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VOR HONG KONG STOPOVER?
The Volvo Ocean Race (successor to the Whitbread Round-the-World Race) has for the last two editions of the event stuck to the well-established global route (UK/Europe, South Africa, Australia/New Zealand, South America, North America, UK/Europe). For the next race, however, VOR announced that the race would visit the Far East, in an attempt to make the global race track more attractive to corporate commercial interests, and thereby the number of race entries. After consultation with some of the existing major sponsors and their focus on business growth, VOR specified that the new stopovers would include 'one port in SE Asia and two in China'.

VOR management in the form of Jonathon Rust (VOR Business Development Asia-Pac and Middle East) and Doug Watson (Ocean Racing Ltd) are presently in Hong Kong to assess and promote the possibility of making 'Asia's World City' one of the stopovers for the next Race. 'We have to do two things', says Rust. 'First we have to see whether there is suitable infrastructure for hosting the VOR fleet - or at least a suitable location where it can be created - and then we have to convince the local government to make the investment in hosting a stopover, by showing them that it is indeed an investment - with a substantial return - and not just an outlay.'

Also on the inspection team is Matthew Humphries, a veteran of five Whitbread/VORs. 'The thought of racing a fleet of Volvo 70s in Hong Kong harbour is really mouth-watering,' he enthused. 'This is a natural amphitheatre. It would be a really great place to show off the boats, both from a sailing and a corporate point of view.'

Humphries sees a number of other benefits that might accrue to Hong Kong if the city were to become a stopover port. 'Hong Kong is 22 deg north of the equator, and a good deal of the next VOR is going to take place in this sort of latitude - for me, Hong Kong would be a good place for a syndicate to locate a training camp. Average wind speed for the whole of the last race was just 14 kts, which reinforces the suitability of Hong Kong and the surrounding area as a training centre for the next race.'

In addition to courting the corporate sponsors, VOR are actively promoting regional involvement in the race - cities racing against cities, for example. Humphries suggests that 'if Hong Kong had 'a boat of its own' it would provide the focus for a whole range of public visibility (for a sponsor) and involvement for sailors, clubs, water sports enthusiasts and, well, just good old Civic Pride.

There's been a lot of attention paid to Hong Kong harbour of late, and hosting a VOR stopover would be a great way of kick-starting some improved harbour infrastructure and then showcasing Hong Kong's greatest natural asset. (Did you know that when the Queen Mary visits Hong Kong later this year she will tie up at Kwai Chung Container Terminal because there's nowhere else suitable for her? So how about that new cruise terminal we've been hearing about forever, and a yacht basin for visiting boats, yachts and superyachts (and the VOR fleet) besides? -- full story by Guy Nowell at www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=30494

AUCKLAND MATCH RACING CUP
The event, which is being hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, will start on the Waitemata Harbour this Wednesday, 24 January and run until Sunday, 28 January.

At 3pm on Sunday, 28 January, the public will have the opportunity to see the world-class skippers including favourite America's Cup contenders - New Zealand's Dean Barker and Australia's James Spithill, world number two Ian Williams and world number three Matthieu Richard, up-close at the cup presentation outside Soul Bar in the Viaduct Harbour.

Racing starts at 10am each day and features twenty-minute round-robin races and approximately twenty-five races a day.

The semi-finals for the cup will be on Saturday, January 27 and finals will take place on Sunday, January 28.

First four flights sailed today:

Mathieu Richard 2 wins / 1 losses
Eugeny Neugodnikov 3 / 0
Ian Williams 2 / 1
Dean Barker 2 / 1
Simon Minoprio 1 / 2
James Spithill 2 / 1
Brian Angel 0 / 3
Takumi Nakamura 1 / 2
Adam Minoprio 2 / 1
Simon Dickey 0 / 3

www.aucklandmatchracingcup.co.nz

GREENHALGHS JOIN F18'S WORLDS DOWN UNDER
ABN AMRO Volvo Ocean race helmsman Rob and his brother Peter Greenhalgh are new to the F18 class, but they are campaigning the Extreme 40's as Team Basilica, so they know how to sail fast. The British pair will be the wildcard bet for a top three finish at the F18 World Championships which move out of Europe to the warmth of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Fresh wind conditions are expected for the Seawind F18 Worlds, which will be sailed offshore from Rydes Capricorn Resort on the central Queensland coast from February 17 to 25. At least a dozen nations and 80 boats are expected to converge on the tropical Queensland town of Yepoon to race in conditions that catamaran sailors dream about. The racing will be intense.

The F18's catamarans are designed for two crew with trapeze, with spinnakers, self-tacking jibs and square top mainsail, making them one of the fastest boats on the water. The F18's allow multiple sports catamaran manufacturers (including Hobie, Capricorn and Nacra) from around the world, to compete in one class.

The 80 boat field will be filled with Olympic and World multihull champions and the 2006 F18 World Champions, Helge and Christian Sach (GER) know they will have a fight on their hands to keep the southern hemisphere sailors at bay. Looking for fresher conditions in which to train, this pairing sailed Tornados in the Canary Islands in November 2006.

Darren Bundock and Glen Ashby (AUS), the 2004 and 2005 F18 World Champions and the 2006 Tornado World champions thrive in strong conditions. They will be right on speed. Today they are sailing in the Tornado class at the Miami Olympic Class Regatta.

Challenges will come from across the fleet. Mitch Booth (NED) won in 2001 and 2002 and with Pim Nieuwenhis as crew, he will right on the pace. Other competitors include Steve Brewin and Andrew Williams (AUS), Mark Laruffa and Rick Heasman (AUS), Spaniards Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz who are ISAF ranked second in the Tornado class and the French team of Jean-Christophe Mournaic sailing with Franck Citeau. -- Rob Kothe in Sail-World.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=30469

Event website: www.2007f18worlds.com

NXR SYSTEM
The NXR grand prix instrumentation system from Nexus Marine was launched in the UK at the London Boat Show to an enthusiastic response from big boat owners. Designed for large race boats and superyachts, the NXR is the result of a long process of development and customer consultation. Combining a powerful, multi-function network with XLR masthead displays optimised for clear yet unobtrusive viewing, the NXR can process, analyse and display data from an unprecedented range of hardware, form load sensors to tactical software, as well as the standard instrumentation feeds. For more information, contact UK distributor Silva Ltd via www.silva.ltd.uk

RESCUED!
The trip was always going to be a challenging one. Setting out to cross the Atlantic singlehanded on 20 ft (6.1m) Tornado Olympic catamaran Bella Stella, Italian sailor Francesco Di Benedetto left Gran Canaria on January 2nd, heading 2700-miles west for Guadeloupe.

For the first three days, Benedetto gave position reports to his support team. But on day four, his support team lost contact with him, and for the next seventeen days their only means of hope were in that the EPIRB signal had not yet been reported.

However, on January 19th, his EPIRB was activated, which placed him 700 miles from Guadalupe, and just a bit south of his direct route. -- www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20070023101811ymnews.html

12 days trying to find a boat for help, relying on the EBIRP only as a final resource. "I had nothing, immagine myself, the boat, the mast and two sails". Nothing means no water, food, GPS, glasses, auto-pilots, headlamps, medicines, ... "Without glasses and contact lenses I could hardly see the end of the cathamaran and at night there were no stars. I had a small compass with no light and the EBIRP in my pocket, that's it".

Since Francesco had no routing support he sailed right trough areas with 20 to 30 knot wind. "The waves were incredible, not too tall but steep and fast. Like cannon balls that I had to avoid... not for 3 or 4 hours, for days!".

Francesco explained that the crew of the cargo Norman Lady (Oslo) did a truly impressive rescue operation. The EBIRP signal was giving a wrong GPS position (!) so the cargo spent hours searching about 10 to 20 miles away from Francesco. They were about to give up when they decided to check an area where for a second they had spotted a small radar echo, something that might have been a dolfin. They tuned the radar in order to intercept small objects and after about 5 hours, in the middle of the night, not at sunset as we thought, they found Francesco.

www.francescodibenedetto.com

SPINNAKERS AND HEADSAILS
The IRC Technical Committee has noted the development of spinnakers incorporating battens and intended to be set with a tight luff.

The IRC Technical Committee has concluded that these sails are entirely legal within IRC and are not generally contrary to IRC Fundamental Policy as expressed by IRC Rule 2. Currently however such sails attract only a small increase, if any, in TCC as an additional spinnaker. This increase in TCC does not match the performance gain and is plainly contrary to the policy expressed in IRC Rule 2.5.

IRC Rule 26.2.2 notes:

RF above unity may be applied for: fractional, racing and lightweight rigs, high aspect ratio and efficient plan forms, wing and double luff sails, specialised sail stiffening, large headboards/cranes, permanently bent or highly controllable spars, hi-tech rigging, exotic rig materials, advanced winch and deck gear arrangements, flush/efficient deck design, and any other feature which increases sailing efficiency that is not already rated through the rated dimensions.

Acting in accordance with IRC Rule 26.2.2, with immediate effect, any boat carrying on board a spinnaker incorporating battens or stiffening shall declare that fact to the Rating Authority together with the lengths of the luff, leech, half width (measured as a spinnaker between the half luff and half leech points), and foot of the sail. Rig Factor for these boats will be increased appropriately.

For the purpose of this Notice, a batten or stiffening is defined as:

Any material added to the sail, as either a removable element, permanent reinforcement, or other contrivance, the purpose of which is to support and/or flatten the sail.

The total number of spinnakers carried aboard while racing (including any spinnaker incorporating battens or stiffening declared above) shall also be confirmed. -- Mike Urwin, For IRC Technical Committee

rorcrating.com

MAYORS REGATTA AND AMREF FOR AFRICA
Pisa, Italy: We are pleased to announce the partnership between Mayors Regatta and AMREF Italia. The Mayors Regatta is an international event open to Mayors from all over the world, held in Santa Margherita Ligure from May 21 to 27. This year's tournament will promote and support the project "AMREF safe water" aimed at providing clean drinking water for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

The initiative: AMREF will be featured in all our communications and we will act as a vehicle for collecting donations; there will be an info area of the village reserved to AMREF; the gala dinner at Villa Durazzo on Saturday May 26 will be also dedicated to AMREF.

"It felt natural to establish this link between our element, the seawater, and the basic need of drinking water for African people", commented Bruno Cardile, project manager of the event.

The Mayors Regatta has lately enriched the program of activities with the international forum "CITIES AND SAILING", featuring case studies on some of the most important sailing cities of the world. This and many other initiatives will add an international dimension to the event and will draw public attention to our new partner AMREF ( www.amref.it ) and its actions for Africa.

www.mayorsregatta.com

LAUNCHINGS
* The strangest vessel made its formal premiere Thursday on San Francisco Bay, and it was a sight to see: It looked like a spider, wiggled over the waves like a porpoise, and was fast as the wind.

It is named the Proteus, after a Greek god of the sea, and is the first of what might be a long line of wave adaptive modular vessels -- WAM-V for short -- developed by Ugo Conti, an engineer and inventor. Conti calls it "the prototype of a new class of vessel."

Using technology developed by Conti's El Cerrito Marine Advanced Research Inc., the WAM-V is "a new class of watercraft ... that delivers a radically new seagoing experience." It has twin hulls, like a catamaran, connected to each other and a control cabin by four metal legs. The legs ride on titanium springs -- like shock absorbers -- that allow the WAM-V to adjust to the surface of the water -- to flex like knees. -- full story and photos at www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/19/BAGE7NLI001.DTL

* Yann Elies and his new Open 60 Generali had a famous visitor at the Multiplast yard: French soccer star Zinedine Zidane. Photos at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/ under the Launchings section, see Generali.

* Mills Design has released details of the Landmark 43, their latest production IRC Cruiser Racer announced at the Dusseldorf Boatshow this week by Landmark Yachting.

Designed to excel in a range of roles from IRC racing to shorthanded performance cruising, the Landmark 43 is already in production by Premier Composite Technologies in Dubai for Landmark Yachts of Norway. Six have already been sold to Norway and Sweden. The boat is equiped with Harken deck gear, Formula Spars carbon swept spreader rig with masthead asymmetric spinnakers, retracting bowsprit, and deep fin and bulb keel.

Graphic renderings at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/ under the Launchings section.

* The first major stage in the production of the tooling for the ExclusivE 76 - a top of the range cruising maxi catamaran built to designs from the Gilles Ollier Design Team - is nearing completion in the Multiplast yard in Vannes.

The biggest piece in the puzzle, the hull plug, was started back in August 2006 and has just been finished. After having set up the steel plate, fitted the ribs, the wood trim, the laminate, coating and paint, the builders of this prototype are about to attack the production mould itself. 23.40 m (76 ft) long and with a beam of 10.50 m (34 ft 6 in), it represents a total surface area of 350 m2 (3 767 sq ft).

Pod, roof and flybridge moulds will be the next components to be produced.

* A new Class 40 is under construction in Portsmouth, Rhode Island for skipper Stuart Williams of Newport, RI, a former member of the US ski team.

Rodger Martin Designs has been out of the 'Round-the-World' arena for some years, by choice, so they had some of catching up to do with the designers who have been concentrating on Class 40s since their inception. To build the boat Stuart chose Ted Brown and Stewart Wiley of Al Fresco Composites, Portsmouth, RI. Al Fresco could start construction in early December 2006, so the team was created and this set an intense, dedicated design strategy in motion.

Stu Williams and Jared Lazo will double-hand in the GOC and have mocked-up the cockpit area where they will spend most of their 30,000 miles between Newport, and Portugal for the start, and, if all goes well, the completion of the GOC in 2008.

THE LAST WORD
I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there. -- Herb Caen

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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