Brought to you by boats.com Europe with the support of OC Events, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SPANISH RISING, KIWIS FALLING
Desafio Espanol won both its races on Thursday to climb higher up the leaderboard, while BMW ORACLE Racing remains undefeated at the Louis Vuitton Cup. Near the top of the table, Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge beat Emirates Team New Zealand to remain in the top three on the points table.

Racing conditions were excellent with an Easterly wind of 10 knots blowing across the race areas. The conditions were gusty and shifty, leaving plenty of passing lanes for the tacticians to discover. And the Umpires were busy on Thursday as well, with penalties the deciding factor in a number of races.

Ranking after RR1 Flight 9
1. BMW ORACLE Racing, 19 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 16
3. Luna Rossa Challenge, 15
3. Desafio Espanol 2007, 15
5. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, 14
6. Victory Challenge, 12
7. Team Shosholoza, 10
8. Areva Challenge, 7
9. United Internet Team Germany, 3
10. +39 Challenge, 2
11. China Team, 1

Friday's schedule:
Flight 10
1. Areva Challenge vs. United Internet Team Germany
2. +39 Challenge vs. China Team
4. Luna Rossa Challenge vs. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team
5. Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Victory Challenge
6. BMW Oracle Racing vs. Desafio Espanol 2007

Flight 11
1. +39 Challenge vs. United Internet Team Germany
2. Team Shosholoza vs. Areva Challenge
4. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team vs. Victory Challenge
5. Luna Rossa Challenge vs. Desafio Espanol 2007
6. Emirates Team New Zealand vs. BMW Oracle Racing

www.americascup.com

* The Weekly America's Cup trivia quiz... the answer to last week's question:

When was a yacht protested for an alleged navigation light infringement?

Ans: 1980. Australia was protested by Freedom for failing to show a stern light. Following a re-think, Freedom offered no evidence and the protest was rejected. Australia win the race, that finished as darkness fell, by 28 seconds.

This week's new question, courtesy Bob Fisher:

When was the first multiple challenge?

Submit your answer at scuttlebutteurope.com

First correct answer wins a 32nd America's Cup DVD, the 32nd correct one wins a 32nd America's Cup Official Book, and all entries get a shot at winning a Louis Vuitton Cup poster.

* Seahorse readers will shortly be mailed copies of 'There is no Second'- the Seahorse guide to the 32nd America's Cup.

Scuttlebutt and her sister title Scuttlebutt Europe have been given exclusive access to 20,000 free digital preview copies of this title - download it fast, when the meter hits 20K the shutters will come down!

www.seahorse.co.uk/americas/eu/

32nd AMERICA'S CUP LOGBOOK BY LLADRO
The 32nd America's Cup and Valencia's most famous company, Lladro, have joined forces to create some memorable items for the big event.

Now available at the 32nd America's Cup webstore, the Lladro collection is more than you expect. All products feature a high-tech, modern look and make excellent and timely gifts.

The logbook, available in two sizes, has plenty of space for recording journeys, memories and photos plus plenty of bonus content about the event and its host city, as well as a number of accessories. A letter opener and clip round out the range.

www.americascupstore.com/cart/lladro.asp?id=286&style_id=0&catid=286&view_cat_id=286

JOURDAIN JOINS THE BARCELONA RACE
Today in Paris, two days from his 43rd birthday French skipper Roland Jourdain officially confirmed his participation in the non-stop Barcelona World Race, onboard his Open 60 which has been renamed Veolia after signing a new title sponsorship deal with Veolia Environnement.

Jourdain (also known with some affection as Bilou) brings the total number of high quality entries to seven, and is the 13th skipper to add his name to the roll call alongside many of the world's leading solo and crewed professional sailors. Between these 13 sailors so far they have 38 circumnavigations between them. Jourdain has three to his name - competing twice in the Whitbread Round the World Race (now the Volvo Ocean Race) in 1985 and 1989 and the Vendee Globe in 2000/01. Unfortunately, keel failure forced him out of the 2004/05 Vendee Globe.

Jourdain's desire to compete in this new double-handed race has been no secret. At the launch of the Barcelona World Race in October 2005, Jourdain stated: "The double-handed format is the ideal mix. [With this race] I think that we manage to do what we always wanted for many years - the internationalisation, and the fact to gather the offshore Franco-French world with the best Anglo-Saxon sailors, this will give us a lot of great competition." However, a sequence of events including concluding a new title sponsorship deal with Veolia Environnement meant that it wasn't until today that he could 100% confirm his participation.

Jourdain will be racing his existing IMOCA Open 60 in the Barcelona World Race. Designed by Marc Lombard, and built at the JMV yard in Cherbourg, the boat was launched in April 2004 in time for The Transat and the Vendee Globe. Initial fin problems prevented him from starting The Transat and although he started the 2004/05 Vendee Globe as one of the firm favourites, having finished the previous edition in 3rd place, Jourdain suffered structural keel failure five weeks into the non-stop solo race when he was lying in third. However, Jourdain was able to put this disappointment behind him when he won the IMOCA 60 division of the 2006 solo Route du Rhum. Since then his boat has undergone a major refit over the winter, working with both the original designers, but also Volvo Ocean Race winning designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, and will be re-launched this coming June.

Roland Jourdain has elected his co-skipper which will be announced in a few weeks time.

Entries so far:
Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) & Damian Foxall (IRE) / Paprec-Virbac
Vincent Riou (FRA) & Sebastien Josse (FRA) / PRB
Dominique Wavre (SUI) & Michèle Paret (FRA) / Temenos
Alex Thomson (GBR) & Andrew Cape (AUS) / Hugo Boss
Jeremie Beyou (FRA) & Sidney Gavignet (FRA) / Delta Dore
Guillermo Altadill (ESP) & Brian Thompson (GBR) / Boat name tbc
Roland Jourdain (FRA) / co-skipper tbc / Veolia

www.barcelonaworldrace.com

IMOCA WITNESSING CONTINUED GROWTH
The AGM of IMOCA (Open 60 class) was held in Paris on April 19th - a good occasion to mark the progress of this International Class that is in full expansion mode.

With at least 24 boats expected to race in the championship in 2007, IMOCA continues to attract new french and international entries, confirming its status as the only ISAF international ocean racing class. New recent projects have included skippers from Ireland, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, USA and Spain.

Furthermore, IMOCA has been putting in place the right resources to manage its international development, including a new permanent team with multi-lingual Gregoire Metz as General Manager. This new internal organisation will allow the Class to respond to the increasing demands of an expanding fleet, and equally ensure the fair sporting basis of the Class is maintained as the competitive pressure mounts.

Half of the elected Executive committee is re-voted on each year, and the new team is confirmed as follows :

Luc Talbourdet, President of IMOCA since 2004, was re-elected.

President : Luc Talbourdet FR
Vice-Presidents : Mike Golding (reelected 2007) GB & Dominique Wavre SUI
Secretaire General : Roland Jourdain (reelected 2007) FR
Secretaire Generale Adjointe : Tanya Brookfield (elected 2007) GB
Treasurer : Mark Turner (reelected 2007) GB
President of the Events Committee : Jean Le Cam FR
President of the Technical Committee : Vincent Riou FR

Events scoring for the IMOCA 2007 World Championship

End April : Finish of the Velux 5 Oceans (Bilbao) - Coefficient 10
June 3 : Calais Round Britain Race - fully crewed - Coefficient 2
June 12 : Rolex Fastnet Race - two-handed - Coeffecient 1
November 3 : Transat Jacques Vabre - two-handed - Coefficient 3
November 11 : Barcelona World Race - two-handed - Coefficient 8

The 2008-2012 programme will be based around its round the world races. Solo and two-up races will remain the core feature of IMOCA, and races that are purely IMOCA will continue to be favoured. The ongoing internationalisation of the Class will remain a priority.

imoca.org

COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE
Commitment needed to succeed continues to increase. Fast sails backed up by outstanding customer support are the hallmark of Ullman Sails. The quality of service you receive from your sailmaker will determine whether you are maximizing your boat's performance. Ullman sailmakers are industry leaders in sail development and customer support at more than 20 locations around the world. Our participation in world class events keeps Ullman Sails on the cutting edge of ultimate boat speed. To insure that your program is receiving the best sails and support, contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

S&S TO RESURRECT THE J CLASS
Like the creators of the fictional Jurassic Park who used DNA to reconstitute dinosaurs, the renowned yacht design firm Sparkman & Stephens is poised to reconstitute the majestic J Class racers that stalked the America's Cup courses off Newport in the 1930s.

Riding a recent surge of interest in the class, S&S is reanalyzing the plans and model-test data - the DNA of the J Class as it were - it used in the development of 1937 America's Cup winner Ranger. The renewed interest in these sublimely beautiful, supremely powerful racing yachts, coupled with new regulations established by the J Class Association, has turned what was historically cherished intellectual property into new opportunities for interested clients.

The J Class was based on the Universal Rule, which was popular among large yacht sailors in the first third of the 20th century. The Universal Rule took into account length, sail area and displacement. The J Class had a maximum rating of 76 feet under the Universal Rule and a maximum allowable waterline length of 87.08 feet. The J Class existed for just a short time, 1930 to 1937, and only 10 J Class yachts were built, with Endeavour, Shamrock V and Velsheda the only originals to survive terminal neglect or the scrap yard.

As part of its ongoing efforts to promote the class, the J Class Association announced not long ago that it will allow newly constructed J Class yachts to be members and race, provided they use original pre-1939 lines plans. The association also will allow aluminum hull construction and will race under a handicap system.

Ranger and Endeavour II were built to the maximum waterline length of 87 feet. In addition to the 10 J boats built, there are pre-1939 lines for eight additional hulls, all of which have 87-foot waterlines. Of the eight, Sparkman & Stephens owns the designs to seven.

The models were given Sparkman & Stephens design numbers 77-A through 77-F, and 77CE. While the models all had 87-foot waterlines, they had different beams, displacements, longitudinal centers of buoyancy, prismatic coefficients and wetted areas.

As with modern America's Cup yachts, the J Class designs were optimized for venue-specific sailing conditions. The final lines for Ranger were derived from model 77-C which was believed to be the best suited for racing in Newport where summer winds are light and seas relatively small. Ranger's lines were modified though from the model lines, most noticeably in the bow. The model 77-C did not have the 'hooked bow' found on Ranger.

The other lines in the S&S model series performed better in different wind and sea conditions. S&S has digitized all of the model lines and has been making new performance studies and comparisons using modern velocity prediction computer programs and comparing these results to the original model test results.

Full story and images at www.sparkmanstephens.com

MELBOURNE OSAKA DAY 34: ALEX TAKES MELBOURNE OSAKA LINE HONOURS
Melbourne father and son duo Jock and Hamish MacAdie have sailed their Jones/Hart 14m yacht Alex - Team MacAdie to a line honours win in the 5,500 nautical mile 2007Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race this morning, April 27, finishing at 07 hours 12 minutes 02 seconds (AEST) and 21h 12m 02s (UTC) in the elapsed time of 32 days 18 hours 12 minutes 02 seconds.

Contesting their first ever Melbourne Osaka, the two might not have broken the race record of just under 27 days set by Grant Wharington in 1995, but they did steal race from under the nose of the Japanese 16m schooner, COCORIN interland, taking the lead in the final stages of the race, shortly before 8.00pm (AEST) last evening.

Their win is even more notable, as a broken boom forced the 55 year old and his 22 year old son to head into Bundaberg in Queensland on the afternoon of April 2 for repairs. They returned to the race in the early hours of April 4.

A sailor all his life, Jock's father and grandfather were Master Mariners and so he grew up in sailing boats in the Pacific Islands and in Australia. Hamish has continued the family tradition.

COCORIN's Itaru Matsunaga and John Bankart were around 10nm behind Alex at the time of her win and are expected to finish shortly.

Staged every four years, the Organising Authority for the Melbourne-Osaka Yacht Race is made up of City of Melbourne, City of Osaka Promotional Council, Osaka Hokko Yacht Club, Sandringham Yacht Club and in association with Yachting Australia.

The event was first held in 1987 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the opening of the Port of Osaka and celebrates the sister city relationship between Melbourne and Osaka.

Grant Wharington and Scott Gilbert on the 50ft Wild Thing set the race record in 1995, in the time of 26 days 20 hours 47 minutes 6 seconds, with an average boat speed of 8.5 knots. -- Di Pearson

www.osakacup.com

COMPLETE FREIGHT DELIVERS MARTEN 49
The UK's second Marten 49 lifting keel, racer/cruiser arrived in the Hamble this week after a long journey from Sydney handled by Complete Freight. The yacht was routed via Auckland to meet with clients deadlines for delivery in the UK.

With a totally dedicated team experienced in all aspects of yacht shipping and co-ordination, Complete Freight consistently strive to exceed our client's expectations.

Complete Freight is the specialist in global yacht shipping, and coordinates the transport of all sizes of yachts and motorboats by air, sea and road.

Go to www.completefreight.com for pictures of the new Marten 49.

VOR STOPOVER IN INDIA
Kochi, India: Volvo Ocean Race has moved forward with its plans to bring the 2008-09 event to India and it now looks likely that the major southwestern port of Kochi will be the stopover on the new race route through the Middle East and Asia.

Race organisers signed a Letter of Intent with Kochi on 26 April as a major first step in ongoing negotiations towards a full port agreement to host the world's premier offshore ocean marathon which starts in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October 2008.

Kochi was among a number of Indian ports in recent discussions with organisers.

The Kochi Port Trust, which will be responsible for organising the stopover, with the full backing of the Kerala Tourism Department, welcomed the signing of the Letter of Intent and were confident that the stopover would give the port great exposure.

The booming shipping port on the Malabar Coast is now one of India's foremost tourist destinations and the race stopover is sure to bring thousands of additional visitors to both Kochi and the State of Kerala.

After sailing from Spain via Africa, the fleet goes to the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia before a stop in China ahead of its longest leg of 12,000 nautical miles to South America. It then stops in on the U.S. East Coast and Europe on the way to a Baltic port finish.

www.volvooceanrace.org

THREE-PRONGED BMW SPORTING CHALLENGE
Munich/Valencia: On 9th May 2007, BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Nick Heidfeld, BMW ORACLE Racing Team crew member Tony Kolb and golf professional José Manuel Lara will meet in Valencia for a quite unique competition. The three sportsmen will do battle in three different disciplines: motor sport, sailing and golf.

Golf ace Lara will be very much on his home turf when the three stars play a series of holes at the El Bosque club outside Valencia. The Spanish professional, who was born in the city, celebrated his long-awaited European Tour breakthrough with victory in the 2007 UBS Hong Kong Open at the beginning of the season.

The second venue of the day will be the Formula BMW Racing Center. Here the professional sportsmen will be out to impress the instructors with their skill at the wheel of the small formula racers. In this challenge, the emphasis will be on choosing the right line and demonstrating good driving technique rather than setting the fastest lap times.

Then, to round off the event, Heidfeld, Kolb and Lara will take to the water. Here, on board the historical America's Cup 12-metre yachts, Kolb - midbowman for the BMW ORACLE Racing crew - is the professional.

The event will come to a conclusion at the BMW ORACLE Racing Team base.

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 Dan Spinney: We are a strong and competent crew that has been working hard this year to gear-up for a JOG/RORC season leading to the Fastnet, but have had the recent misfortune of the owner unexpectedly selling the boat. On our team we have many previous Fastnets, a previously professional skipper, a naval architect, thousands and thousands of offshore miles and most importantly a team that has really gelled and is performing and is perfectly placed to undertake a really strong Fastnet campaign.

We're seriously determined and are not about to let a little set-back like this stop a promising crew from getting to the start-line- just wouldn't be fair!

Contact Dan Spinney at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

THE LAST WORD
Eighty percent of success is showing up. -- Woody Allen

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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