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LOUIS VUITTON CUP SEMI FINALS-DAY 2
Opportunity lost for Luna Rossa today. Putting BMW Oracle behind 2-0 would have been a big step toward winning this semi final and the Italian boat seemingly had the job done. In the more competitive of the two semi finals, the young James Spithill of Luna Rossa shut out Chris Dickson of BMW Oracle at the start and the Italians sailed smoothly to a 58 second lead at the first windward mark. A sea breeze of 15 knots was in place for the first windward leg and in those conditions, everyone expected a fairly easy ride for Luna Rossa from there. However, Luna Rossa chose not to cover BMW Oracle on the first run and 230 meters of the 280 meter lead was eaten up and the American boat round the leeward gate just 50 meters behind. This put the American boat back in the race and in practicality, it all started again at that point.

Up the second windward leg, Luna Rossa again separated a large distance before tacking to converge more than one mile! When the two came together, there was just a two boat-length lead for Luna Rossa. A great move by James Spithill, defending against an attacking Dickson near the windward mark, preserved a 40 meter lead for the Italian boat. Down the final run, again the Italians split and BMW Oracle went from being behind by 40 meters, to a lead of 40 meters. A final attempt to cover the wind of the American boat failed and the BMW Oracle went on to take the win by 13 seconds.

It was more a case of Luna Rossa losing the race than BMW Oracle winning the race.

In the other match, Team New Zealand made easy work of the day by getting a significantly better start and gaining on the first windward leg. Then, in contrast to the style of the Italians, the Kiwis never split much from their opposition, even if they have a 300 meter lead. This series seems to be well in hand for the Kiwis.

This decidedly different style of sailing by the Italians has puzzled the media here and given huge anxiety to the Italian public following the race on television. Peter Isler, the American Navigator, explained their pleasant surprise at the style of the Italian's lack of covering and acknowledged that the open water allowed them to make the most of a very bad situation after the first windward leg and make a huge gain on the run, certainly more of a gain than any boat speed difference would create.

One more set of races tomorrow, then Thursday is a lay day. -- Paul Cayard on www.cayardsailing.com

* As the semi-finalists are sailing, BYM News interviewed their former adversaries about the next America's Cup.

The venue

On Europe as a venue, the consensus was "Great" from every team, with no criticisms about anything. No-one cared that lack of wind, or too much wind, had caused postponements; they put it in different ways, but the message was "That's sailing for you, it's something you have to live with and it happens everywhere".

"Some people have selective memories and choose to forget the fact that, in the 2002/2003 Auckland event, almost 40 percent of Louis Vuitton sailing days were lost because of weather."

Nobody wanted the next America's Cup to be held in New Zealand, but that had nothing to do with weather; it was largely down to the fact that they felt it would be harder to fund a campaign if the next Cup were to be held in such an isolated place, with such a small population.

Sponsors, not just the big ones, but the smaller partners, are essential and those smaller partners are often companies that sell exclusively in Europe.

There was also a perception that an Emirates Team New Zealand winner would not build on what all the teams saw as advancements in the way the Cup has been organised this time round.

Nobody actually said, if ETNZ wins, we wont be in the next Cup, but Shosholoza's Mark Sadler came close "If it goes to New Zealand we may not do it. We want it to stay in Europe."

Organisation

Contrary to rumours that the Challengers had seen ACM as some kind of Alinghi stooge, out to arrange things so the Defender would win, everyone praised the way this edition of the America's Cup has been run.

Victory Challenge's Magnus Holmberg said it had been "A huge step forward." China Team's Pierre Mas described it as "A big step up in terms of organisation and enhancing the image of the event."

The Acts, the racing, the management, the exhibition races all got praise and everyone wanted to build on what they saw as great achievements. The consensus was that having a separate management had been a very good idea.

Far from seeing ACM as benefiting Alinghi, it was felt that the existence of the management company had meant that the Defender had had less impact on this Cup than on any other.

Nationality

The nationality stance was that it is important to have several sailors from the team's country in the crew, but nobody wants to go back to the days when all the crew had to be residents of that country.

There were several reasons, the main one being that it would make it very difficult for a country with little experience in match racing to even start an America's Cup campaign.

China Team would not have been able to be there, without the core of French sailors, Shosholoza would not have done so well if a nationality rule had meant no sailors from outside South Africa. No skipper viewed the non-national crew members as being less partisan.

Mascalzone Latino's Vasco Vascotto said "Of course, Italians love to see Italian sailors in the boat, but our non-nationals are now Italians. They speak better Triesti than I do and they eat pasta and drink red wine."

Perhaps the biggest reason for not wanting a nationality clause back was that it is unenforceable. It is nothing for a top team to arrange for a top sailor to, officially, become a resident of a country; it just costs money and one thing all the losers are against is adding any rule that gives better off teams an advantage.

New rule? No thanks

At a press conference last week, the seven losers were asked whether the America's Cup rule needed changing, in favour of a different sort of boat. Six hands went up, in favour of keeping the present boat.

The sole dissenter was Team Germany skipper Jesper Banks, who felt that a rule change would benefit new teams, who were finding it difficult to catch up with advancements in the big teams, which had extensive databases of knowledge of the existing boats.

The cycle

The greatest division of views came over the timescale; should the Cup have a two or a four year cycle? +39 skipper Iain Percy, China Team's Pierre Mas and Germany's Jesper Banks felt that a 2 year cycle made it hard for smaller teams to raise money and could stop more new teams coming in.

From CupinEurope.com, citing BYM News: www.bymnews.com

* The French nuclear company Areva has expressed its desire to continue its partnership with the French team.

In 2003, Areva partnered the Defi francais in New Zealand and this year sponsored the Areva Challenge team.

The group now intends to continue the experience to draw the maximum benefit in terms of performance and communication.

Even though the advertising spin-off from the 2007 campaign has yet to be analyzed, the group can already announce that it is satisfied with the impact its participation in the 2007 edition has had.

Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier, Senior Vice President, Communications and Areva spokesman made the announcement at the end of Round Robin 2 in the presence of the entire Areva Challenge team and the President of the French Sailing Federation, Jean-Pierre Champion.

"The America's Cup provides a group like ours with an exceptional opportunity", he said. "In its own field, Areva is an international champion. We hope that its contribution to the America's Cup and the experience it has gained will enable France to reach a high level of performance in this legendary international competition".

If the amount of the partership was not yet disclosed, the French newspaper Liberation reported that the group will invest 10 million Euros per year until the next America's Cup.

www.americascup.com

32ND AMERICA'S CUP GEAR BAG
Anyone planning on packing soon for watching the action in Valencia should check out this new 32nd America's Cup gear bag by Murphy&Nye.

With a 65 litre volume it might not be big enough to carry the silverware home in but will store all your travel or boating weekend needs. This hard-wearing tarpaulin and PVC bag is packed full of features like a drying compartment, waterproof zips, neoprene-reinforced handles and heavy duty componentry.

The full 32nd America's Cup range by Murphy&Nye is online. Get in quick at

www.americascupstore.com/cart/add_to_cart.asp?id=1B8800G06000.1

AS LEASE CHALLENGE
The four ORMA trimarans rolled up the first mark of the course of the ACE Lease Challenge after less than twenty hours of sea: 330 miles traversed at a mean velocity of almost 17 knots. Groupama 2 was in the lead at 15h30 on Tuesday, but with a small margin over its competitors.

The course takes the fleet from Lorient to La Corogne, then to the Fastnet Rock and back to Lorient. Passing through the bay of La Corogne was a delicate affair: gusts of winds and lulls from the high cliffs can accelleate or stall one for minutes. Groupama 2 was the first to round the Oceanographe buoy at 1535, followed by Sopra Group (Antoine Koch).

Sopra Group reports that it has sorted its hydraulic problem. Pascal Bidegorry on Banque Populaire IV was slowed last night by problems with electronics.

The path north to the Fastnet will be a fast one, but a strategical problem... the winds are forecast to turn to the Northwest, making the path to the rock one of direct route vs. boat speed off the wind a bit. The trimarans are expected to round Fastnet late Wednesday afternoon in 25 knots of wind.

Positions 15 May at 16h30 :
1. Groupama 2, Franck Cammas, 459 miles from Fastnet rock
2. Sopra Group, Antoine Koch, 15.4 miles to leader
3. Gitana 11, Lionel Lemonchois, 16.8
4. Banque Populaire IV, Pascal Bidegorry, 18.1

www.aslease-challenge.com

JOURDAIN NAMES JEAN-LUC NELIAS HIS CO-SKIPPER
Veolia Environnement skipper, Roland Jourdain, who confirmed his participation in the double-handed Barcelona World Race just under three weeks ago in Paris, has now named his co-skipper for this new race as 44-year-old Frenchman Jean Luc Nelias.

Nelias, an experienced monohull and multihull sailor who won the 2005 Calais Round Britain Race with Jourdain, will now face his very first circumnavigation of the globe in the new two-up, non-stop round the world race that starts on 11th November 2007 from the city of Barcelona. Jean Luc Nelias is the fourteenth skipper to be named and he will be the only skipper on the entry list so far not to have competed in a round the world race.

Jourdain, winner of the IMOCA 60 class in the 2006 solo Route du Rhum, selected Nelias as his partner for his race for his weather and navigation skills. Nelias, born in Quimper, France, was skipper of the ORMA 60 mulithull Belgacom from 2000-2004 and finished third overall in the 2001 ORMA Championship. In 2003 Belgacom was the second ORMA to cross the finish line of the double-handed transatlantic Transat Jacques Vabre race with Loick Peyron. In 2004 Nelias turned his attention back to Figaro sailing and finished 7th overall in the main event of the Figaro season, the Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro, as well as earning him the accolade of leading 'Rookie'. Two years later, he raced with Jourdain in the 2006 Transat AG2R and the finished 4th overall. "In a double-handed race, having shared experience is of course important because it saves time," says Nelias. "I've done a lot of racing with Bilou, so he knows my flaws and I know his."

The format of the double-handed race will enable both sailors to push Veolia Environment - the same IMOCA 60 Jourdain raced in the 2004 Vendee Globe - to the maximum potential: "Doublehanded racing is awesome!" says Roland. "You can push the boats 100% and although there are two of you onboard, you can still have the enjoyment of solo sailing when you are alone on deck."

These two skippers will race Veolia Environnement together for the first time in the prologue event for the Barcelona World Race, the Rolex Fastnet starting on 12th August.

Jean-Luc Nelias
Born 8th August 1962, in Quimper, France
4th Transat AG2R 2006, with Roland Jourdain
Winner of the Calais Round Britain Race 2005, with Roland Jourdain
Skipper of ORMA 60 multihull Belgacom, from 2000-2004

Entries so far
Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) & Damian Foxall (IRL) / Paprec-Virbac
Vincent Riou (FRA) & Sebastien Josse (FRA) / PRB
Dominique Wavre (SUI) & Michele 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) & Jean-Luc Nelias (FRA) / Veolia Environnement

www.barcelonaworldrace.com

CERVANTES TROPHY RACE
Jean-Yves Chateau with his Nicolson 33, IROMIGUY, looks set to have another successful season. The 2005 Rolex Fastnet race winner was delighted with his overall win of the first offshore RORC race of the season

The race started from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line under grey skies with a NE 3 breeze. A fleet of 122 boats set off to the East on a course that would take them through the Forts and out of the Solent to round the Rustington Outfall Light Buoy, off the Sussex coast, before crossing the Channel to the finish at Le Havre . A distance of approximately 117 miles.

The first to reach the finish at Le Havre was Peter Harding's TP52, FIDESSA FASTWAVE II, crossing at 01:43 on Sunday morning, followed at 02:19 by BEAR OF BRITAIN, Windward Sailing's Farr 52, sailed by James Gair. With the light airs at the finish it would not be until 03:30 that YANI, Bob Swann's Marten 49, made it as the 3rd boat home closely followed by CHERNIKEEFF 2, Windward Sailing's Farr 52, sailed by Derek Saunders at 03:31 and Simon Henning's Farr 45 ALICE 2 at 03:32.

From 03:30 onwards there would be a steady stream throughout the morning as the breeze filled from the North West to give the fleet a spinnaker finish.

Once again this year the Societe des Regates du Havre organised a return race from Le Havre to Cowes , starting at 16:50 local time on Sunday 6th May, competing for the Coupe Guillaume Le Conquerant. -- Louay Habib

www.rorc.org

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

VURSCHEPENRACE 2007 STARTS IN CALM CONDITIONS
Scheveningen, Netherlands: On Tuesday evening May 15 2007, the annual 110 miles Vuurschepenrace started with calm conditions. With a moderate westerly and cloudy weather, 56 competing yachts crossed the line off the Scheveningen (NL) coast. As expected, the VO 70 Mean Machine of Dutchman Peter de Ridder took an early lead over her direct competitors. She is expected to arrive in Harwich by Wednesday 16 May in the early morning.

The 70-footer was a striking appearance in a fleet of yachts mostly half of its size. Despite the racing debut for Team Mean Machine onboard the VO 70, this offshore is a home match. Team Captain Dirk de Ridder, who completed the Volvo Ocean Race onboard the Pirates of the Caribbean: "Most of us used to sail here often and Peter is still member of the Scheveningen Yacht Club."

Half an hour after the starting gun, skipper Koen Lockefeer's Eclectic, Sander Speet's Holmatro and Frans van der Heijden's Daikin Airco were beating close together. It is the first time that the Dutch IRC-fleet has competed in an offshorerace, so it is going to be an interesting night out on the North Sea. -- Diana Bogaards

www.nsr.nl

ROLEX CAPRI SAILING WEEK
The Rolex Sailing season in the Mediterranean waters will open today with the third edition of the Rolex Capri Sailing Week. 54 boats have already moored in Capri Marina Grande harbour and are ready to take to the sea for the first race tomorrow after having already set a new record number of entries.

The Rolex Capri Sailing Week will be held from May 15th to the 19th and is organised for a third consecutive edition by the Yacht Club Capri in collaboration with the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

A record fleet of Farr 40s, Swan 45s, Mini Maxis and Comets represent a total of 11 nations assembled in the Gulf of Naples. Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, USA and even a boat from Japan compose the fifty-four boat racing fleet.

All the previous edition winners are present in Capri to defend their title with the only exception being Vincenzo Onorato with his Farr 40 Mascalzone Latino following a gruelling America's Cup campaign. With the 2006 winner out of the running, the 16 competing Farr 40 crafts will be breathing a sigh of relief and the two-time Farr 40 World Champion Jim Richarson (USA) with his Barking Mad will be worth watching, as will Matt Allen's Ichi Ban (AUS), runner up at the 2006 World Championship.

Among the Italians, former World and European Champion Massimo Mezzaroma (ITA) will be looking to establish a healthy scoreline at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week which counts as the first leg of the Farr 40 European Circuit. Paolo Cian will call for tactics on Gianluigi Serena's Enfant Terrible and give confidence to the crew for a good performance with his fresh experience brought from the America's Cup and his participation with challenger team Shosholoza.

For the 16 one-design Swan 45 fleet the Rolex Capri Sailing Week will constitute an official leg of the Swan 45 World & Mediterranean Circuit and will host 2006 winner Leonardo Ferragamo in his third participation with his Cuordileone (ITA) alongside with Danilo Salsi's DSK (ITA), winner of the 2006 Rolex Sydney-Hobart.

The Comet S Class will count fourteen representatives of the Comar shipyard, covering the Comet 41S, 45S and 51S models and is expected to be an all Italian racing fight to take the 2006 title out of winner Guido Morisco with his Nur and with Comar CEO Massimo Guardigli - winner of the 2005 edition - together on the first line with Lino Roncone's Andromeda.

All three of last year's top finishers- Giorgio Ruffo's Aleph (ITA), Massimo Violati's Ops 5 (ITA), and Antonello Morina's Sei Tu II (ITA)- will be part of the eight participating crafts for the Mini Maxi division which is comprised of boats with an LOA of 18 to 23.9 metres in accordance with the International Maxi Association rules.

Races are expected to start at 12.00.

www.regattanews.com

THE LAST WORD
Ah well, perhaps one has to be very old before one learns how to be amused rather than shocked. -- Pearl Buck

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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