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FREMANTLE SEND-OFF FOR THE VELUX 5 OCEANS
At 15:00 on Sunday January 14 (06:00 GMT), the start gun for the second leg of the Velux 5 Oceans fired and marked the beginning of one of the longest and toughest legs in solo ocean racing. As temperatures pushed a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius off the coast of Western Australia, the famous Fremantle Doctor failed to deliver its typical sea breeze and the powerful yachts sailed north through the line with southerly winds of around 10 knots.

In a tight battle to take the honour, Bernard Stamm (SUI) onboard Cheminees Poujoulat narrowly beat Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR) on Saga Insurance to cross the line first at 15:02, with less than half a boat's length separating the two Open 60s. Coming up behind the leaders, Unai Basurko (ESP) on PAKEA crossed a minute behind, followed by Kojiro Shiraishi (JPN) on Spirit of Yukoh and finally Graham Dalton (NZL) on A Southern Man AGD, all separated by only one minute.

The fleet continued north past the popular tourist beaches of Cottesloe and Swanborne, packed with spectators from Perth and the surrounding areas. Chased by the spectator fleet, Stamm was the first to reach the first turning mark at 16:03. 11 minutes behind, Sir Robin went round, closely followed by Unai Basurko. Hot on their heels was the popular Japanese skipper, who went round the mark with precision and jumped from fourth to second in one easy swoop. The kiwi skipper Dalton rounded 25 minutes later at 16:40.

The fleet will then round a mark off City Beach further north and will then be free to turn west and choose their route past the small island of Rottnest, before making their tactical decision for heading south to round Cape Leewin, the second important landmark in their global circumnavigation. The wind is expected to build towards 20 knots and the skippers will then be left with the dilemma of whether to head offshore or stay close to land as they seek to round the tip of Western Australia.

The yachts of the Velux 5 Oceans are expected to arrive in Norfolk in early March after more than 50 days alone at sea through the deepest stretches of the Southern Ocean. -- Tim Kelly

www.velux5oceans.com

MIRROR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Port Elizabeth, South Africa: The second day of the Mirror World Championships was the first day that the weather was predicted to be a bit light. Launching was once again to the accompaniment of Alistair Mackenzies bagpipes.

The first race was started in what, for this regatta, can be considered lightish conditions of 11 knots from the South West and in a light chop. It took a General Recall, an I Flag Start with another General Recall followed by a Z Flag start before the fleet finally got off at 10:59 a.m.

The course sailed was triangle, sausage and race one heralded the start of the Anna Mackenzie and Holly Scott Express (GBR) as they sailed to a first place followed by Martin Egan and Tom Wilkerson (GBR) with Waldo Zevenster and James Potgieter (South Africa) in third.

Race number two was sailed over a windward leeward course after a little bit of mark shifting to accomodate the now south south west wind of around 12 knots.

For the third race the wind shifted another 30 degrees back towards the west, the course was adjusted slightly and the number 2 flag went up for the triangle, sausage.

On the downwind leg the judges moved in to yellow flag the race leaders, Nick Davis and John Collova (Australia). Their 720 penalty put them back to second place. This coupled with some debris on their centreboard and missing a lift on the inshore side of the beat up to the windward mark put paid to their hopes for a first place.

The Anna Mackenzie and Holly Scott (GBR) Express sailing on Simply Gorgeous got their third first place of the day followed by John and Jamie Clementson (GBR) in second and third place was taken by Emma and Martina Barry (GBR).

Top three places (after six races):
1. Anna Mackenzie and Holly Scott (England) - 27 points
2. John Clementson and Jamie Clementson (England) - 47 points
3. Nick Davis and John Collova (Australia) - 52 points

Top Sailors by Country:
1. Anna Mackenzie and Holly Scott (England)
2. Sieraj Jacobs and Ashwin Daniels (South Africa)
3. Nick Davis and John Collova (Australia)
4. Doire Shiels and Graham Daly (Ireland)
5. Per Backlund and Thomas Backlund (Sweden)

The weather outlook for tomorrow is South South West at 6 knots swinging to South West 10 to 16 knots. 24 degrees celsius and cloudy.

abyc.org.za/mirrors/

VINACAPITAL HONG KONG TO VIETNAM RACE
With thunder rumbling in the hills of Nha Trang, Benoit Lesaffre's multihull Atmosphere finished the 2006 VinaCapital Hong Kong to Vietnam Race at around 1200hrs 27-Oct-06 (Hong Kong Time) to take line honours.

A mere 36 minutes later, Paul Winkelmann's TP52 Island Fling showed its pedigree, taking IRC Division A on the water and on corrected time. Both times were considerably outside Skandia's 2004 record, mainly due to the local wind conditions off Nha Trang, which have been unusually soft for most of the race period.

With squally showers passing though all day, Hi Fi finally came into view around Hon Tre Island as the light died, recording a finish which placed the Grand Prix winning boat well down IRC A on corrected time. As if boats travel in pairs, no sooner was Hi Fi over the line, than Mandrake's lights were spotted. After a good race, the Kinmonth / Burns owned Farr-Mills 51 finished just 24 minutes after Neil Pryde on the water, beating him on corrected time but not doing enough to catch Island Fling.

The surprise of the race was Ant Day's Siren. Having turned down the opportunity to drop down to Div B the Sayer 13, at 41ft the smallest boat in IRC A, had a scorcher of a race to finish just 2 hours behind 51 ft Mandrake and 52 ft Hi Fi. Arriving to a round of applause from the Mandrake crew, Day was delighted to find that Siren had placed 2nd on corrected time.

During the dead of night, Ffree Fire 52 made it to Nha Trang safely, in spite of damage to her new mast. Polar Star III checked into the Hainan port of Sanya with a broken boom, and Quest reached the safety of Hong Kong. In the dawn light, HSBC Strewth finished at around 0645hrs HKT to be followed 25 minutes later by Drumstick and another hour later by Hocux Pocux 2.

Only Shahtoosh and Barnstormer are left to finish. With the breeze apparently giving both boats 14 knots boat speed, the former is expected at around 1100hrs HKT and the latter at 1600hrs HKT today, in plenty of time for the welcome parties tonight and prizegiving tomorrow. -- Lindsay Lyons, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

GUEST EDITORIAL:
THE MORAL OF GRAND PRIX SAILING AND THE AFRICAN SAILING CHALLENGE
The recent evolution and development in the world's Grand Prix yacht racing has made me to produce critical letters time after time. I cannot help but write another one.

The carnage, potentially dangerous incidents and breakages and the loss of a crew member in the previous Volvo Race was a clear failure. Too few boats, too many breakages, not really the intensive and close neck to neck racing what the public wants from the race. The same applies to the last couple of Sydney to Hobart classics. Mega maxis getting dismasted, loosing keels, crew injuries and air lifts. Velux 5 Oceans lost its two most interesting sailors in early stages due to keel and rig failures while the rest of the fleet are so widespread that differences between the finishers are measured in weeks rather than minutes. The budgets of the mega maxis have reached levels where even corporate sponsorship is no more sufficient, money has to come out of the deepest pockets of this planet or at least of the yachting community.

How much sense does this all make? Do we really admire the winners as we used to in the early era of the Whitbread race or the heroic battles in the single-handed racing and other ocean classics? I am afraid not. Instead of the colourful characters behind the campaigns we now have the owners with unlimited financial resources and the hotshot pros earning millions for driving and running these boats. It is simply not a fascinating story anymore - money talks and the rest can only watch or walk. We are not exactly setting any attractive examples to the sailing youth, even less an achievable goal to aim at. It's all the kind of space technology, million-dollar-budget stuff which has no connection to the grass root sailing that the kids are enjoying and busy with.

The greatest challenge in the global sailing is to attract more novice sailors and to keep the fleets rather growing than dying. The route through an optimist into Olympic sailing is demanding to all involved, parents included. In a few countries there is a well-organised structure which offers the required coaching, administration, active racing program and even financial support to the junior sailors. But a majority of countries are still relying on the daddies and mommies to keep the wheels turning. In Africa things are again far behind the rest of the world and numbers of junior sailors are dropping as we speak. South Africa is the most advanced sailing country on its continent. Aside of one Egyptian sailor, team RSA were the only African sailors in the recent IODA Optimist World Championships. But even in South Africa the structure is missing, there are no coaches other than a handful of volunteer parents trying to do their best, there is no money to hire even one full-time junior coach or to promote the sport to the local schools and community. Yacht clubs are continuously struggling to keep their club boats afloat and training programs' levels vary depending on how enthusiastic or experienced parents get involved from year to year.

Politics is spoiling the South African sports at a great speed. More and more athletes get selected into national teams based on political (racial) reasons, administration is in chaos, people get fired and arguments never stop. The sponsor money goes 99% into the big mass sports (cricket, rugby, soccer) while the results in all of them are sliding. Sailing - yes the country has its first America's Cup campaign in Team Shosholoza, but the powers behind it are all but South African. The man with the "crazy idea" is Italian, the sponsors are of Italian and German origins and the excitement around them and the greatest fans of the team come also from abroad. The only sailors that get some help from government and corporate sponsors in the country are the so called development sailors from "previously disadvantaged" communities. It's all great, but it's all hugely political again and the active core group within the local sailing has to raise its money through volunteer activities run by parents who try to help their children to move on in the expensive hobby.

Now - I want to challenge the Grand Prix yacht owners of the world, the boys with the fanciest toys, to help the African sailors to reach new levels of international dinghy racing. Let's get the coaching and administration sorted, let's put in some sponsorship to take these kids to other continents to compete against the world's best, to learn and experience. Let's give them a chance to bring the first ever Olympic sailing medal to their country. It could be a direct initiative or it could be an extra "entry fee" for Grand Prix yachts taking part in the Rolex series and other "kick ass" events. Or it could be a well-organised sponsorship by one of the big companies owned or run by these Grand prix yacht owners.

We need to give the world some great stories, we need to keep our beloved sport alive, we need to give the poor countries hope and we should encourage the young sailors of this world to keep on aiming at new goals and challenges. The junior sailing's issues can be solved if we can get the right people involved. Think about it - to have your own junior fleet in an African country would probably cost you less than one day's budget of your own sailing program. Do you want to be remembered as one of the guys who killed the sport or would you like to be the man who lifted new countries and new individuals to the top of the pyramid, encouraging the new kids in the block to give it their best shot as well?

I am looking forward to your initiatives and proposals!

Eero Lehtinen (FIN)
RYA Yacht Master Ocean, Global Challenge 04/05 skipper, Whitbread 89/90 crew member

CIRCUITO ATLANTICO SUR ROLEX CUP
Buenos Aires, Argentina: The morning of the start of the "Circuito Atlantico Sur Rolex Cup 2007" looked like the perfect day to race to Punta del Este: The sky was azure blue and the temperature an unusually mild 18 degrees Celsius (64 F), a nice change from Saturday's 36 degrees (96 F).

However the wind was not going to cooperate, the race committee had to postpone the start for 35 minutes until the easterly wind got stronger than the 3 knot current flowing east. The B series of the I.M.S., O.R.C. and I.R.C. classes started at 12:35, five minutes later the A series started and the 68 yachts, out of 70 registered ones, were on the way for the 167 miles voyage.

The 27 feet one design yacht ONE got a perfect start and left the rest of the fleet in the dust. But not for long, the I.M.S. Flash Gordon 3 caught a bit more wind and a bit more current on the right side of the track and soon led the fleet with Fortuna III, Mercenario 4, and Matador in close pursuit. A few crews hoisted spinnakers, but only for a few minutes, the angles being too tight.

Four hours after the start the wind went from 90 degrees to 30 degrees, good news for the crews, since the rhumb line to the pristine beaches of South America's St Tropez is about 95 degrees. It could make the trip a one-tack race. Unfortunately the wind strength is only 6 knots with 9 knot "gusts".

Alberto Roemmers 46 foot B design Matador is still the corrected time favorite, last year she won I.M.S series A and his former yacht won the "Circuito" five times. Skipper Guillermo Parada, tactician Gabriel Marino and navigator Juan Garay will defend their title from the waters of the Rio de la Plata all the way to the "Isla Gorriti".

This long distance coastal race will be followed by two upwind-downwind races on January 17th, the "Circuito La Barra" January 18th, two upwind-downwind races on January 20th and the "Vuelta a Gorriti" on January 21st.

www.regattanews.com/event.asp?id=162

BLUSTERY START TO THE RACE SEASON
The Royal Southampton Yacht Club 2007 Frostbite series sponsored by MDL started in true January weather, grey skies, a scattering of rain and blustery winds provided a good opening 'shake-down' race, blowing away the cobwebs and getting rid of the aftermath of the recent festivities!

A good series of beats and runs ensured lots of hoists and drops so no-one got cold!

The Multihulls were away first with 'Team Eberspacher' (Ben Goodland) taking the lead very quickly and extending their lead to finish a full 12 minutes (on corrected time) ahead of Tim Wilson's Dragonfly 920, 'Cold Fusion' with Harvey Bowden's Firefly 'Orion' in 3rd place. 'Marmalade'.

Class 1 saw 10 boats on the start line with 'Alice', Simon Henning's Mumm 36 and 'Malice', Mike Moxley's Hod 35 vying for the first 2 places consistently throughout the race. 'Alice' took line honours but 'Malice' eventually won on corrected time with the Bateson family's Dehler 36 'Starspray' second and 'Alice' only 5 seconds behind in 3rd place.

11 boats crossed the start line in Class 2 with 9 completing the full course. The racing was tight with only just over 2 minutes on corrected time between the top 5 boats. The Hunter 707 'Chop Chop' belonging to Nicholas Flinn won ahead of 'Glass Onion', the Evolution 22 belonging to the Clark/Mackenzie/Gates/Williams alliance only 15 seconds behind and Steve Sault's J80 'Hoolikazan' less than a minute behind.

The next race is on Sunday January 21st. The series is open to all, for details contact Cathy Crawley, Sailing Secretary, RSYC, Tel: 023 80 223352 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

GIORGIO LAURO (ITA)
It is with great sadness ISAF reports that Giorgio Lauro (ITA), an ISAF Committee member and an ISAF Race Official since 1994, has died at the age of 60.

Giorgio was known as a man of action and a committed servant of sailing. He started his career in sailing as the main organizer for the Flying Junior World Championship in Italy in 1975. In 1994, he became an ISAF International Race Officer, and two years later an ISAF International Judge (IJ). As well as his work on the water, Giorgio also worked with ISAF in its aim to develop Race Officials excellence across the world in his role as an IJ Seminar instructor.

Giorgio was elected to the council of the Italian Sailing Federation in 1995 and was twice re-elected. In 1999 he became a member of the International Judges Sub-Committee and in 2004 he was appointed as a member to the ISAF Race Management Sub-Committee.

He gave his services to the sport at some of its most prestigious events, acting as an International Technical Officer at the 2003 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cadiz, Spain and at both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. He was also a leading official in Auckland during the 31st America's Cup cycle.

Giorgio was taken to hospital from a Race Committee boat in Qatar and passed away on 11 January. The funeral will be held at S. Giovanni e Paolo Church in Venice, on Tuesday 16 January.

ISAF: sailing.org

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THE LAST WORD
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