different championship managed to get a few extra points more than his usual crew who follows him in the list.

Unlike other years, the rankings this time had a fight for the top title from Europe, North and South America.

The winner also gets the victory in the Europe continent, winning the Wossala trophy. The North American sailors from Seattle James Medley and Chris Roberts from USA 840 get for the first time the Heike Blok trophy. And once more the Argentine sailors Gustavo Warburg and Maximo Smith from ARG 32 keep the South American trophy. -- Matias Collins

Check ranking results at: www.soling.com/indexmore.asp?Seccion=Events&Evento=Ranking

NEW J BOATS 40 FOOTER SEEN IN PARIS
For the second time in five years (J/109 in 2001), a new J has been introduced on European soil. The J/122 debuted at the Paris Boat Show with rave reviews. J/Europe production for this IRC cruiser-racer is already booked through July with the first USA arrival in February. www.jboats.com/j122

PENZANCE AROUND SCILLY AND BACK
PASAB has been run for over twenty years and this year will be run between 27th and 30th July 2007 over three legs:

- Leg 1: Penzance to St Mary's, Isle of Scilly - 27th July
- Leg 2: Around the Islands - 29th July
- Leg 3: St Mary's, Isle of Scilly to Penzance- 30th July

We aim for the event to be a competitive yet fun event with a free day on the 28th July to explore the beautiful Isles of Scilly.

There are classes and prizes under PY, IRC and MOCRA as well as the 'Petit Bateau' trophy for the first double handed competitor. Both Monohulls and Multihulls welcome.

Further details, Notice of Race and entry forms are available from www.pzsc.org.uk/pasab or by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

ENDEAVOUR MYSTERY SOLVED
When L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive officer of Tyco International Ltd., sold his yacht, the Endeavour, to pay restitution for looting the company, the new owner was somewhat of a mystery.

The historic boat, a 1934 America's Cup entry, was purchased Sept. 28 for $13.1 million by Diversicolor Ltd., a Cayman Islands corporation, according to papers filed in New York state Supreme Court. The sales contract also named Sempervirens Ltd., another company with a Cayman address.

The real owner is a man named Cassio Antunes, a resident of Hawaii, who has big plans for the boat, according to a statement released by his Miami lawyer and people working on the boat in Newport, Rhode Island.

Antunes, 44, has admired the yacht since he was a young boy and plans a significant refit of the sloop as well as a change in its home port to George Town, Cayman Islands, from Newport. He wants to race it again.

"This sailing vessel had captured the new owner's attention more than 30 years ago,'" Antunes said in a statement, "when Mr. Antunes, then a young boy, used to go to Italy and visit his grandfather's large yachting library.'"

The 130-foot Endeavour, built for British aviation pioneer and yachtsman Thomas Sopwith, underwent repairs and maintenance in Newport before setting sail for Antigua for the winter. It will be in the Caribbean by Christmas.

Antunes is a member of the Waikiki Yacht Club in Hawaii, according to the club. His sons race boats on lakes in Geneva, Koon said.

The family wants to race the sloop again against the two other J-class vessels built in the 1930s, Shamrock V and Velsheda, according to the surveyor. -- Karen Freifeld and Jim Silver, full story at www.bloomberg.com

COVILLE'S NEW SODEBO
Excerpt from an extensive, must-read on TheDailySail.com:

The new Sodebo may be long but it is a very small 100 footer. The best example of this is her beam which at 54ft is slightly less than the 56ft of the 75ft long B&Q. Coville says that they worked on the basis that the sail plan on his 60ft trimaran was pretty much at the limit of what he could move. He is fit, but no BMW Oracle Racing-sized grinder. Saying this the sails are 20-25% larger - the main for example is 255sqm to his ORMA 60's 200.

What particularly interests Coville in the new boat - as it has her designers - is her not being designed to any specific set of rules. Basically it is the fastest boat one person can drive to get around the world non-stop in record time. It could equally have been a large catamaran or even a larger monohull. It would be an exciting idea to hold a singlehanded version of The Race where people could pitch up in whatever style or size of boat they wanted in an attempt to achieve this objective.

"We will see if we can go around faster than Ellen, but we are not sure," says Coville. "Ellen had a very nice boat built for her and she has been using the boat at 110%. We decided we needed a longer boat but we may be wrong. Our boat will be 12 tonnes, Ellen's was about 10."

According to Coville his new Sodebo should be 3-5% faster than B&Q according to figures from the virtual world of VPP. The boat is expected to reach France by the end of August and will stay in Coville's homeport of La Trinite-sur-Mer until October when the boat will be lifted out of the water for a thorough check-over, before going on stand-by for the solo non-stop round the world attempt from 1 November.

Full story at www.thedailysail.com

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 Nicko Brennan, Rafiki - AUS419, nickobrennan.com : re: Elaine Bunting's article in her blog on the Mini Transat:

Now that your blog has made it to my attention through its republication in Scuttlebutt Europe, just a small correction to your blog. There are actually only 75 places in total in Mini Transat 07 - this includes the 9 wildcards.

Should the difficulty in obtaining one of these 75 spots be surprising to any of the Mini sailors trying to contest the race? Not really. Since the Les Sables - Acores - Les Sables race was announced in 2005, it was apparent that one would need to do this race to be certain of a MT07 position.

As someone who has qualified and is in the final list, I know that it is difficult but certainly not impossible to achieve. Never having sailed a mini, without a boat as last as January this year, and completely unsponsored to this day, I have made the time around my job to do the miles to qualify. I have also managed some respectable positions, finishing 7th of 69 in the Acores race. Additionally, as an Australian not wanting to put myself in the uncertain position of applying for a DCQ (wildcard), I'd relocated to the UK to ensure I was close enough to France to be able to qualify normally. So, I don't think one needs to be a professional although a professional approach is certainly required.

I can understand that many of the sailors who are likely to miss out feel bitterly disappointed about the situation. I have a number of friends among this group. As Pierre-Yves Lautrou points out though, the Classe Mini is in a difficult position. They are limited, as always, by Affaires Maritime, and as a class whose safety record was not always exemplary (but has been excellent in recent years) they need to be cautious about taking ever larger fleets across the Atlantic. There can be little doubt that next years fleet will should be the most experienced (and hopefully safest) yet.

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THE LAST WORD
The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. -- Ralph W. Sockman

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

Over 80,000 boats for sale on www.boats.com

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