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DEAD DAY TWO
O for 2. No wind again. Very frustrating for the TV rights holders...those who invested a great deal to broadcast the races live in their home countries. Of course it is frustrating for the spectators too. Imagine the people who have planned trips to Valencia, paid money for the hotel and rides on boats to go out and watch. It is tough on everyone, but there is nothing to do but be patient.

It will come good, but what a shame to start off this way. I can't remember a Louis Vuitton Cup that started with no sailing on the first two days. I think it is a record and it will be hard to beat in the future. Let's hope we don't extend the record. -- Paul Cayard, cayardsailing.com

* IF there's wind tomorrow, there will be a must-see match: Luna Rossa vs. BMW Oracle. Here's the schedule:

Flight 5
1. China Team vs. Team Shosholoza
2. Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Desafio Espanol 2007
3. Bye - Areva Challenge
4. Victory Challenge vs. United Internet Team Germany
5. Luna Rossa Challenge vs. BMW ORACLE Racing
6. +39 Challenge vs. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team

Flight 6
1. China Team vs. Desafio Espanol 2007
2. Team Shosholoza vs. Emirates Team New Zealand
3. Bye - BMW ORACLE Racing
4. Areva Challenge vs. Luna Rossa Challenge
5. United Internet Team Germany vs. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team
6. +39 Challenge vs. Victory Challenge

americascup.com

* Big Boats, Big Teams, Big Egos and Boat Loads of Cash... Just as they did with the Super 14 and the ICC Cricket World Cup, Auckland based software development company, Sandfield, have built an America's Cup online picking competition using On Game. It's a fun thing - nothing too serious. Free. Think you can pick the winners? Some nice prizes for the winners...

Register to play now on the link: www.sandfield.co.nz/AmericasCup/

WOMEN'S HIGH PERFORMANCE DINGHY EVALUATION EVENT
The Women's High Performance Dinghy Evaluation Event is underway in Hyeres, France, with some of the world's top women sailors putting the six-boat line up through their paces. The 29er, 29erXX, RS800, Cherub Daemon, Carbonology GT60 and International 14 have all submitted their entries to the Evaluation Event, being held in advance of the decision on the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Evaluation events have become an important part of ISAF's commitment to develop the sport of sailing at the very highest level and make the most of new and exciting technologies. Women's sailing has grown massively since the first all-female event at the 1988 Olympic Games. In Athens the sport showed a massive 32% increase in participation by women athletes compared to four years earlier and ISAF is looking to build upon this growth.

Dina Kowalyshyn (USA), member of the ISAF Equipment Committee, Equipment Control Sub-Committee and Women's Forum, is chair of the Evaluation Panel, which also includes 1998 World Sailor of the Year Carolijn Brouwer (NED). ISAF Vice-President George Andreadis (GRE) is also in Hyeres. Amongst the sailors nominated by MNAs to sail the six boats are world #4 Women's 470 crew Sylvia Vogl (AUT) and Carolina Flatscher (AUT).

The opening day of the Evaluation Event saw all six boats out on the water in 5-6 knots of breeze.

The six boats for the trials in Hyeres are:

29er
A skiff one-design, designed by Julian Bethwaite, launched in 1998

29erXX
A skiff one-design, designed by Julian Bethwaite which features a carbon mast and double spreaders on the existing 29er hull

Cherub Daemon
A skiff one-design, designed by Simon Roberts and Richard Taylor to fall within the 2005 UK Cherub Class Rules

Carbonology GT60
A project by David Chisholm using a design by Paul Bieker, with the Master plug currently in production

International 14
Established 75 years ago, the twin trapeze skiff is a well known development class

RS800
A skiff one-design designed by Phil Morrison, with some modifications to the existing RS800 deck mould

A report on the Evaluation Event will be completed by the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, to be held in Paris, France from 4-6 May.

Details of the criteria and Evaluation Panel can be found on the ISAF Technical microsite - www.sailing.org/technical

Photos of all the boats at:
www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1lFnA,1D&format=popup

PERFORMANCE PARTNERS
During the four-year research, development, testing, and racing period in the run up to the Cup, B&G have ensured each and every Americas Cup team is 100% ready for action! With B&G aboard all 12 boats, B&G have been involved from day one ensuring the best systems were installed and commissioned perfectly for each teams specific requirements. Subtle differences in the electronics system set up can make all the difference and this is where the B&G technical support team have been invaluable.

The same quality of B&G support is provided at regattas worldwide making B&G your perfect performance partner.

www.bandg.com

CRIME PAYS - FOR SOMEONE
Bob Fisher reports from Valencia for Sail-World.com:

The Valencia police are clamping down on crime, or making an effort to make its own presence felt.

But rather that tackling the muggings and the thefts, the protectors of the law have turned to the team members riding bicycles, and finding them an easy target.

Early in the America's Cup 32, a team member was killed while riding his scooter on a road in Valencia, just another traffic statistic in the eyes of the local police, but proof positive that the roads are dangerous for anyone not enclosed in a motor vehicle.

As a result, most people in Valencia ride their cycles on the sidewalks whether or not there is a dedicated cycle track, and the teams' members have taken to emulating the natives. It should be noted that the Valencians also ride their scooters on the sidewalks.

Now, in its crackdown on crime, the Traffic Taliban is issuing 100 Euro tickets to team members who they have found riding their bicycles on the sidewalk, and in one case this was the same sidewalk that last evening, in broad daylight, three girls attempted to rob a female member of Emirates Team New Zealand, by targeting her back-pack as she walked up the Avenida del Puerto.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is being done to counter this type of crime, one that is a daily occurrence. Ask around any of the compounds here in Valencia and you will have countless stories of thefts, none of which have resulted in the apprehension of the perpetrators. So, the police take the easy way and are fining cyclists for minor transgressions.

Full article at www.sail-world.com/index_n.cfm?nid=32699

PETERS & MAY OPEN FRENCH OFFICE
Peters & May have opened a new logistics operation in France, based from La Ciotat, near Marseilles. Alain Rigaud becomes the Agency Director, assisted by Jean Claude Verany and Antoine Pinson.

La Ciotat is ideally located within sailing distance from Saint Tropez, Nice and Monaco. It is arguably the best working base for large yacht projects on France's South coast with wet and dry docks and craning facilities for superyachts up to 2000 tonnes.

Peters & May France provides a full range of logistics services for the businesses in the shipyard - delivery of equipment, containers, customs clearance and bonded warehousing. The French office also manage cargo throughout France, linking to Peters & May offices and agents worldwide.

www.petersandmay.com/la/809

TIM JEFFERY WEIGHS IN THE KEEL RUMOURS
Every designer in the America's Cup has probably dreamed of drawing a boat with a canting keel because it adds so much upwind performance, but such a thing is expressly prohibited in the America's Cup Class rule.

As Brad Butterworth, skipper of Alinghi, a Kiwi himself and someone who can play the rumour mill with virtuosity, says: "The rules say you are allowed only two moveable surfaces beneath the water and as anyone can see, we have a rudder that moves and a trim tab on the back of the keel that moves. That makes two."

What has been going is far more subtle and is a continuous thread of development through the last three or four Cups. Just as the sail designers know how advantageous it is to let the mast twist to match the curvature in the wind, so hull designers know that keel fins work much more effectively if some of the efficiency losses caused when they sag to leeward as the boat heels can be clawed back.

Precisely because the designers would love to make the mast and keel fin do things, the rules prevent them from using complex mechanisms to make this happen. What teams can do is use controls to limit or harness what happens when normal sailing forces are applied.

Any piece of smart, agile engineering that harnesses natural forces acting on the rig and fin keel is beneficial.

What is noticeable about the Sui 100 is that its keel fin shape varies over its four-metre depth. This suggests it will react differently as it 'flies' through the water. But Alinghi are not alone among teams in trying this idea.

But why are the rumours of a 'secret weapon' sweeping through the Cup community now? The source will be one camp or another. It does not seem likely that Alinghi would put their optimum keel on show two months before they have to defend the America's Cup. -- Tim Jeffery in the Telegraph, full article at www.telegraph.co.uk

ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB NEWS
Rolex Fastnet Race 2007

The RORC Committee have agreed that entries for the Rolex Fastnet Race 2007 will be limited to 300. Competitors intending to enter should submit entry forms as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Final date for entries is Friday 27 July 2007

Rolex Commodores' Cup 2008 - Cowes, Isle of Wight
The dates for the Rolex Commodores' Cup 2008 with be Sunday 29 June to Sunday 6 July 2008.

See RORC website for further details: www.rorc.org

HISTORICAL SKIFFS TO SAIL IN CENTENARY PITTWATER REGATTA
A magnificently-built replica of Yendys, one of the famous gaff-rigged 18-foot skiffs that raced in Sydney between the World Wars, will head a fleet of Historical Skiffs competing in the Centenary Pittwater Regatta this coming weekend, 21-22 April.

Pittwater shipwright Ian Perdriau has built Yendys for the Australian Historical Skiff Trust and will skipper the 18-footer in the Pittwater Regatta against an at least six other skiffs from the Harbour.

Yendys has already shown her speed with a win, a second and a DNF (did not finish after losing her mast) in the Historical 18 Foot Skiffs Centenary Championship on Sydney Harbour in early March.

The Historical Skiffs will race on Saturday and Sunday over a course from Bayview down Pittwater and around Lion Island (weather permitting), replicating a race between two skiffs (16-footers) in 1906 that was the genesis of the inaugural Pittwater Regatta the following year.

"The new Yendys is an exact replica of the original Yendys that raced between 1924 and 1939 and is now in the Australian National Maritime Museum," builder and skipper Perdriau said today.

"We went down and drew the lines off the original hull and she is built from Australian red cedar and silver ash, as was the original Yendys.

"The rig is identical, too, except that the sails are Dacron," he added.

Yendys is a striking-looking craft, with its varnished red cedar hull and a massive mainsail that again carries the large red anchor insignia. An anchor insignia also features on the unique squared-off bow below the long bowsprit.

Other Historical 18-foot Skiffs competing in the Centenary Pittwater Regatta include Australia IV, Australia, Alruth, The Scot, Aberdare and Topweight. -- Peter Campbell - 0419 385 028 or email - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Photo of Yendys replica at
scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=69&pos=0 Click on the image to get a 2.7meg image suitable for desktop wallpaper.

LOW-COST YACHT TRANSPORT EUROPE-USA MAY 2007
Up to five places available at a special low-cost rate on board a transport ship sailing from Europe about 17th May 2007 bound Newport RI ETA 27 th May 2007. Call Torben Knappe +49 177 548 2580 or email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

VOLVO OCEAN RACE
The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 edition will have journalists on the front line of ocean racing after it was announced that a media specialist will be part of the crew aboard the Volvo Open 70s.

Up till now, the rules of engagement between the sailors and the journalists who cover their lives on board have always been fairly clear. When the contest is done and the scores are tallied, the sailors face an inquisitive throng - sometimes happily, sometimes not. Afterwards, the media horde takes off in one direction to file their pictures and stories, while the sailors are left to celebrate their success or rue their failure.

It's a system with clearly marked lines of demarcation between two parties. In the next edition of the race it will be anything but. For when the crews set off on the marathon event in the autumn of 2008, they will do so with an 'embedded', onboard correspondent whose sole responsibility will be to chronicle their triumphs and travails.

The aim is to present to the race's legions of followers with an in-depth portrait of its intensity, competitiveness and human spirit like never before.

The news that a media specialist is to be included in the crew make-up, has been received with varying degrees of enthusiasm by two Volvo skippers whose 2008 campaigns are up and running.

"I think it's great," said Ericsson's John Kostecki, unequivocally. "The media coming off the boat will be up to another level, which is what we need."

"Was I sceptical when I first heard about it?" said Mean Machine's Ray Davies. "Yes, I was. For sure."

Kostecki adds: "I've been contacted by a lot of different people [who are interested in applying] and I've been honest with them. I haven't thought much about it yet. We'll probably have a handful of people that we'd consider as candidates, run some sort of crew tryouts, and pick the best person for the job."

Read the full story in the latest edition of Life At The Extreme, the Official Magazine of the Volvo Ocean Race.

volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2007/april/rulesofengagement/index.aspx

* Glenn Bourke, Volvo Ocean Race CEO discusses the entry of PUMA racing team into the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09:

volvooceanrace.org

RC 44 CROATIA BOAT SHOW CUP
Split, Croatia: After competing in the Portoroz Cup two weeks ago, the RC 44 fleet is back in action in the Adriatic. The races will take place at the foot of Mount Sustipan, one of the most beautiful sailing arenas of the Med. Six teams representing six nations are involved: Beecom (JPN), Team Omega (IRL), Magia Alike (ITA), Cro-A-Sail (CRO), Ekipa 44 (SLO) and the Portoroz Cup winner Team Aqua ((UAE). Famous skippers are also involved, such as Cameron Appleton, Morten Henriksen, Tomislav Basic and of course Russell Coutts.

The championship is organised alongside the Croatia Boat Show, an impressive floating show featuring some of the Mediterranean's finest yachts. The weather forecast for the coming days is great, with a sea-breeze and a blazing sunshine announced. -- Bernard Schopfer

www.rc44.com

TONY ROUMELIOTES
Tony Roumeliotes of Sparkman & Stephens lost his battle with lung cancer April 15, 2007 at the age of 56. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Linda Sternau-Roumeliotes, sisters Dusty Spiliotis, Helen Cristaldi and brother Demetri Roumeliotes. A private family service is planned in his hometown of Haverhill, MA followed by a gathering of remembrance this summer aboard his classic S&S yacht LEGEND whose reconstruction is nearing completion. Sailing was Tony's passion and his resume of racing achievements is extensive. He has been a familiar figure in classic yacht regattas around the world and had been a yacht broker for S&S for the past six years.

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 Ola Astradsson: Regarding the article Schooner Atlantic Recreated In Scuttlebutt Europe yesterday...

The record that Charlie Barr with Atlantic set for crossing the Atlantic west to east did not stand for 100 years, and it was not Mari Cha that broke the record. The 80 footer Nicorette broke the record 8 years earlier in April 1997. And her time was also ratified as a new record by the WRSSC.

THE LAST WORD
He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak. -- Michel de Montaigne

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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