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LVC PAIRINGS LIST RELEASED
The the pairing list based on the Louis Vuitton Cup Notice of Race and established from the final challenger rankings following Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 13 is now online at http://blog.bmworacleracing.com/files/070407_pairing_lists-1.doc

Under normal circumstances, Matches one to three of each Flight will be sailed on the northern race area with the 'Romeo' Race Committee while Matches four through six will be on the southern race area, with the 'Juliet' Race Committee.

For Round Robin One the Race Committee intends to start no more than two flights of races each day, with the first warning signal scheduled to sound at 14:05. If, due to weather conditions, it is impossible to run all the scheduled Matches on a day, the Regatta Director will respect the original pairing list as much as possible and re-schedule the un-sailed matches on the first available slots available (reserve days and one race days).

For Round Robin Two the Race Committee intends to start no more than one flight of races each day, with the first warning signal scheduled to sound at 14:05. If, due to weather conditions, it is impossible to run all the scheduled Matches on a day, or if there are matches un-sailed remaining from Round Robin One, the Regatta Director will respect the original pairing list as much as possible and re-schedule the un-sailed matches as the second start of the day until the schedule is back on track and then on the first available reserve day.

The Media Centre will publish every race day a document called the Morning Briefing. It will always contain the day's programme and should be referred to for the day's pairings, the current results table, the weather forecast and highlights of the previous day's racing.

www.challengercommission.com

DEFIANT DALTON
After 21 days in the Brazilian port of Fortaleza, Kiwi skipper, Graham Dalton, restarted racing in the VELUX 5 OCEANS six days ago having overcome technical problems and poor health that would have broken weaker men.

After 85 days at sea, Dalton and his Open 50 A Southern Man - AGD are heading north towards the finish line of Leg 2 in Norfolk, Virginia. The latest position poll shows Dalton is 300 miles east of Barbados, the easternmost of the Caribbean's Leeward Island chain.

While the Kiwi skipper fought a string of potentially catastrophic setbacks in port, he had to watch Unai Basurko and Pakea cross the finish line in third place after 68 days at sea and his rival, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on SAGA Insurance, overhaul A Southern Man - AGD taking fourth place and sailing north to finish Leg 2 after 75 days. For many ocean racing yachtsmen these events would have been demoralising: Dalton, however, feeds off adversity.

This morning in a brief satellite call to the race organisation, Dalton was defiant: "The prospects are good," he said over the hissing and crackling of the Iridium connection. "I'm expecting to be in the next leg and I fully expect to be on the finish line," he reported with characteristic optimism.

The tough skipper is pushing his Open 50 hard in an attempt to finish Leg 2 by the cut-off date of 19th April in order to qualify for racing in the final leg of the VELUX 5 OCEANS from America to Spain. The race rules stipulate that a competitor must spend a minimum of 72 hours in a stop-over port between legs. In addition, A Southern Man - AGD must start the final leg by the 22nd April, within a week of the official start of Leg 3 on Sunday 15th.

Since Dalton's entire onboard electronic equipment inventory was ransacked as he lay unconscious due to a violent stomach infection shortly after making landfall in Brazil on 14th March, A Southern Man - AGD is being raced with minimal weather and navigational aids: "I've got absolutely nothing," he explained when asked if he was receiving any weather data. "All I have is a hand held GPS and some large scale paper charts," he continued before the satellite link was severed. Effectively, Dalton is sailing by instinct, drawing on his considerable knowledge of deep ocean racing at a time when all his skills and endurance will be critical.

www.velux5oceans.com

WHAT DO THESE SUCCESSFUL SAILORS HAVE IN COMMON?
Simon Hiscock & Chris Draper - GBR - 49er - World Champion 2006
Darren Bundock & Glenn Ashby - AUS - F18 & Tornado - World Champion 2006
Holger Jess & Wofgang Hunger - GER - 5o5 - World Champion 2005
Stellan Berlin - SWE - 2.4 - World Champion 2006

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AMERICA'S CUP
On Saturday 14th April, Port America's Cup will celebrate one of its most long-awaited moments, the official opening Boat Parade for the 32nd America's Cup. The final stages of the event will begin two days later with the first racing of the Louis Vuitton Cup. The winner will face Alinghi in the 32nd America's Cup Match starting on 23rd June.

The boats will sail along the Port America's Cup canal in a unique display of color, light, music and fireworks. Open to the general public, the presentation will last around 45 minutes.

The Boat Parade is scheduled to start at 21.30. The twelve 32nd America's Cup teams will individually make their way along the canal, one by one sailing in front of four enormous 50-metre monuments.

Each boat will be accompanied by a spectacular firework display that has been specially designed with an individual light and sound choreography for the individual competing countries.

* A wide range of concerts have been scheduled as part of the 32nd America's Cup official activity programme and tickets go on sale from Tuesday 10th April.

The first concert to be staged in the AC Park Amphitheatre is Efecto Mariposa, the group behind the official 32nd America's Cup song, "Believe in me" the English version of the well-known Spanish hit "No me crees". Efecto Mariposa will give a special performance on Saturday 14th April immediately following the official opening boat parade. The concert will begin at 22.30 and is free of charge.

The concert programme includes great performers such as Joe Cocker, Jose Carreras, Sara Baras, Joan Manuel Serrat, Joaquín Sabina, Paco de Lucía, Dulce Pontes and Kiko Veneno, and many others.

Entrance prices range from 15 Euros for the Techno Night to 120 Euros for VIP stalls to see the formidable Jose Carreras and Sara Baras.

The Port America's Cup amphitheatre has a capacity for 8 000 standing spectators and 4 000 sitting. Tickets can be purchased from various outlets such as El Corte Ingles, Servicam, TikTakTicket, Servientrada and on the official event web site: www.americascup.com

* Brad Butterworth from Alinghi:

Despite the impressive performance by the finish, the team's performance on the starting line certainly left room for improvement.

"We've had some shockers, we've been starting badly, mind you they were fleet race starts," he said. "I think we had two out of seven that were good starts, but the rest were really bad." Indeed, at times their starts were so late that it appeared that they were holding back. "I'd say that's wishful thinking," he quipped. "We've got to work on starts, particularly on our match race starts."

Having frequently led during the races, what had the team gained out of Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 13? "It was a great opportunity to sail against the Challengers and check our speed."

And did he rate any of the Challengers? Do they have a chance? "Yes, they have a chance," he replied with a smile. "There were two teams that didn't have their second boats out there. There's some good equipment out there and it's not easy to win and we're going to have to sail well. They are going to develop throughout the Louis Vuitton and we are going to have to develop outside it and that's going to be the battle."

How did he feel about the other Challengers, were there any that he particularly liked the look of? "I think there's more in the mix than people think. Mascalzone Latino has a nice boat, it's a nice package, but then so have the Spanish. Team New Zealand obviously has a good boat, Luna Rossa sail their boat very well and BMW Oracle are going very well too."

So what about their own boat, can we assume that their second boat SUI-100 will be faster than SUI-91? "We can't make any assumptions in this game. That boat is brand new, it's still sitting in the shed and they're still polishing it."

Full interview at americascup.com/en/acmag/votre_interview/index.php?idIndex=0&idContent=15795

FFREE FIRE 52 TAKES SAN FERNANDO LINE HONOURS
Hong Kong: After 49h 59m 26s of sailing, Sam Chan's Ffree Fire 52 took line honours in the 2007 San Fernando Race, missing the record benchmark set in 2001 by only 4 minutes and 14 seconds. Although Chan is certain to receive the South China Morning Post Trophy for Line Honours for the third time, having won it in 1997 and 2005, he will have to wait a few hours to make sure that none of the chasing fleet can beat him on corrected time.

'We couldn't have tried any harder,' said Russ Parker, skipper of Ffree Fire. 'The trip was less cold and wet than we expected, and we happily hitting 14, 15, 16 knots almost all the way. Top of the stack was Gideon Mowser's 18 knots. We only flew a kite for a matter of hours - the rest of the time it was jib top reaching. It was all looking good until dawn this morning when the breeze died as the sun came up. We were pretty much parked for almost two hours, trying to keep moving under first a drifter, then a light no 1.'

The Ffree Fire crew need to keep looking over their shoulder. On paper there are four boats out there that could catch them, but everyone who has been there knows that closing the Philippine coast does not guarantee steady breeze. All it takes is a soft spot in the middle of the night to stop everyone dead in their tracks, especially those boats coming down from anywhere even marginally north of the rhumb line.

At the moment, Andrew Rickards' Moonblue, Geoff Hill's Strewth, Chris Meads' Halcyon Daze and Steve Manning's Walawala are still in the running, providing that they can maintain boat speed and make the finish line before the breeze dies at dawn tomorrow.

Meanwhile in the HKPN division, it looks as if Tim Wilson / Kent King's Cordelia will finish just ahead of Rainer Brodmeier's Ocean Girl on the water, but will have a battle on her hands with Fred Whitehouse's Xiphias on corrected time. -- Lindsay Lyons

www.sanfernandorace.com

BMW CITY CHALLENGE
City firms are set to battle it out on the water in the 2007 BMW City Challenge, the popular Docklands-based summer yacht racing series, which takes place from May-September. Following the success of the 2006 event, title sponsor, BMW has agreed to add a fifth series, allowing more companies the chance to take to the water and defend their hard-fought city reputations.

Staged in the Royal Victoria Dock, the event attracts leading institutions from throughout the capital including Citigroup, KPMG, Allen & Overy, Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, Accenture and Deutsche Bank. A total of 40 teams will now compete during the summer evenings for the prestigious title and a chance to win a BMW driving experience at the world famous Nurburgring race-circuit in Germany.

Jointly-organised by the Royal Thames Yacht Club and Berkeley Marine, crews of up to five sailors race in a series of fleet races spread over five evenings that take place every fortnight, with five separate heats lasting throughout the summer. Beginning at 6.30pm, crews compete in identical Beneteau First Class 8s (8 metre keel boats), which are not only fast and exciting to sail but are also designed for yachting enthusiasts of all abilities, thus attracting beginners to sample the fun.

Last year's inaugural BMW City Challenge was won by aptly named law firm 'A & Eau' - Allen & Overy LLP, skippered by husband and wife duo, Graham and Julia Bailey (nee Salt). As well as lifting the trophy, the crew also won a VIP trip to watch the BMW ORACLE Racing America's Cup yacht compete in Valencia, from which they returned last week.

Heat One of the 2007 BMW City Challenge begins on May 1. The final, involving the winners and runners-up in each heat, will be held on Saturday, September 29.

www.bmwcitychallenge.com

MELBOURNE OSAKA DAY 17
Grant Wharington and Scott Gilbert's Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race record of just over 26 days looks impossible to beat, as the front runners faced another 24 hours of slow going; leading line honours contender COCORIN interland has yet to reach the halfway mark and Jon Sayer (RYU-JIN - fgi) told his wife this morning, "Don't book tickets to Osaka too early; it will be a long race."

As anticipated by the past two days forecasted strong south-easterly winds along the Queensland coast, the top five for the past week are slowly losing the miles they put between them and the rest of the fleet, having to face near parking lot conditions of 4-5 knot northerly breezes.

Some yachts have made noticeable inroads on the front runners, and today's Solomon Island forecast is no improvement on yesterday, in fact it's more of the same - 5 knot hot northerlies.

In the past 24 hours, Jock and Hamish MacAdie have made up 106nm to take over third on line from Hullabaloo by around 4nm), RYU-JIN - fgi put in a great 130nm run, and is now chasing Wild Boar, which put in 80nm, but the biggest winner is back marker Southern Light.

Those at the front are well aware of what is happening behind them, but can do nothing about it. All except Gusto are sailing to the west of the Solomon group. Victorians Patrick Giudice/Brian Pattinson, now eighth on line, opted to sail their Open 60 to the east after repairing their broken gooseneck in Honiara.

Aboard the Japanese leader, positioned to the west of Sohano in the Solomon's this morning, Queenslander John Bankart told: "We are sailing very slowly, but we are fine." He and skipper Itaru Matsunaga have sailed 49nm over the past 14 hours. -- Di Pearson

www.osakacup.com

RECORD DEAL FOR DANISH YOUTH SAILING
The Danish Sailing Federation's recent order for one hundred RS Feva XLs marks the biggest deal in the history of Danish youth sailing. Seeking to increase nationwide participation in the sport at grass-roots level, and armed with a generous sponsorship deal with the shipping line, Torm, the DSF have invited sailing clubs to purchase boats at a significantly subsidised price, on the proviso that they are used for youth sailing. Encouraged by ISAF's global Connect to Sailing initiative, the DSF view the recruitment and retention of youth sailors as the key to the long-term future of the sport.

The Federation researched the ideal international two-man youth boat , with the criteria that it must be accessible without compromising performance, affordable, easy to maintain and, most important, great fun to sail.

Since its launch in 2003, the RS Feva has become a major youth boat, with strong international and domestic fleets.

OK SPRING CUP
24 OKs from 5 countries arrived at Royal Yacht Club Hollandia over the Easter weekend for their annual Spring Cup. They were treated to 8 great races over 3 days against a top quality international fleet. A couple of boats from new UK builders also made their debut, adding further interest to the event.

Day 1 was contested in a variable force 1-2. The fleet set sail for Day 2 in a solid force 4 and sunshine. Day 3 dawned with slightly less breeze.

Overall Results:
1. Nick Craig, GBR, 10 points
2. Karsten Hitz, GER, 17
3. Terry Curtis, GBR, 23
4. Jon Fish, GBR, 28
5. Thomas Glas, GER, 37

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 John Rousmaniere. Nobody - least of all this historian of the Bermuda Race - wants to get into an argument about firsts among equally distinguished biannual events that were created over a century ago. Still, while Rich Roberts is right that both the Transpac and Bermuda races were founded in 1906, the historical record shows that one is older than the other. The initial Bermuda Race was started off Brooklyn, New York, on May 26, 1906. That was 16 days before the pioneer race to Hawaii got under way from San Pedro, California. Ironically, the Transpac might have come first had an earthquake not destroyed San Francisco, the location of the intended start.

The two events were independent except in spirit. Thomas Fleming Day in New York and H. H. Sinclair in Los Angeles and Clarence W. MacFarlane in Honolulu had the same radical, smart idea simultaneously, but on different oceans. Day expressed it this way: "Sailors wanted to get a smell of the sea and forget for the time being that there is such a thing as God's green earth in the universe." A century of racing to Hawaii and Bermuda proves Day correct.

* From John Lavery: On The +39 protest, I feel that the Jury have left it Open to +39 to return to them. Can +39 use Rule 2 to go back in and say that the Challengers are acting in an unsportsmanlike manner, that they can seek further redress which would include monetary damages against all the Challengers or get a bye or additional points?

The game of sailing has the highest sportsmanlike standards, its like Golf (remember Darren Clarkes chip out after rain stopped play when his ball had moved?)and given the fact that this problem was of the making of another then the correct thing to do from a sportmans point of view is let +39 use the offered Version 5 mast.

THE LAST WORD
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. -- Groucho Marx

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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