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SPAIN CONFIRMS TWO BOATS FOR VOLVO OCEAN RACE
Portsmouth, England: Spain will field two boats in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. The participation of the Spanish entries was officially confirmed by Francisco Camps Ortiz, the regional president of Valencia, at a civil reception in the start port of Alicante today.

The participation of two Spanish boats brings the number of confirmed entries in the race to five. The others are Mean Machine (The Netherlands), Ericsson (Sweden) and PUMA (United States).

Pedro Campos, who headed up the movistar entry in the 2005-06 race, has been tasked with managing the Spanish campaign. Sponsors for the two boats will be announced over the coming weeks.

"We are delighted to be coming back and entering two Spanish boats in the Volvo Ocean Race. We are pleased to be supporting the city of Alicante and are working hard to put a strong campaign together on their behalf.

"In the last race, Sanxenxo and Vigo and the whole region of Galicia attracted huge crowds and a world wide television audience through their involvement in the race and we are pleased that Alicante now has the same opportunity of hosting one of the biggest sports events in the world."

Commenting on the announcement, Glenn Bourke, the CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, said: "It's great news that we will have a major Spanish presence in 2008-09 with Alicante as the start port and two boats flying the flag for Spain out on the race track. The Spanish have a proud historical link with the Whitbread/Volvo and I am delighted that the tradition is being maintained. I'm sure Pedro Campos and his team will put together a very competitive campaign.

"We know from the findings of the independent research from the 2005-06 race that twinning boats with ports from the same country is a sound commercial model. It also brings some nationalistic fervour to the event.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this famous ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante, it will for the first time, take in ports in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and India. Spanning some 39,000 nautical miles, 8,000 more than the previous edition in 2005-06, it will stop at around 11 ports and take more than nine months to complete. -- Lizzie Ward

volvooceanrace.org

RICHARD, IEHL ROAR BACK
Long Beach, California, USA: Everybody knew the Russians were coming to the Long Beach Yacht Club's 43rd Congressional Cup, presented by Acura, but not a French revolution.

With four wins and one loss, Thursday was a very good day for Mathieu Richard, the No. 2-ranked match racer in the world, and even better for Damien Iehl, whose 5-0 rush punched him from out of the backwash into contention for the fourth slot in Saturday's semifinals. That will be determined Friday in the last three round-robin matches that loom as an up-tempo scramble.

Russia's "Lord of the Sail" team led by Eugeniy Neugodnikov went 4-1 to jump into fourth place and sit on the bubble at 9-6, one point ahead of Iehl and Scott Dickson of Long Beach at 8-7.

Nobody is in the semis for sure---not even Richard (12-3), the third overall leader in the first thee days, or New Zealand's Simon Minoprio (11.75.-2), whose quarter-point penalty from earlier in the week probably won't matter anymore, and certainly not Sweden's Johnie Berntsson, who slipped from first to third when his nine-race win streak turned sour into three consecutive losses before he righted himself with a photo-finish win over Richard in their last race.

Conditions Thursday mirrored the first two days, starting under a gray and gloomy marine layer with 5 knots of wind and improving to sunny and 12 knots by day's end.

Standings (after 15 of 18 rounds): Richard, 12-3; Minoprio, 11.75-3; Berntsson, 11-4; Neugodnikov, 9-6; Dickson and Iehl, 8-7; Angel, 7-8; Arbuzov and Tarnacki, 3-12; Angsell, 2-13.

www.lbyc.org/concup/

ULLMAN SAILS WIN 3 OF THE LAST 5 MELGES 24 WORLDS
Congratulations to Dave Ullman, and his team of Tactician Bill Hardesty, Brent Ruhne, Andy Estcourt and Shana Phelan on "Pegasus 505", topping a 58-boat fleet at the 2007 Fullpower Melges 24 World Championship, hosted by Santa Cruz YC. Ullman Sails won five of nine races in wind conditions from 5 to 35 knots. While light winds proved tricky, the 35 knot conditions provided 10-foot surfable swells that put the fleet into the survival mode. Ullman Sails also powered Melges 24 World Champions in 2003 and 2005. For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet", contact Ullman Sails and visit www.ullmansails.com

LOUIS VUITTON CUP SEMIS: RACING RESUMES FRIDAY
* It's possible that we are looking at the two fastest ACC boats in the world in the Luna Rossa-Oracle matchup, but that's just tossing out a "possible." You never count out Team New Zealand unless they put themselves out. And in all the workup regattas, the fastest was the defender, Alinghi, so it's also possible that what we're watching here is a bunch of lambs competing for a pen in the slaughterhouse.

Possible, even plausible, is the thought that if we see continued racing in 10-12 knots, smooth water, the Luna Rossa-BMW Oracle matchup will be decided on the starting line, where Spithill, a 27-year-old Aussie, has been living up to his boy-wonder reputation. What was that purple line I tossed off the other day? "Wielding Luna Rossa like a master dueler with a magic blade." Hoo boy. But it's true enough. -- Kimball Livingston, sailmagazine.blogspot.com

* It's going to be all eyes on James Spithill and the Prada afterguard tomorrow as they're sure to face a massive backlash from the Oracle team. Spithill has controlled every start and for a man with such an encyclopaedic knowledge of match-racing as Chris Dickson that's got to be truly hard to swallow. I'm expecting some serious fireworks on the racecourse and if Oracle get behind then the grinders are going to be on the limit of endurance with the tacking and gybing duels. This race could well be the turning point of the entire regatta for both teams.

If Prada go 3-1 up I reckon it'll spell big changes in the Oracle camp and that could be their undoing. If it goes 2-2 I can see the American Kiwis walking away with it...

The AC all comes down to a few moments...this is one of them! -- Magnus Wheatley, rule69blog.com

VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG LASER SB3 GRAND PRIX: ROUND 2 - HAMBLE
This weekend (19/20th May) sees the second leg of the VW Touareg Laser SB3 Grand Prix Series being held at the Royal Southern Yacht Club in Hamble.

With some 80 boats expected on the start line it will be one of the most fiercely contested events on the circuit - particularly as the European Championships, which are being held in June at Weymouth - draw ever closer.

There are certainly plenty of teams capable of taking the title - and the honours so far this year have been evenly spread - but all eyes will we likely be on Russell Peters in "Tacktick" and Glenn Bourke in "Musto". These two return to the fleet in a replay of their titanic clash at last year's Royal Southern Grand Prix, which went in Peters' favour by the slimmest of countback margins. No telling which way it will go this time, but there'll certainly be tight racing right through the fleet, with international PRO Tony Lovell in charge of proceedings.

In addition to Volkswagen Touareg's generous support, the fleet are looking forward to a Mount Gay sponsored BBQ and drinks evening on the Saturday night at the RSnYC. It should be a regatta to remember.

Entry forms at www.lasersb3.com or www.royal-southern.co.uk

A GROWING AUDIENCE
Worldwide interest in the America's Cup is soaring - with huge international television audiences and higher than expected traffic onto the event website and through to the individual team websites.

This 32nd America's Cup is the most widely televised edition in the history of the event, according to a statement from ACM. As the second Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup came to a close last week, over 30 rights-holding broadcasters, covering all the major territories in the world, have been showing the action.

The Internet is also attracting large audiences. According to the latest figures, the americascup.com website had an average of 140,000 unique visitors during racing days. This exceeds the target figure 100,000 and equals the number of visitors to the site for the entire period September 2004 to December 2006.

From January to April this year, The BMW ORACLE Racing team website - http://www.bmworacleracing.com - was the top choice for visitors clicking through from the event site, capturing 12% of that traffic, followed by Luna Rossa Challenge on 11%, Alinghi and United Internet Team Germany on 10% each.

The figures reveal a 40% increase over the audience at the peak of the 2003 Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. The America's Cup is attracting 30% more visitors than the motorcyle racing site motogp.com, based on the most recent assessment. Football (soccer) remains the world leader, with an astonishing 5 million unique visitors a day to the fifaworldcup.com site.

Understandably, the America's Cup interest has soared with the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup. In terms of overall visitors to the official website, the numbers rocketed from approximately 750,000 in March this year, to just under 4.5 million in April.

By language, the breakdown is 39% English, 32% Italian, 15% French and 14% Spanish. -- Tom Ehman

THE 32ND AMERICA'S CUP FROM YOUR BOAT
The America's Cup is in Europe for the first time in 156 years. And you can see it with your own eyes. Be on the front row and moor your boat in one of the 636 berths at Port America's Cup Marina.

Not only will you be able to watch the ACC boats passing along the canal, but you will also be at the heart of this unique nautical event.

Enjoy the regattas, parties, restaurants, bars. Enjoy the 32nd America's Cup continuous show!

Port America's Cup: at the heart of the passion. Tariffs and booking are available on www.portamericascup.com

NEW ISAF DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL
At the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting in Paris, France, the ISAF Executive Committee unanimously decided to promote Jerome PELS to ISAF Deputy Secretary General. Jerome will also remain as the Head of the Competitions Department.

Born in Gouda, the Netherlands, Jerome has a longstanding involvement in sailing. He started sailing Optimists aged six, attending three World Championships during his nine years in the class. He graduated from the Optimist to the Laser Radial and Europe before getting heavily involved in coaching. After studying Law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam he joined the Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond (KNWV) in 1989 as Head Coach for the Netherlands Olympic Yachting Team.

Following the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, where the Netherlands won a bronze medal in the Lechner event, Jerome became the High Performance Director for the KNWV, a position he would hold for the next five years. At the next Olympic Sailing Competition, held in Savannah, USA, the Netherlands sailing team enjoyed their best medal tally since the 1936 Games, winning silver in the Europe and bronze in the Finn.

In April 1997, Jerome joined ISAF as the Competition Officer. He then became Events Manager before being promoted to Director of Sailing in January 2002. During his ten years at ISAF he has been involved in all of ISAF's major events. He was one of ISAF's Technical Delegates at the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games, a role he will again fill in Qingdao at the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition. -- sailing.org

32ND AMERICA'S CUP - THE GAME
Just released to universal acclaim, 32nd America's Cup - The Game is the latest installment from the producers that brought you Virtual Skipper. Using a brand new Virtual Skipper 5 graphic engine, 32nd America's Cup puts you in Port America's Cup helming any of the 12 teams currently in Valencia. It's as close to reality as it is possible to be - unless you are expecting a call-up for helming duty any time soon.

Designed for PC, the game features many different modes of game play as well as a tutorial functions teaching sailing basics, networked gaming capability and a film-making function. Playable from ages 3-103.

boutique.gamesplanet.com/campagne/promo.html?partenaire=9&jeu=VSK5&affilie=23

SILVER PANDA WINS 58TH WILSON TROPHY
West Kirby, UK: Team Silver Panda (Clay Bischoff/Martha Carleton, Colin Merrick/Amanda Callahan, Pete Levesque/Liz Hall) won the 2007 Wilson Trophy by defeating rival team Whishbone in a rematch of the 2006 Wilson Trophy Final.

Hosted by the West Kirby Sailing Club in West Kirby, UK the 2007 Wilson Trophy was another huge success. 32 teams from around the world returned to Team Racing's Mecca for what the Brits have dubbed the "Wimbledon" of Team Racing. This year's field included top teams from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and England as well as five teams from the US. Representing the US were the US National Champion Silver Panda team, the 2006 Wilson Trophy Champion Team Whishbone (Tim Fallon/Karen Renzuli, Tim Wadlow/Ery Wadlow, Pat Rynne/Galen Largay), the Larchmont Yacht Club (Danny Pletsch/Emily Whipple, Cardwell Potts/Caroline Hall, Brian Bissell/Alexis Rubin), Route 3 Split (Nick Ewenson/ Meredith Nordham, Joel Hanneman/Augusta Nadler, Frank Ustach/Caitlyn McCabe) and the New York Yacht Club (Colin Gordon, Michelle Yu, Mason Woodworth, and Chris Muesler).

The finals of the 2007 Wilson Trophy saw only the second ever all American final as Silver Panda and Whishbone met each other for the second year in a row. Defending Wilson Champion Whishbone won the coin toss and opted for the yellow fleet of boats. After a briefing by head umpire Peter Johnson both teams were aware that rule 42 violations would not be tolerated in the dying breeze. In the first race, the Pandas in the blue fleet of boats were able to take advantage of a right shift along the sea wall on the last beat to convert a 1-4-5 into a more stable 1-2 combination. In race two, it was the Pandas again with a better start than Whishbone, enabling the team to hold the lead for the entire race. Whishbone avoided the sweep by taking race 3 after a close leeward mark rounding sent one of their boats off to the right to catch the favorable famous seawall shift. With the Whishbone boat Catapulted from 3rd to first, Whishbone had comeback on their minds. In the final race, the Pandas capitalized on a crippling rule 42 call on team Whishbone and eventually finished with a 1-2 combo to seal their first ever overall win at the Wilson Trophy.

www.wilsontrophy.co.uk

SHORT TACKS
* This week on the Volvo Sailing Podcast we look at all things America's Cup with Peter Rusch as the Louis Vitton semi finals begin to take shape, we also catch up with legendary American tactician Dee Smith in the second part of our interview, and also talk to Sir Robin Knox Johnston as he returns to Britain at the end of the Velux Five Oceans, after becoming the oldest man ever to sail solo around the world. -- www.volvooceanrace.org/podcast/

* "When the next war is over, and if I live though it, Bea and I are going to sail her around the world." So said George S. Patton about the sixty-three-foot Alden schooner he and his wife had commissioned in 1939. Built by FF Pendleton in Wiscasset, Maine, When and If, as she was named incorporated improvements for comfort and safety on the high seas.. General Patton's dream was not to be. He was killed in an automobile accident in Europe shortly after the war ended.

The National Sailing Hall of Fame will host When and If at the DNR/Hall of Fame pier at Annapolis City Dock from May 21 through May 26. -- www.nshof.org

* Victoria, BC, Canada: This year's Swiftsure International Yacht Race, to be held May 26-28 off Victoria's waterfront, is expected to attract over 200 competing boats, organizers say.

Swiftsure is one of the most prominent international yacht races in North America. It began in 1930 with a handful of yachts and today attracts more than 1,400 racers from British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon and California.

"Variable winds, sizable tides, deceptive currents and deep-sea vessel traffic all contribute to the need for outstanding race strategy, tactical abilities and seamanship," according to the site.

On the web: www.swiftsure.org
www.mytelus.com/travel/article.do?pageID=home&articleID=2665853

* Toronto based Caritate Foundation has become Derek Hatfield's most recent platinum level partner as he prepares Spirit of Canada for international competition. The foundation is delighted to publicly add their name to the thousands of Canadians who have already helped Derek get ready to represent Canada at the ultimate world class sailing competition - the Vendee Globe. This major grant is a departure from the kinds of projects the foundation usually supports since they have no ties to the sailing community. -- www.spiritofcanada.net

ERNEST G TAYLOR
We were sad to hear the news that Ernie Taylor (AUS) passed away on 25 April after a long illness. He served as executive director of the Challenger Commission's forerunner, the Challenger of Record Committee (CORC), for the 1992 and 1995 Cups. The Kiwi challenger, Black Magic, defeated Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes at San Diego in 1995 thanks in part to the strength of the challengers as a group in the '95 LVC.

From ACM's statement: Dyer Jones, currently Regatta Director of the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia, Spain and who worked with Ernie in both events stated: "Ernie was a determined and forceful leader of the Challenger Committee who, because of his background in television, helped bring this event into the forefront of public attention. We extend our sympathy to his family; he will be missed by all of us in this event who knew him." -- from the Challenger Commission blog, challengercommission.com

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* From David Woakes: re: America's Cup coverage.
The live 3d feed is rather entertaining as the yachts appear to be drawn a good deal larger resulting in some interesting collisions where the bow of one boat goes through the other. I wish they offered the option to have boats drawn to a more realistic scale.

There was an interesting one recently which showed the committee boat about 2 boatlengths down from the line and at least one yacht sailed right through the middle of it!

THE LAST WORD
Don't dwell on reality; it will only keep you from greatness. -- Rev. Randall R. McBride, Jr.

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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