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LUNA ROSSA CHALLENGE AND BMW ORACLE RACING TIED AT THE TOP
It took two come-from-behind victories for BMW ORACLE Racing to stay equal with the red hot Luna Rossa Challenge on Wednesday on a double flight day at the Louis Vuitton Cup. The American team first trailed Shosholoza and then Victory Challenge on the first lap of its two races, before making the pass in both contests to score the points.

Luna Rossa Challenge, in contrast, had more straightforward wins over United Internet Team Germany and Shosholoza. The Italians and the Americans are tied at the top of the Louis Vuitton Cup leaderboard, equal on 27 points.

Racing took place after a short postponement in 7 to 11 knots of wind which started as a Southerly, before shifting Southeast. Flight 5 of Round Robin Two is scheduled for Thursday.

* Two days left to take this week's America's Cup Quiz! This beauty from 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.

* Bring on Ben Ainslie is the cry. Why? To solve Emirates Team New Zealand's woes.

The difficulties? Well, incumbent skipper/helmsman Dean Barker made three bad starts in 11 races in the opening round. Actually, many of his rivals did worse.

Tactically, TNZ made some poor calls. This is mainly American Terry Hutchinson's department. Speed-wise, the Kiwi boat is no-longer best in fleet as it was last year. The gloss has gone off the pre-series favourites a little. So if Barker is not the only one with a below-par game, promoting Ainslie from the B-boat can't be the panacea. Or can it?

Any mention of Ainslie is portrayed as "clamour from the British media"... -- Tim Jeffery in the Telegraph, his full article at blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/timjeffery/may07/thebenbandwagon.htm

* There is no denying Chris Dickson and his crew have an uncanny ability to come back in crucial races.

They did it twice today.

The first time against the South Africans in Shosholosa, and then against the Swedish team in Victory Challenge. Each of their opponents had led for the first round and both were overtaken on the next beat, although whether or not BMW Oracle led Victory was a matter of conjecture.

That second race was in the best match race tradition, as might have been expected from Dickson and Magnus Holmberg, both of whom have won that world championship. But to watch the dialling down of these monster boats, approaching one another bow-to-bow was outrageously exciting. Holmberg did it twice in an effort to protect his lead. -- Bob Fisher, read his report on Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/nz/index.cfm?nid=33282

* Photos from today's racing, courtesy Oskar Kihlborg / Victory Challenge, at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos

Ranking after LVC RR2 Flight 4
1. BMW ORACLE Racing, 27
1. Luna Rossa Challenge, 27
3. Emirates Team New Zealand, 24
4. Desafío Espanol, 21
5. Victory Challenge, 18
6. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team, 16
7. Team Shosholoza, 14
8. Areva Challenge, 13
9. +39 Challenge, 6
10. United Internet Team Germany, 5
11. China Team, 3

www.americascup.com

SEAHORSE SAILOR OF THE MONTH
Last month's winner:
Silja Lehtinen (FIN)
Damn, Seahorse's grapevine works fast. No sooner did Silja's name go up than the fan mail started. As well as climbing the ISAF rankings with her Audi-sponsored match race team this 21-year old former figureskater (sic) has a rack of dinghy titles including Finnish Optimist and world Byte champion, plus world and Australian championships in the 29er.

This month's nominees:

Jason Ker (GBR)
Take a good young IRC designer and put him in charge of a small ACC design team with an even smaller budget. Offer him two new boats and then switch to a single boat campaign, meaning radical modifications to Boat 1 to stay competitive against teams with 20-times your design budget. Well the new kid's doing pretty well and tacticians in the top teams are taking care to treat Shosholoza with respect.

Liz Wardley (AUS)
Born in the tiny town of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea - since destroyed in a volcanic eruption - it is easy to see why this Australian-raised skipper was taken to heart by the French establishment. After a win in the '99 Hobart and a tough 2001/2 Volvo Race, Liz has competed on the Figaro circuit since 2004, most-recently finishing a fantastic 4th in the 3,436nm singlehanded Trophee BPE transatlantic race on Sojasun.

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry & Henri Lloyd.

Cast your vote at www.seahorsemagazine.com

BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2007:
PARNU PREPARES FOR SPECTACULAR EVENT
The organization team continued this week its comprehensive preparation for the best Baltic Sprint Cup ever - as Parnu loses its last ice from the winter the 100-year-old Yacht Club under new commodore Egon Elstein is confident that Pärnu will lay on a superb "showdown". Sponsors Saku Brewery and Maag food suppliers are readying the shoreside welcome on a 24/7 basis. Entries for cruisers and racers 30 feet up with ISAF special regs Cat 3 + liferaft. First race starts Copenhagen 20th July. Showdown Parnu 3rd August.

Supported by Bank DnB NORD. www.balticsprintcup.com
THE BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2007 – DON'T MISS IT!

ERICSSON RACING TEAM OPENS BOATYARD AND STARTS CONSTRUCTION
Stockholm, Sweden: Ericsson Racing Team is building its new Volvo Ocean Race yacht just 200 meters from Ericsson's corporate headquarters outside Stockholm, confirming the company's desire to share its race campaign with its staff, partners and customers.

The construction plan for the Ericsson boat is based on an exclusive design by Juan Kouyoumdjian. The first step is to build the mould in which the carbon-fiber yacht will take shape. This stage will be concluded at the end of May.

"The build site is state of the art", comments construction manager Killian Bushe. "Since November, we have worked hard at putting the right team in place and getting all the necessary tools ready. This includes the two ovens - one of them as big as the boat (25 meters) - and a smaller one for all the components. It feels good to get started on the construction we are looking forward to this new challenge."

The hull and the deck will be built mid-year at the new boatyard. After this, the construction specialists will add the systems, electronics and thousands of other details that will allow the boat to sail around the world. The launch of the boat is planned for late 2007.

While the builders start assembling the mould, John Kostecki, the Ericsson Racing Team skipper, has started to put together his crew.

Building in Kista was made possible through the real estate company Klvern who, as official yard host, is supporting the team through providing the build facilities.

www.ericssonracingteam.com

HIGH DEMAND FOR LIGHTWEIGHT, BREATHABLE CLOTHING
To meet these needs, Camet International has introduced a new line of sportswear to satisfy it's sports-minded and outdoor enthusiast customers. The collection offers an array of possibilities from highly technical products that scream "performance," to lightweight, wrinkle-free products for on-the-water and off-the-water activities. We look for fabrics that move perspiration away from the body, dry quickly, and are wrinkle-resistant; characteristics sought by adventurers and sailors alike. The summer line not only serves a purpose, it is also very fashionable. With solid color schemes, Hawaiian prints, and multi-functional designs.

Check them out at www.camet.com

SANFORD ANTIGUA SAILING WEEK
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua: Under the bluest of blue skies and with the easterly trade winds established early and often, the 16 classes of yachts in Sanford Antigua Sailing Week enjoyed classic Caribbean conditions today during the third day of competition in the 40th running of this annual festival of sailboat racing. And with three days of racing now completed, the cream is rising to the crop as the leaders in many divisions are beginning to separate themselves from the field.

In what has to be considered a major surprise, in the second of two windward/leeward contests off Willoughby Bay for the Division A racing fleet, the Cookson 50 Chieftain - sailed by an Irish crew skippered by Gerard O'Rourke - corrected out to first place in the Racing I class ahead of the Volvo 70 ABN AMRO ONE, handing the round-the-world race winner its first setback in what's believed to have been an undefeated spring of racing in the Caribbean. ABN AMRO ONE still tops the leader board in the class, but Chieftain is making noise with a string of outstanding performances.

Chieftain's victory, however, was but one of several memorable events in a wild day of racing in winds that topped off in the mid-20-knot-range and tested the skills and abilities of every Sailing Week crew, as well as the members of ABSAR, the Antigua and Barbuda Search and Rescue Service.

ABSAR's first response call was to aid the dismasted 44-footer Caccia Alla Volpe, which lost its spar in a windy beat in the first of the Willoughby Bay races. As ABSAR was rushing to Caccia's aid, they learned that there was a man overboard near the first windward mark on the Division A course. "As we were going toward Caccia we saw the sailors on (the Beneteau 40.7 First Away) yelling and pointing," said Jonathan Cornelius, a longtime member of the dedicated ABSAR team. "We spotted their man-overboard drogue and about 100 yards away we picked up the guy who'd gone over the side. He was spitting and sputtering a bit, but otherwise he was fine."

Tomorrow, with three days of racing down and two to go, the fleet will enjoy the traditional Lay Day for Sanford Antigua Sailing Week with a special 40th Birthday Party and celebration at Shirley Heights.

www.sailingweek.com

* Photo from Wednesday's racing by Ingrid Abery at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos (check the "Other Events" category)

BMW CITY CHALLENGE SAILING SERIES RETURNS TO DOCKLANDS
City slickers took to the water last night as the popular BMW City Challenge sailing series returned to London's Docklands. A total of 40 teams representing many of the leading City firms including Citigroup, KPMG, Allen & Overy, Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, Accenture and Deutsche Bank will stake their city reputations as they race on Tuesday and Thursday evenings over the coming summer months.

Jointly-organised by the Royal Thames Yacht Club and Berkeley Marine and set in Royal Victoria Dock against the dramatic Canary Wharf skyline, the fleet racing involves eight crews of up to five sailors who compete in identical Beneteau First Class 8s (8 metre keel boats). Following the success of the inaugural event in 2006, title sponsor, BMW has added a fifth heat to this year's schedule, allowing more sailors the chance to compete.

Conditions were ideal for Heat One (of Five), which got off to an exciting start in the evening sunshine with the first eight teams battling it out in a consistent 10-12 knot breeze. Representatives from Lehman's, Citigroup, Allen & Overy LLP, IPC Media, Ruffer LLP, UBS and NIR Capital competed over a box formation course but it was NIR Capital, skippered by Nils Razmilovic, who stole the show, convincingly winning all three races to head the table in the first of the five evening meetings.

Last year's winning team, the aptly named 'A & Eau' law firm Allen & Overy LLP, also fared well, finishing second in all three races. Skippered by Graham Bailey, the crew recently returned from their prize trip to watch the BMW ORACLE Racing America's Cup yacht compete in Valencia. This year, along with the coveted trophy, the winners will receive a BMW driving experience at the world famous Nurburgring race-circuit in Germany. -- Jo Gawith

For more information and to register interest for the limited remaining places, please visit: www.bmwcitychallenge.com

LEOPARD LEAPS INTO THE SUPERMAXI RACE
Mike Slade's new 30 metres supermaxi Leopard is joining the super maxi racing circuit and this season she will be pitting herself against Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI and Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo.

Built in McConaghy Australia's Sydney yard, she was craned onto a container ship yesterday in Sydney and is headed for Singapore before arriving in Southampton UK on May 30. Her rig arriving from New Zealand and the keel from Italy.

Her official launch is scheduled for 8 June, but it's likely she will still have the assembly teams still in action after that date.

The Farr designed canting keeled Leopard 3 is a larger version of a Volvo Open 70. She is 100ft (30.5m) long, 24ft (7.3m) wide. She has an 18ft 6in (5.7m) canting keel, a giant 15ft (4.6m) fixed bowsprit and a 154ft (46.9m) high mast. She will be able to fly an enormous 1,600sqm of sail.

She is expected to race in the Round the Island Race and the Rolex Fastnet Race in August before the Med season including the Rolex Malta Race. In October Leopard 3 will then be shipped back to Australia to compete in the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart. -- Rob Kothe, full story at www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=33207

TEA BY THE SEA
Summer is fast approaching and clubs from Scotland to Cornwall have already signed up to support Tea by the Sea and raise funds for Sail 4 Cancer, but it's not too late to add your event and raise funds to help people living with cancer.

Tea by the Sea is an opportunity for you to hold a tea party at any venue you like and on any day that suits you during the month of May! It could be at your sailing club, your office, your local school or even your own home; on a weekday or a weekend. All that matters is raising funds and having some fun at the same time.

There's been a huge amount of interest from all over the country, with many events planned by the coast, but a good number being held inland as well, proving that you don't need to be at the seaside to host a Tea by the Sea! Registered events include the Royal Southern Yacht Club, Bough Beech Sailing Club, Royal London Yacht Club, Emsworth Slipper, Ullswater Yacht Club, St Andrew's Sailing Club and many more.

Sailing clubs are using Tea by the Sea as a way of launching their summer season, attracting new members and welcoming back existing ones. Fun races, fancy dress, nautical quizzes, cake stalls and try sailing opportunities; these are just some of the ideas dreamt up by the different clubs. Some individuals however are choosing a more simple approach: just a nice civilized afternoon tea in their back garden for a few friends.

It's not too late for you to hold a tea party in aid of Sail 4 Cancer. If you are interested then visit www.sail4cancer.org for more information, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call on +44 (0)845 408 1849.

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 Euan Ross: The decision against Areva, for not fully returning to the course-side during her pirouette around the finish mark, due to rig overhang at the high angle of heel the current generation of America's Cup take up, was something of a self-inflicted sucker punch; however, it set me wondering about the status of Victory's bottom mark rounding against Luna Rossa on the 30th April.

In this case, the rig as such doesn't matter and it's the wake that counts. From the high res photo on the http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com, it looks as if Victory rounded the mark but her kite didn't (looked like a chase-boat drop, but I haven't seen the video). I assume there is case law on this somewhere, but just as cats have to round a mark with both hulls, the effective 'wake' of Victory was from the trailing kite; so did she or didn't she round the bottom mark? Obviously, if she had dropped the kite before rounding the mark, it would no longer be part of the boat and it wouldn't matter; but by cutting it loose after that maneuver there are questions, at least in my mind.

* From Carl Cramer: Officed as we are on the peninsula abutting Deer Isle (ME), we are so proud of our natural heritage, and for those boaters and sailors who have made -- and continue to make -- great contributions to boating.

We salute the America's Cup and Deer Isle sailors of the last century, and the builders and repairers and boaters of today. Thanks for giving this extraordinary area the credit it deserves.

As the sign says when one drives here, "Welcome to Brooklin, the Boatbuilding Capital of the World."

THE LAST WORD
Prudence and compromise are necessary means, but every man should have an impudent end which he will not compromise. -- Charles Horton Cooley

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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