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BASURKO NEARS NORFOLK
After 67 days alone at sea and having traveled 13,900 miles of 14,200 miles from Fremantle, Western Australia heading for Norfolk, Virginia, Basque skipper, Unai Basurko is sailing a steady 9 knots in a light Easterly wind 460 miles to the west of Bermuda.

Friday 23rd March it is anticipated that the wind will swing to a South Easterly direction just off Cape Hataras and build up to a much more satisfying 15-20 knots which will enable Basurko to make good speeds towards the finish line, situated off Cape Henry and Cape Charles at the mouth of the Cheasapeake Bay, ETA currently around 4pm Friday on the line and 8pm at Waterside, Norfolk - although this is subject to change - weather permitting.

The race office are still awaiting news from Dalton as to his next course of action. Meanwhile as Sir Robin enters the Champagne sailing waters of the Caribbean he reflects on the recent keel problems the class has experienced over the last few years.

"The news that AGD's keel bulb has fallen off means that he is effectively out of the race unless by some miracle the old bulb can be found. So now we are down to 4 boats. Still, to quote Henry V, "the fewer men the greater share of honour!" I have never been to Fortaleza, only Rio and Salvador, where there are good secure facilities for yachts, but even in Salvador, when I collected a large sum from the bank to buy food for the Clipper race, the bank manager would not let me walk the 300 yards back to the sailing centre without an armed guard.

"What worries me now is the whole concept of these keels. We had Alex's break in the first leg, Mike Golding lost his bulb at the end of the Vendee, Bernard's keel sheered in the Transat, and that's just from the group in this race. It is all too many failures and shouldn't someone look at the whole design philosophy behind them? They are not cheap either, circa Euros 100,000 or more a piece. Where boats are being asked to take on the Southern Ocean the equipment cannot be too delicate. I peer at my own keel more frequently, not that there is likely to be anything you can see."

www.velux5oceans.com

GITANA 13 EN ROUTE TO THE AZORES
After makeshift repairs made to her starboard rudder at open sea, Gitana 13 is currently heading for the Azores archipelago. The initially planned stopover in the Canaries is therefore no longer on the cards, and the boat should reach Punta del Gada on the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores between late morning and mid-afternoon tomorrow depending on weather conditions.

Before the team can return to base camp at Trinite-sur-Mer, this detour is necessary so that some of the crew can disembark, the repairs can be checked and the motor propellers reassembled... just in case!

Olivier Wroczynski and Yann Le Govic are heading down to the Azores during the day and they will accompany Lionel Lemonchois, Loik Gallon, David Boileau and Leopold Lucet on the return delivery.

Olivier Wroczynski: "The boat made good progress all night, but according to Sylvain Mondon's weather forecasts, she's likely to slow down on the approach to the Azores and arrive some time tomorrow afternoon. Then, as the weather configuration's not ideal, we might be forced to spend a few days on the island before heading back to Trinite-sur-Mer."

www.gitana-team.com

ULLMAN SAILS AT THE 2007 SAN DIEGO NOOD
Congratulations to John Laun and his J120 crew on "Caper", and Gary Mozer and his J105 crew on "Current Obsession 2", Tony Wetherbee and his J109 crew on "Commotion", each winning their class at the 2007 San Diego National Offshore One Design championship. All won with full Ullman Sails inventories. In fact, Ullman customers swept the first three places in both the J120 and J105 classes. Time and again, Ullman customers select the "Fastest Sails on the Planet" for their competitive edge. For your next sail or inventory contact an Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

WINDREAM ONE CAMPAIGN
This morning Paris saw the official launch of the Windream One campaign, a project headed up by Peggy Bouchet and Stephane Rousson, sponsored by the Theolia Group. This is an ambitious project to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sail balloon driven by natural and renewable energy sources.

Windream One is an ambitious enterprise : to make the first successful "aero-maritime" crossing of the Atlantic powered solely by renewable energy sources. The idea is not really to establish a record, but to prove that it is technologically possible to cover a distance of 5 000 km flying night and day using sources of energy drawn from the sea, the sun and the wind

The creator behind the project is Stephane Rousson, a renowned expert in aerostation and the navigator-adventurer Peggy Bouchet, with her experience in setting up projects along with her experience of rowing solo across the Atlantic.

After the three years preparation spent bringing the project to fruition, Peggy and Stephane are now ready to enter into the concrete stage of presenting the Windream One campaign thanks to tier partnership with Theolia. Research into highly elaborate aeraulic techniques are coming to an end and the construction of the balloon, the car and navigation appendages will get underway in the month of June.

The very first flight is scheduled to take place in Toulon in the middle of September, followed up by a test flight from Nice to Calvi and a demonstration flight over Lake Geneva in November, the Windream One team will head for Dakar in Senegal at the start of January to set up a new technical base. After reassembling the balloon and a new series of tests, the pilots Peggy Bouchet and Stephane Rousson will be on stand-by for a weather window opening the way to lift off. Both air and sea conditions have to be right for the ten day crossing over to Martinique.

Sun and wind are the main sources of energy for Windream One, but the sea will playing a major role in this technological challenge. Windream One is a dirigible 900m3 inflated with helium. She is 93 ft 6 inches (28.50 m) long, has a a curved carbon foil which will be under the water's surface. It is linked to the balloon's car by a long cable whose length can be adjusted from 65 ft 6 inches to 164 ft (20m to 50 m) and which acts as a centreboard. This appendage assists the crew in controlling the flight path.

Video at www.teamtheolia.com/fr/index_fr.php?page=projet

www.theolia.com

AMERICA'S CUP
Only few days are left until the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series but the bookmakers are already arriving.

SNAI, Italy's top chain of betting shops, is the first to release odds on the Challengers :
- Team New Zealand is the favourite with odds of 2.20
- BMW Oracle Racing is second with odds of 3.00
- Luna Rossa is third with odds of 3.20.

Concerning the result of the America's Cup, Alinghi is clearly the favourite (1.66) as the odds for the challengers are set on 2.00.

More the odds are close to 1, more the team is favourite. -- CupinEurope.com, citing Sport Economy: www.sporteconomy.it

* Having sorted out a few teething problems with the new boat, skipper Jesper Bank says United Internet Team Germany is looking forward to racing with the 2007 season less than two weeks away.

"Today we have a reliable boat. We've had the breakdowns that we needed to have - some major structural failures, to be honest - but we've got rid of the rotten structures and it's good now. We can sail in any conditions and handle the boat. What we still have to do is 'ripen' the boat, I guess you would say. We have to be realistic and realise that we'll be up against teams with a more mature set-up. We'll be racing in some conditions where we're hoping our set-up is right, but we haven't had time to get the confirmation yet."

Overall, Bank is extremely happy to have the new boat. He doesn't expect it to be the fastest Cup boat in the fleet, but he is hoping to be more competitive in GER 89 than he was with GER 72 last year. Of course, a more competitive boat puts more pressure on the sailors.

This is the second America's Cup for Bank, who sailed with Sweden's Victory Challenge in 2003 in Auckland. But his dominating performances have come in the Olympics, where he can claim two Gold Medals in the Soling Class (1992, 2000). He also has six World Championships in different classes. Moving from success in a small keelboat, like the Soling class, where his team included two others, to leading an America's Cup team of some 70 people has been a major adjustment. But Bank says it is part of the price you pay when you tackle sailing's biggest prize. -- www.americascup.com

32ND AMERICA'S CUP GEAR BAG
Anyone planning on packing soon for watching the action in Valencia should check out this new 32nd America's Cup gear bag by Murphy&Nye.

With a 65 litre volume it might not be big enough to carry the silverware home in but will store all your travel or boating weekend needs. This hard-wearing tarpaulin and PVC bag is packed full of features like a drying compartment, waterproof zips, neoprene-reinforced handles and heavy duty componentry.

The full 32nd America's Cup range by Murphy&Nye goes online today so be sure to be the first to check it out.

www.americascupstore.com/cart/add_to_cart.asp?id=1B8800G06000.1

RC 44 CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR
Geneva, Switzerland: The 2007 circuit will consist of eight events held in Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and the United Arab Emirates. The RC 44 regattas include a combination of fleet racing (owner driver rule) and match racing (no helmsman limitation), with two rankings and one overall result. Other features such as direct umpiring for the fleet races, leeward gates during the fleet and match racing series and short courses mixed with some short coastal racing will enhance the level of the competition.

Seven teams coming out of six nations will start in the Portoroz regatta. The RC 44 is a high performance, strict one design racer created for level racing under tightly controlled Class Rules. Twelve boats have been built to date and there are two licensed building facilities, Pauger Carbon in Budapest and V1 Technologies Dubai.

The RC 44 website provides regular news about the class activities, and will report the events in detail. www.rc44.com

Portoroz Cup: www.portorozcup.si

TEAM ABN AMRO WINS HOLLIS SPONSORSHIP OF THE YEAR AWARD
TEAM ABN AMRO, the race-winning Volvo Ocean Race campaign last night won the prestigious Hollis Sponsorship of the Year Award in addition to the prominent ESA International Sponsorship Award at the annual Hollis Sponsorship Awards 2007.

The Hollis Sponsorship Awards, which are held each year in London, attracted a vast array of entries from sponsorships in the fields of arts, lifestyle, charity, community and media as well as sport. Now in their 13th year, the awards recognise the very best work in the UK sponsorship industry. 2007 saw forty per cent more entries than previous years in each of the categories. TEAM ABN AMRO fought off stiff competition in the ESA International Sponsorship Award category from Coca-Cola, Martini and T-Mobile. The winner of the overall Hollis Sponsorship of the Year Award was selected from all of the entries in the fourteen categories."

Undertaking its first ever global sponsorship campaign, ABN AMRO sponsored a two-boat entry in the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race, the nine-month round-the-world race which finished last June. In 2004 ABN AMRO re-branded globally with the corporate emblem, colours and ABN AMRO name being incorporated into bank logos worldwide. With the launch of a new identity achieved, the ABN AMRO board sought to develop a greater understanding of what its brand stood for. Global sponsorship was identified as a way to bring the ABN AMRO brand to life and aid the integration of acquired businesses across the world. -- Kate Fairclough

www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=5210

VOR PODCAST
This week's Volvo Sailing Podcast features interviews with the first women to sail solo not stop around the world - the wrong way - Dee Caffari. We also talk to Eric Doyle, the Star champion and former USA sailor of the year, now on the afterguard of BMW Oracle Racing at the Americas Cup. There's also an interview with Ian Budgeon from Pirates of the Caribbean (the boat not the movie) and one of Britain's top Paralympic sailors - Helena Lucas.

The Podcast will be published by midday GMT Friday.

www.volvooceanrace.org/podcast/

ENTRY CONFIRMED FOR VOLVO EXTREME 40 EVENTS
Volvo Ocean Race has taken up the challenge of the new series of Extreme 40 events to be sailed across Europe this summer and has confirmed an entry in the iShares Cup.

The Extreme 40 events will take place in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK, with the first event scheduled for Starnberg Lake, Munich, from 25-27 May.

TornadoSport, the class manufacturer of this speedy 40 ft sport cataraman, expect to have seven boats in the water for the first event, according to its Dutch-based Chief Operating Officer Daniel Koene. In addition to the Volvo Ocean Race entry, TornadoSport have also been contracted to build an additional boat sponsored by the Dutch marine equipment maker Holmatro.

iShares was confirmed as Title Sponsor in January this year following the exciting in-port grand prix series of races held during the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race.

The four iShares Cup events will form the core of the European season and will be complemented by some other one-off events that might take the fleet to Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The cup will be raced over a three-day format with one set-up day and one pre-regatta warm-up day. Each race day will include a session of 'informal' racing for the teams to take their VIP and media guests out racing, and then a series of three to five windward/leeward courses raced daily that count towards the cup.

www.extreme40.org

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 Christopher Neil Brown: As one of the ancient mariners who remember Cowes Week in the pre-Skandia era, I feel that their recently announced passing of the sponsorship torch should not go without praise and gratitude for what Skandia have helped achieve with this world famous regatta. From my perspective they helped foster a progressive, professional regatta team and assisted in developing the event in an appropriately modern manner. Skandia are to be commended, I am sure they will be missed by many of us and I sincerely hope that their sponsorship has helped them to achieve their broader business objectives over the last 14 years.

* From Richard Hardcastle: The America's Cup in Auckland came into my home courtesy of Virtual Spectator. Is there any news over a new programme for 2007 and/or will the VirtualSpectator programme 2000 work for 2007?

* From John SC Taylor: As the person responsible for brokering Skandia's sponsorship of Cowes Week some twelve years ago, I would make the comment that it has been a huge success for both partners. In 1995 Cowes Week desperately need a partner to rescue the event from declining entries and status and to avoid the Isle of Wight council having to sponsor it again. Now the event's image and value is at an all time high although there is still a lack of television news and programme coverage.

When Skandia retires its sponsorship after the 2008 event, it will require a proactive partner who understands how to leverage its sponsorship rights not only through all forms of media but also internationally and not just in the UK.

It is possible to follow a successfully long-term sponsor, for example npower who followed Cornhill's 21 years title sponsorship of the England Test Series, but it requires creativity and an understanding of how all the different media work.

* From Tony Voss: I own a Morgan Giles 30, a classic 1970/80s long keel yacht and excellent sea boat. I have very little information about the class and am wondering if anything has been published about it.

I have put together a website at mg30.antipole.co.uk to try and collect owners and information. It is not yet at the stage of an owners association but might go that way.

* Editor: Please send information to Tony's email via his spam blocker: www.antipole.co.uk/email_me.html

THE LAST WORD
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. -- Timothy Leary

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.

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

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