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LOUIS VUITTON CUP
The weaker teams have left the America's Cup to just five contenders; the defender, Alinghi, and the four challengers who have reached the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup - Emirates Team New Zealand, BMW Oracle Racing, Luna Rossa and Desafio Espanol. Two of those are a matter of five races from elimination.

Alinghi will not race until she meets the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup on 23 June , but the other four will battle out the next stage of the right to be the ultimate challenger.

By emerging from the double round-robin with the best score, Emirates Team New Zealand had the right to choose its opponent and there was little surprise when skipper Dean Barker nominated Desafio Espanol.

The team hardly expected to be handed a victory by BMW Oracle in their last race; fingers were pointed and tongues wagged about the distressing way in which the American boat was sailed. In a match race the boat ahead, in this case BMW Oracle, should cover the other, but skipper Chris Dickson allowed a mile of separation between the two boats.

The Kiwis flagged their intention to go to the right-hand side of the course and when they hooked into slightly better wind on that side of the course the outcome was never in doubt. Since only one point separated the two boats, the result of this race was crucial and Dickson does not normally make this type of mistake. -- Bob Fisher in the Observer, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,2078570,00.html

* The Race Committee intends to conduct racing on one course on the Northern race area. Racing begins with a warning signal at 14:50 and a first race start at 15:00. Each team announced that it would be sailing the same boat that it used in the Round Robin.

* Port America's Cup could become the second Formula One city circuit in Europe. The area of the Port will be part of the route that will host the first race of the 2008 season.

Bernie Ecclestone, president of Formula One visited Port America's Cup Thursday, accompanied by Flavio Briatore, Sports Director of the Racing Team that is this year defending the world title won by Fernando Alonso in 2006. Both enjoyed lunch in the Foredeck restaurant within the Veles e Vents building, located in the centre of the future circuit , due to be the setting for next year's elite motor competition.

www.americascup.com

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/add_to_cart.asp?id=01008299.1&catid=186

FULLPOWER MELGES 24 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Santa Cruz, California, USA: How tough was it on the last day of the 2007 Fullpower Melges 24 World Championship, hosted by the Santa Cruz Yacht Club?

So tough, with Monterey Bay cranking up 30 knots of howling chaos, that Dave Ullman, the winner, said, "We weren't racing at the end, just surviving." So tough that Hank Stuart's race committee announced as the first race of the day was finishing that there wouldn't be a second---a first in the class's 10 world championships.

So tough that 19 of the 58 starters did not finish. One, Corinthian Division winner Othmar Mueller von Blumencron of Great Falls, Va., lost half of his mast but finished with what was left of his rig.

Four or five other dismastings, a few blown-out spinnakers, one man overboard (recovered by another boat)---those were the prices paid for sailing when the wind hits Force 7, with gusts to 35 (gale-Force 8) and five-foot seas form stair-steps up 10-foot swells.

That's what greeted the fleet when it cruised out to the race course shortly before noon, and from then it got really nasty.

Ullman, a 61-year-old icon of American sailing from Orange County in Southern California, sailed Pegasus 505 with a crew of tactician Bill Hardesty, Brent Ruhne, Andy Estcourt and Shana Phelan. They started the day two points ahead of Brian Porter's Full Throttle team from Winnetka, Ill. and were trailing their most serious rival early on the last leg downwind when . . . let Hardesty tell it:

"We saw [Full Throttle] capsize, took down the spinnaker and went into survival mode. We didn't have to worry about anything but finishing." -- Rich Roberts

Top finishers
(9 races; one discard)
1. Pegasus 505, David Ullman, USA, 32 points
2. Full Throttle, Brian Porter, USA, 38
3. EFG/.Groupe Partouche, Nicola Celon, ITA, 44
4. Joe Fly, Gabrio Zandona, ITA, 47
5. Bete Bossini, Francois Brenac, ITA, 47
6. Team Barbarians, Jamie Lea, GBR, 60
7. Pegasus 575, Mark Christensen, USA, 66
8. Altea, Andrea Racchelli, ITA, 69
9. Gannet, Othmar Mueller von Blumencron (Corinthian), 79
10. West Marine Rigging, Chris Larson, USA, 79

www.melges24worlds2007.com

ALAIN GAUTIER AND FONCIA WIN THE GRAND PRIX CHOPARD
Geneva, Switzerland: Five regattas, including four of them in a fairly strong breeze: the Grand Prix Chopard - first stage of the Challenge Julius Baer- benefited from very good conditions this week end off the Societe Nautique de Geneve.

Ten boats - strict one-design Decision 35 high tech catamarans - were involved in the event. Former winner of the Vendee Globe and well-known offshore skipper, Alain Gautier (Foncia) dominated the week-end, finishing all regattas amongst the top three. Winners of the last two regattas last year, Gautier and his crew confirmed with this week end's victory that they will be the team to beat this year.

Also on good shape, Ernesto Bertarelli and his crew on board Alinghi suffered from a bad gennaker unfurl on Saturday, as well as a bad tactical choice today, finishing second overall. However, Alinghi and Foncia dominated the week-end, finishing with a comfortable lead over Banque Gonet.

Two new teams joined the Challenge Julius Baer 2007 during the Grand Prix Chopard: Dona Bertarelli-Spath's Ladycat (she is Ernesto's sister), with professional French skipper Karine Fauconnier at the helm, as well as Christin Michel's Smart Home.

Respectively 9th and 7th in the general ranking, they didn't upset the favourites of the event but they proved that they had the potential to do so in the near future.

Next regatta: June 9. Geneve-Rolle Geneve

Results (one discard):

Ranking, name of boat, points, ranking per race

1) Foncia, 6 points, 1,2,3,1, 2
2) Alinghi, 8 points, 2,1,1,6, 4
3) Gonet, 16 points, 10, 7, 6, 2, 1
4) Cadence, 16 points, 6, 3, 4, 3, 9
5) Zen Too, 17 points, 5, 5, 2, 9, 5
6) Okalys, 18 points, 3, 6, 5, 4, 8
7) Smart Home, 25 points, 7, 8, 9, 7, 3
8) Axiom, 26 points, 4, 9, 8, 8, 6
9) Lady Cat, 28 points, 9, 10, 7, 5, 7
10) Julius Baer, 33 points, 8, 4, dnf, dns, 10

www.challengejuliusbaer.ch

BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2007
YOUNG SAILOR WINS JEANTEX HEAVY-WEATHER GEAR
Fabian Damm at the age of 16 was this week confirmed as winner of the pre- Baltic Sprint Cup special JEANTEX prize of a full set of brand new heavy-weather gear. Fabian, a crew member on board GUNVOR XL was delighted with his win and although Baltic sailing in the summer is usually more balmy than rough, will be ready for anything.

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

BULLIMORE CALLS A HALT TO SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION RECORD ATTEMPT
British yachtsman Tony Bullimore has had to call a halt to his latest solo circumnavigation attempt after a 50mm pin holding the forestay on his 102ft catamaran Doha lost a retaining bolt and begun to pull out.

'If the pin had pulled out completely, the rig would have fallen down and I would have been left adrift.' Bullimore said early today, adding. 'When I found it during a daylight check of the rig a few days ago, my heart almost stopped. With the rig under so much tension, there is no way of banging the pin back in place. In fact, it is the tension that has stopped it from falling out altogether.'

Bullimore spent several hours lashing the forestay to Doha's main beam to secure both the stay and the rogue pin, and having already chosen to head north east away from a low pressure system that was to sweep over his course on May 9, is now diverting to New Zealand to affect repairs.

'I'm devastated, particularly after the promising start I had from Hobart when I was running ahead of the record. I have devoted the past two years preparing for this solo round the world attempt. I can only assume that the retaining bolt came loose during the bashing Doha received in the 50knot winds experienced a week ago. All I can say is thank goodness it happened now and not when I was deep in the Southern Ocean or close to Cape Horn.'

'The rig is now secure and I am sailing under reduced canvas northwards to New Zealand. Once repairs have been completed, I will sail back to Hobart and re-start the Blue Ocean Wireless Round the World Challenge later in the year.'

Neither Bullimore nor his catamaran are in any danger. Doha is currently 1,155 miles SE of Wellington but currently facing headwinds, which are forcing the British yachtsman to sail NE for the moment, which will delay his arrival in Auckland.

www.teambullimore.com

NEW OCEAN RACING TROPHY HONORS OLIN J. STEPHENS
The Cruising Club of America, the Boston Yacht Club, the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron announce a major new trophy for offshore yacht racing: the Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy, to be awarded to skippers competing in consecutive Newport Bermuda and Marblehead-to-Halifax races.

The Olin J. Stephens Trophy will be awarded yearly to the skipper with the lowest total point scoring in consecutive races of the subset of boats competing in both of these prestigious ocean-racing events. The low-point scoring will be determined using the ORR, the VPP-based handicapping system which serves as the primary scoring system for the Newport Bermuda Race and numerous other North American offshore races.

Skippers that compete in the St. David's Lighthouse and Gibbs Hill Lighthouse divisions of the Newport Bermuda Race will be eligible for the trophy, as will competitors sailing in the spinnaker divisions of the Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race that elect dual-scoring using ORR for that event.

The Olin J. Stephens Trophy honors a living legend, the man who is arguably the most successful designer of offshore racing and cruising yachts in the last 100 years. For much of the 20th Century, designs by Olin Stephens dominated ocean racing. He also produced a series of America's Cup Defenders that stretched over five decades. Since his retirement in 1980, Olin Stephens has been a world-wide ambassador for sailing, and has been the conscience and a perpetual voice of reason for the highest levels of the sport.

The Olin J. Stephens Trophy will be awarded for the first time in Halifax, Nova Scotia this July, based on combined performance in the 2006 Centennial Newport Bermuda Race and the 2007 Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race.

www.marbleheadtohalifax.com

ISAF MID-YEAR MEETING
The launch of the ISAF Sailing World Cup and the Olympic Sailing Competition were amongst the key discussions at the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, held in Paris, France, the birthplace of the International Yacht Racing Union 100 years ago.

The ISAF Council, the final decision making body of ISAF, met over the weekend of 5-6 May 2007, preceded by meetings of the ISAF Executive Committee and ISAF Events Committee. The discussion in Paris ranged from ISAF finances to membership to Olympic and event issues.

The minutes from all meetings will be published on http://www.sailing.org in the coming weeks.

Concluding a few days before the 2007 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, the evaluation of a possible 'Women's High Performance Dinghy' took place in Hyeres, France. The mission of the evaluation was to determine whether there is suitable equipment for a Women's High Performance Dinghy event at the Olympic Games.

A positive yes was the answer transmitted to the ISAF Council by Dick BATT, Chairman of the ISAF Equipment Committee, when he made his presentation on the Evaluation Event.

The evaluation was to identify equipment which would meet the criteria of being a two-person dinghy for women with a combined crew weight of 120-140 kg, able to sail faster off the wind than the wind, and with a target price of EUR14,500 ready to sail.

ISAF evaluated other criteria on the six boats which presented themselves, including performance, design and build issues, class association and cost, and all six boats met the criteria.

This conclusion enabled the Events Committee and Council to include a Women's High Performance Dinghy in their deliberations on the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

As the evaluation held in France was predominantly in light winds, a second evaluation event will be held later in the year, most probably in September 2007 in Great Britain.

Expected to create much debate, the determining of the list of possible events for the 2012 Olympics, was in fact a very straightforward and practical discussion.

For the 2012 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has endeavoured to contain the number of events and the total number of athletes. To achieve this, several sports have had to reduce their events and/or their athlete quotas. For sailing, this has meant one less medal, a reduction to ten medals from the current 11.

ISAF will decide the final ten events for the 2012 Olympic Games at the 2007 ISAF Annual Conference in November. The aim at the 2007 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting was to establish a list of possible events for the 2012 Olympic Games, in order to provide guidance and a basis for initial discussion prior to November 2007.

Council identified the following possible events for either men, women or open categories:

Men:

Windsurfer
One person dinghy
One person dinghy - heavy
Two person dinghy
Two person dinghy high performance
Keelboat
Multihull - open or men

Women:

Windsurfer
One person dinghy
Two person dinghy
Two person dinghy high performance
Keelboat
Multihull

This list of possible events does not preclude any other events from being added to the list being considered in November 2007 and any additional event proposals may be made through the usual submission process.

Within the ten events, ISAF will need to decide the ratio between men's, women's and open events. Meeting before the ISAF Council, the Events Committee considered a proposal to introduce an equal ratio of five men's and five women's events. Whilst this initiative was in principle supported as a goal to be achieved in the future, Council agreed that the direction for the 2012 Olympics will be four women's events and either six men's events or five men's events and one open event.

The question of a 'fleet' or 'match' racing competition format for the keelboat event was discussed and will be finalized in November 2007. However, for the purposes of event descriptions, the event if selected would be known as 'keelboat'.

sailing.org

SHORT TACKS
* Lionel Lemonchois and his Gitana 11 team-mates are waiting patiently with the other 3 AS Lease Challenge competitors to set off in the first race of the 60-foot multihull season. The event's organisers have decided that the weather conditions expected in the Gulf of Gascony over Sunday and the beginning of monday are not sufficiently mild. The warm-up has been run Saturday 12 May and the start now would take place on Monday 14 or Tuesday 15 May.

* The Sports Development Office in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council, is holding two sets of workshops in the area of the Code of Ethics & Best Practice for Children's Sport -- http://www.sailing.ie/news/newsDetails.asp?id=1559

* Entries for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta have reached the 400 mark two months before the event in mid-July, with one-third representing visiting boats and with over 40 boats from overseas so far.

Colm Barrington's new TP52 'Flash Glove' brings to four the number of boats in the Super Zero division, while there are 23 entries from 7 nations for the Ecover Half Ton Classics Cup to date.

The single largest fleet so far is the all-new SB3 sportsboat with 30 confirmed starters and the Fireball is the biggest dinghy class with 27 entries.

The five cruiser classes average 24 boats in each fleet and 18 Irish clubs are represented among the entries. -- www.dlregatta.org

* The Volvo Ocean Race challenger for the iShares Cup Extreme 40 Series has been revealed in conjunction with the announcement of the 2007 race schedule which features four premier regattas and three endurance races.

The Volvo Ocean Race entry will be skippered by leading French catamaran sailor Jean-Christophe Mourniac and compete under the French tricolour. The series starts on 25th May in Lake Starnberg near Munich. -- www.Extreme40.org

* Solo sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, returning to British shores after making history in the VELUX 5 OCEANS round the world yacht race. Sir Robin was escorted from the Needles by the Clipper Round the World Race Fleet, the Royal Navy, the Queens Harbour Master and a large flotilla of spectator boats.

The scenes were reminiscent of when Sir Robin Knox-Johnston arrived in Falmouth in 1969 after becoming a household name by being the first person to sail non-stop around the world in the 1968-69 Sunday Times Golden Globe. Almost 40 years later, the inspirational yachtsman made history again last week as he completed his second solo circumnavigation of the planet at the young age of 68. The crowds joined him on the Solent to celebrate his monumental achievement in completing 'The Ultimate Solo Challenge' in his 60 foot yacht SAGA INSURANCE. He was also given an 11 gun salute from the Royal Yacht Squadron and greeted on the dock by hundreds of supports, his daughter and her five grandchildren and many other members of friends and family.

Photos at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos in the Velux 5 Oceans section.

THE LAST WORD
Some people grumble because roses have thorns; I am thankful that the thorns have roses. -- Alphonse Karr

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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