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PAOLO CIAN WINS MATCH RACE GERMANY
Langenargen, Germany: Paolo Cian won his second World Match Racing Tour championship when he defeated Mathieu Richard 2-0 in the final of the 10th annual Match Race Germany. Cian, helmsman of the South African America´s Cup-team Shosholoza, and his crew overcame the French Saba Sailing team of Mathieu Richard.

Cian and his Team Shosholoza crew Pierluigi Fornelli, Santino Brizzi, Pierluigi FelioPietro Mantovani finished with a 13 -5 record and won 4,800 Euros of the 20,000 Euro prize purse.

Shifty conditions with gusty 10 to 15 knot winds challenged the finalists and were significant in the tight races that were displayed. However, it was a tacking duel in both races that allowed Cian to display his skill as an America's Cup helmsman

Despite coming second, Richard has earned enough points to secure the number one spot on the World Match Racing Tour leader board. He currently leads with 70 points. He is closely followed by Cian with 66 points, whilst the World #1, Ian Williams, slips in to third place with 62 points.

The petite final saw Staffan Lindberg of Alandia Sailing Team take on Eugeniy Neugodnikov's team Lord of the Sail. "It was simply not my day" said Neugodnikov who lost both his races to take the 4th spot and a prize fund of 2,000 Euros.

www.matchrace.de

CAP ISTANBUL RACE: FLEET APPROACHING TRAPANI
On the 26th of may, sixteen Figaro Beneteaus, being sailed double-handed, set sail from the coast of Marseille towards Turkey. The race is in four stages. The first takes the fleet from Marseilles to Trapani, Sicily, a distance of 490 miles.

The second stage is from Trapani to Phocee, Turkey, 773 miles. Next, Phocee to Bozcaada at the entrance to the Dardeanelles (110 miles). After motoring through the Dardanelles, the final stage sails from Gelibolu to Istanbul (140 miles).

After their second night on sea, the figarists are sailing under hard conditions. Boats' average speed is 10-11. The leading boat, sponsored by Luisina Design, belongs to Drouglazet-Bouvet team. Dupret-Pavant team, with Demaine du Mont d'Arbois boat is following them. The Berenger-Chabagny team is the third with their Kone Elevators boat.

The predictions for weather came true and the wind blowing from West grew faster during the second night. Guillaume Rottee, one of the directors of the race, said: "The speed of the wind is 20-25 knot now. Our speed is 10 nautical-miles. We have to go at top speed in order to be ahead of the boats. Tides are high and we expect that the wind is going to be 30-35 knots."

Under these conditions the boats are expected to arrive to Trapani on Tuesday night.

Top five: (based on the data received at 08:00 on 28th of May)
1. Luisina Design : Eric Drouglazet / Christophe Bouvet
2. Domaine du Mont d'Arbois : Thierry Duprey du Vorsent / Kito de Pavant
3. Kone Elevators : Nicolas Berenger / Thierry Chabagny
4. Bostik Nicolas : Lunven / Oliver Krauss
5. Aquarelle.com : Yannick Bestaven / Ronan Guerin

www.capistanbul.com

SWAN 601 ARTEMIS IS AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER FOR THE 2007 SEASON
This is a rare opportunity to charter this 2005 stunning high performance German Frers-designed Swan. Sporting full carbon composite construction and renowned Nautor Styling, Artemis will provide you with the ultimate racing experience. She is fully race-prepared to the highest standard and raring to go.

Racing with a maximum crew of 16, Artemis is available for Caribbean and UK based race charters and corporate entertainment. She will also be available in the Mediterranean for America's Cup 2007 series viewing.

Please contact Peter Bresnan on +44799097081 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BREITLING REGATTA
Medemblik, Netherlands: The final day of the ISAF Grade 1 Breitling Regatta brought with it the Medal Races and more of the changeable conditions that have characterized this week's racing on the IJsselmeer. The Italians proved the masters of Medemblik, picking up another three gold medals and one silver, whilst Japan's Wakako TABATA and Naomi KURITA were the surprise hit, winning the Medal Race to take overall victory in the Women's 470 fleet.

The last day of the Breitling Regatta started with a nice breeze and some clouds. For the first groups in the Medal Race that meant that racing was possible and stable. After the first Medal Races conditions changed and the wind died out. After a delay the Medal Races started again but unfortunately the full schedule of races could not be completed.

The results from Medemblik are sure to make their impact felt on the next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings on Wednesday 30 May.

Top three by class:

470 Men
1. Gabrio Zandona / Andrea Trani, ITA, 49 points
2. Benjamin Bonnaud / Romain Bonnaud, FRA, 84
3. Nicolas Charbonnier / Olivier Bausset, FRA, 105

470 Women
1. Wakako Tabata / Naomi Kurita, JPN, 79
2. Elisabetta Saccheggiani / Elisa Cecconi, ITA, 86
3. Vesna Dekleva Paoli / Klara Maucec, SLO, 88

49er
1. Petro Sibello / Gianfranco Sibello, ITA, 60
2. Nathan Outteridge / Ben Austin, AUS, 72
3. Stevie Morrison / Ben Rhodes, GBR, 77

Finn
1. Dan Slater, NZL, 43
2. Pieter-Jan Postma, NED, 46
3. Ed Wright, GBR, 48

Laser
1. Tom Slingsby, AUS, 46
2. Gustavo Lima, POR, 72
3. Michael Leigh, CAN, 74

Laser Radial
1. Evi van Acker, BEL, 55
2. Petra Niemann, GER, 61
3. Penny Clark, GBR, 68

Neil Pryde RS:X Men
1. Ricardo Santos, BRA, 35
2. Chi Ho Ho, HKG, 39
3. Nick Dempsey, GBR, 43

Neil Pryde RS:X Women
1. Jannicke Stalstrom, NOR, 15
2. Jessica Crisp, AUS, 22
3. Faustine Merret, FRA, 24

Star
1. Diego Negri / Luigi Viale, ITA, 55
2. Mateusz Kusznierewicz / Dominik Zycki, POL, 56
3. Afonso Domingos / Bernardo Santos, POR, 59

Yngling
1. Sarah Ayton / Sarah Webb / Pippa Wilson, GBR, 68
2. Mandy Mulder / Brechtje vd Werf / Marije Kampen, NED, 84
3. Renee Groeneveld / Marije Faber / Floortje Hendriksen, NED, 90

Tornado
1. Xavier Revil / Christophe Espagnon, FRA, 75
2. Johannes Polgar / Florian Spalteholz, GER, 91
3. Yann Guichard / Alexandre Guyader, FRA, 96

Full results at www.breitlingregatta.org

OEIRAS CUP
Oeiras, Portugal: The third stage of the RC 44 Championship Tour - the Oeiras Cup - will be held in Portugal between May 31 and June 1. Oeiras is a little town located half way between Lisbon and Cascais, and a great sailing venue. Six teams will compete for the trophy, as well as for some more points on the RC 44 Championship Tour.

Current joint leaders of the annual contest after two regattas, Chris Bake's Team Aqua (UAE) and Miroslav Reljanovic's Cro-A-Sail (CRO) are the logical favourites of the event. However, Team Omega, with Russell Coutts (at the helm for the match races) and Nicholas Verwilghen (steering during the fleet regattas) will do their best to get back to the top. Also competing for victory, Isao Mita's Beecom (JPN) and the Italian team Magia Alike will certainly seriously challenge the current leaders of the championship.

One new team joins the fleet for the first time in Oeiras: Team V1 Racing (UAE), sailing onboard the first RC 44 built by V1 in Dubai. Rasmus Kostner is expected on board, possibly with some more America's Cup sailors.

As usually, the competition will start and finish with fleet races, whilst match-races will be held on Friday and Saturday.

www.rc44.com

AN ABSORBING INTEREST
Copies of the First Edition of Bob Fisher's definitive history of the America's Cup 1851-2003 are fast disappearing through the warehouse doors. Your chance to realise the opportunity to obtain one of this strictly limited edition of two volumes, each lavishly illustrated with paintings, photographs, lithographs, cartoons, caricatures and log extracts, can be obtained by going to: www.wiley.com/go/americas

Buy now while stocks last!

DISABLED ROUND GREAT BRITAIN SAILOR WEATHERBOUND IN BRIXHAM
Quadriplegic sailor, Geoff Holt, who is attempting to sail around the coast of Great Britain, has been weather bound in Brixham, Devon since last Thursday.

Geoff left Southampton on Sunday 21st May and sailed to Lymington, Portland and Bridport before arriving in Brixham. He had hoped to get further around the coast by now, but has been waiting for a weather window. Geoff will not set sail for Plymouth before Wednesday 30th May and even then only if the weather is a lot calmer. On his website www.personaleverest.com Geoff writes:

"Well we are currently weatherbound again, this time in the dinghy compound of Brixham Yacht Club, who have been wonderful hosts. The reception on arrival here last Thursday was wonderful. Members of the BYC and the Brixham Rotary Club were on the slipway to help us in. We have even been given use of their dinghy compound to house our entourage of vehicles. Thursday night was race night and we were treated to dinner in the Club before I was asked to give a brief update on my Challenge and guests subsequently raised money towards the local Sailability group.

To follow Geoff's progress around Great Britain: www.personaleverest com

INTERVIEWS
Valencia Sailing talks to James Spithill of Luna Rossa:

Valencia Sailing: Let's start with the semifinals. Were you surprised to beat BMW Oracle by such a margin?

James Spithill: I was surprised with the score line. Honestly, we always thought it was going to go to the full nine races. When I was preparing and looking at the two teams, we both looked very strong and I could see no reason why it shouldn't go to the nine races. So my answer is yes, we were surprised but the score line doesn't represent how close racing was.

Valencia Sailing: Without any doubt, your very successful prestarts played a very important role in your victories against BMW Oracle. Don't you think you sometimes took too much risk for an America's Cup boat and race?

James Spithill: No, because this is what we have been doing in house. The only reason we were really able to go out and push hard with confidence is because we had been pushing very hard with our in-house racing. Philippe Presti and all the guys on ITA-86 have been pushing ITA-94 to the limit. In addition, they have been providing with lots of support during the races, such as analysis and spotting areas where we need to improve. Philippe Presti and Charlie McKee have done a fantastic job.

Valencia Sailing: Sure, but you lost your second semifinal race against BMW Oracle because of what a lot of people thought was Torben throwing a dice hoping to get lucky. Is he going to follow more conventional match racing tactics now?

James Spithill: When I look at my team and its tacticians, Charlie McKee and Torben Grael, I wouldn't want anyone else in the back of the boat calling tactics. They both are extremely good in their jobs and among the best in the world. One thing that has been satisfying to me is that we have been able to show we can play a lot of different styles in the game. We can play the read the wind, split, or we can play the tight match racing and go bow for bow. For us it's something we have been working on very hard and it's good to be able to show it. We will keep doing what we have been doing, keep training the same and not change anything.

Valencia Sailing: What is that you fear the most about the New Zealanders?

James Spithill: The fact that when I look carefully at them I don't see any weaknesses. I'm sure they feel the same when they look at us. For me it's just two teams that are extremely evenly matched and I'm sure we will see a real fight on the water.

Full interview at valenciasailing.blogspot.com

* Emirates Team New Zealand's Grant Dalton was interviewed on Murray Deaker's sports talk show on Newstalk ZB last Sunday afternoon between 5.00pm and 6.00pm(NZT).

You can listen to it by clicking here: www.newstalkzb.co.nz/thisweek/117.asx , then forward your media player about nine minutes into the recording where the interview begins. You can also fast forward through the commercials. It must run for almost 45 minutes.

The BMW Oracle Racing Blog (blog.bmworacleracing.com/main), which is back to business as normal, comments:

"The questions from callers were very, perhaps astonishingly, well-informed. Speaks well of the popularity of yachting and the AC in NZL, and how knowledgeable the general population is. And Mr Dalton's answers were open, transparent and informative -- whether about our team (he comments only briefly at the beginning), Luna Rossa or his own team." -- from Sail-World.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=34107

* The most successful America's Cup skipper, Russell Coutts, now required to sit-out the 32nd Match, was interviewed earlier today on New Zealand's Radio Sport, by Brendan Telfer.

Click on the following link: www.radiosport.co.nz/AudioBank/WeekOnDemand/ then drop down to 0915 - 0930 and slide along to the start of the interview 2mins 35 seconds in.

The interview lasts for 10 minutes and covers Coutts's impresssions of BMW Oracle's and Chris Dickson's performance in the Semi-Finals; how he expects Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa to work out in the Finals; and comments on Alinghi and their expected performance in the Match. -- Sail-World.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=34105

BE IN THE FRONT ROW OF THE SPECTATOR FLEET IN VALENCIA!
Our Shosholoza team spectator boat still operates - every race day until the end of the America's Cup Match. Morning briefing on our rooftop terrace overlooking Alinghi and Luna Rossa. Official "event flag" puts us in the reserved area closest to the start box and laylines. Live AC TV on board. Full buffet lunch with drinks. Expert commentators. All the fun you would expect from "The Soul of Sailing". Many hotels available, we can help. GROUPS WELCOME.

Reserve tickets online at www.cupexperience.com or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

18 FOOTER ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Day 2 of the 18ft Skiff Grand Prix in Lake Como again looked like it was going to be waiting game for the breeze to fill in. But by 2pm the skies had cleared and the fleet were called to the water. The race officer decided to fire off the first race of the day in the dying Northerly, before the thermal southerly kicked in. This was almost a cut and paste of the previous days race sailed also in a light 5-6knots, when Pindar Radii dominated in the conditions. Pica this time picked up the second spot while General Electric was relegated to third. The Italian team in Elcotec came in a consistent fourth. The race officer did well to shorten the course as the breeze faded completely, allowing the whole fleet to complete the race.

Within 30mins, a building 12-15knot breeze had kicked in from the South providing the teams with an energy sapping three races back to back with the big rigs on - plenty of action for the camera teams!

The last race proved to be the undoing for most - only 7 of the 20 entries managed to finish, with various gear breakage and tired teams from capsize recovery to blame. Pindar Radii found their top gear in this breeze at last and led from start to finish, just ahead of the GP Covers team. Their Danish team mates in Botolex finished third while the Hungarian team of www.skiffsailing.hun took fourth. General Electric were lying in third but an uncharacteristic boat handling error left them updside down at the last leeward mark, but somehow got the skiff up quickly to finish 5th.

Results after Day 2: (5 races, 20 entries, 1 discard)

1st Pindar Radii (GBR) - Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley, Dave Richards, 5pts
2nd General Electric (GBR) - Mason Woodworth, David Brown, Simon Hamilton, 7pts
3rd Elcotec (ITA) - Stefano Lagi, Giovanni Bonzio, Luca Bonezzi, 16pts
4th Pica (GBR) - James Mears, Matt Gill, Stuart Mears, 17pts
5th Botolex (DEN) - Jesper Broendum, Jesper Holst, Martin Friderichsen, 18pts

www.18footer.org

THE TOTALLY AUTONOMOUS YACHT - COMING SOON?
Soon it seems you'll be able to cross oceans in your sailing yacht without winding a winch or touching a steering wheel. They're not on the market yet, but if an Austrian Association has its way, it won't be long.

Triton reports that the research team from the Austrian Association for Innovative Computer Science (InnoC) has developed a fully automatic mechanism for their innovative ROBOAT, in order to make this vision come true. In September this year their ROBOAT will face the challenge to sail the Irish Sea without human control or intervention.

With wind as the only propulsion, their ROBOAT is able to autonomously navigate towards any given target and the optimal route is calculated by weighting drift coordinates against weather parameters. The rudder and sails as well as the tacks and jibes are autonomously controlled by incoming data from sensors (GPS, compass, anemometer, etc.), which are analyzed using artificial intelligence. In the full-scale application a sailor on board will be able to overrule the system for manual control.

'Our ROBOAT for the Microtransat championship in Wales is about four metres long. Nevertheless, the algorithms and systems used on board can be scaled up for use on larger boats that are more frequently found on the open sea' according to Roland Stelzer, who is the project leader of the ROBOAT 2007 and President of the InnoC Association. 'The future we envisage for the ROBOAT system is that it can become a reliable support tool for sailors in leisure boats, a means to cut energy costs by use in waterway logistics, and in addition an aid for rescue boats.'

www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=33883

NEW ORGANIZATION FOR GERMAN OFFSHORE SAILORS
On 23rd May a new organization - the German Offshore Owners' Association (GER-OO) - was founded at the clubhouse of the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (NRV), Hamburg. Board members are Volker Andreae (chairman), Arnt Bruhns (vice chairman), Henning Rocholl (treasurer).

GER-OO will promote in Germany international regatta sailing and will represent the interests of offshore owners to the Deutscher Segler Verband (DSV) and race organizers. GER-OO's major emphasis will be on middle- and long-distance races and also to assist German owners in the Mediterranean.

The inaugural meeting unanimously voted to promote the use of IRC in Germany as a parallel scoring system in order to keep up-to-date with its development.

Membership of GER-OO is open to German owners and skippers of offshore yachts of more than 35ft LOA.

Enquiries to GER-OO chairman Volker Andreae - details: www.GER-OO.org

THE LAST WORD
Only Irish Coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, fat. -- Alex Levine

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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