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EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND WINS LOUIS VUITTON CUP
Emirates Team New Zealand won its fifth consecutive race of the Final to sweep the Louis Vuitton Cup 5-0 and advance to the America's Cup Match. Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge put up a brave fight in this final contest on Wednesday afternoon, but were no match for the mighty Kiwis.

Racing was postponed for a short time to allow the light sea breeze to stabilise and settle. The fifth race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final began in an 8 knot Southeasterly, with hundreds of spectator boats out to see Emirates Team New Zealand claim the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The Kiwi team returned to Port America's Cup to a heroes welcome, settling in for the prize giving ceremony where the coveted Louis Vuitton Cup trophy was to be presented to a triumphant Emirates Team New Zealand.

A celebration that began with a nod to the Italian runners up, reached its pinnacle as a team of Wing Suit Flyers shot through the sky over an exhilarated crowd on this final day of the Louis Vuitton Cup. It's hard to say who was more excited the Kiwi fans or the champion Team New Zealand as screams, blow-horns and New Zealand flags filled the air. And what a show they had to watch.

The trophy arrived in style as spirals of red smoke trailed two paragliders who danced and tumbled through the sky. The crowd excitedly leapt up and down, shouting and pointing as the stuntmen glided to a stage perched in the center of the Port America's Cup canal with the trophy nestled safely in a Louis Vuitton suitcase.

There to hand over the coveted trophy was Yves Carcelle, chairman of Louis Vuitton; Michael Bonnefous, CEO of the organisers of the 32nd America's Cup; Antoine Arnaud, Louis Vuitton director of communication; and Bruno Trouble. Starting with Dean Barker Team New Zealand's skipper, who excepted the trophy, the trophy was passed down the line of eager team members all wanting to get a touch of what they had all worked so hard for and Moët and Chandon sprayed through the air.

* Until now, Team New Zealand's 'what if' plans in the event of winning the America's Cup have been hypothetical, but in claiming the Louis Vuitton Cup today they suddenly move up a gear. The possibility of the Cup returning to Auckland is very real, and possibly as close as 2010.

What exactly that will mean has been the subject of much speculation. One of the most persistent rumours is that the Cup will go to Dubai, courtesy of the oil money and the Emirates connection. While this is not being ruled out for some of the preceding Acts, the Cup itself would most definitely be fought in New Zealand.

"If the Cup is won it will be held in New Zealand. It's part of the contractual agreement we have with Team New Zealand," Trevor Mallard, New Zealand's Minister for Economic Development says. "Certainly we wouldn't rule out doing similar acts outside New Zealand but from a government point of view the idea of us hosting the Cup outside New Zealand is not a runner."

The New Zealand government pumped NZ$33 million into the team after the last America's Cup and has been working hard to use the base in Valencia to court business. Some 53 Kiwi companies have hosted more than 500 businesspeople there this summer, many of whom they believe would not have come all the way to New Zealand. So Valencia could remain as a venue prior to the Cup. "A lot of thought is going into leveraging round here," says Minister Mallard. "And from a New Zealand perspective there is quite a good window [for the Cup] in the summer of 2010/2011." -- from Elaine Bunting's blog on YBW.com: www.ybw.com/yw/blog/elaine_bunting.html

* Emirates Team New Zealand won another race against Luna Rossa to take the Louis Vuitton Cup by five races to nil. It is the first time that any team has won this trophy for the America's Cup challenger series without suffering a single defeat.

But 5-0 is not the true measure of the Kiwis' victory, the score line belies the closeness of the racing and on the last day it was very close indeed.

And for once, as Team New Zealand crossed the finish line, there were signs of jubilation – the sailors proved that they are human.

For the whole series, there has been a purposeful air about the Kiwi camp that displayed the complete determination to eradicate the defeat in Auckland four years ago. Today's completion of the Louis Vuitton Cup is the first step towards restoring the true pride of New Zealand's sailors. Now it is on to the America's Cup.

The last race was one of classic proportions and hanging over the Italian team like the Sword of Damocles was the knowledge that from early in the morning the organisers were overtly planning the Cup presentation ceremony.

Going out to the course must have felt like a tumbrel ride to the guillotine. -- Bob Fisher in Sail-World.com (we all a debt of gratitude to Rob Kothe for funding The Fish's must-read editorials for the past month), full article at http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=34378

* Okay so the media centre is full of jobbing journalists, all the photographers are in town, the place is thronging with excitement and the regatta starts to feel almost as though it's got a pulse... Do you realise that there's 17 days to wait before the next bit of action...

What infuriates me is that there's absolutely no flexibility in all of this. Just as the Cup starts to get momentum, ACM shut it down for over two weeks! The situation is faintly ridiculous and to be honest there's little point in complaining because they just refuse to listen to anything or anyone. -- Magnus Wheatley's blog at rule69blog.com

* Photos of the final race of the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup, courtesy Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com and Ingrid Abery, www.hotcapers.com , in the Scuttlebutt Europe photo gallery, scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/ in the America's Cup section.

www.americascup.com

WHAT DO THESE SUCCESSFUL SAILORS HAVE IN COMMON?
Simon Hiscock & Chris Draper - GBR - 49er - World Champion 2006
Darren Bundock & Glenn Ashby - AUS - F18 & Tornado - World Champion 2006
Holger Jess & Wofgang Hunger - GER - 5o5 - World Champion 2005
Stellan Berlin - SWE - 2.4 - World Champion 2006

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GAME ON!
At 1600 hours (French time) the fleet of the Calais Round Britain had squeezed back into a 70 mile slot from head to tail, midway up the West coast of Ireland so it's game on once more for the whole fleet.

The top trio PRB, VM Materiaux and Temenos are in contact, less than 3 miles apart, and seemingly may well have just hit slightly fresher winds in the past hour from a new weather system...

The atmosphere is one of flat seas with a big swell, precision trimming and ballast shifting and light winds...for now at least.

Bernard Stamm was feeling confident about the next part of the race, even though it worried him to see that the leaders could take off again. "We had a quiet night but it wasn't easy! When we got level with the Skellig islands we had to take on the counter current and presently we're suffering a little as we are missing a head sail, a Code 0… We saw Roxy this morning and now the girls are just behind us. The situation in Ireland has reshuffled the cards and that's just as well as the start of the race had exploded the fleet a little too quickly! We need a little more breeze as I fear that the rich are going to get richer… The return of the wind should favour the front runners, but the weather files would have you believe that there will be more twists off Scotland. We'll have to watch that we don't start tacking backwards!" -- Kate Jennings - Laurence Dacoury

* From aboard Artemis Ocean Racing:
I was awoken last night by a persistent tapping noise and crawled out of the dark aft bunk to investigate. The boat was also slewing about, constantly loading up and unloading. Johnny and Gringo were either side of the Nav station in the keel box. Both of them had head torches on. Jonny had noticed a new noise that he couldn't attribute to anything so he went and inspected the keel. The keel pin which attaches the head of the keel to the hydraulics had worked itself loose.

Fortunately conditions had been light and Jonny had spotted it in time. Fraser was dialling Artemis up and down to load and unload the keel whilst Jonny and Gringo tapped away with the 'persuader' (hammer). Nothing was damaged and everything dropped back into place as it should be; remarkably unremarkable as far as keel issues go.

Event site unreachable at press time...

calaisroundbritainrace.com

AT LEAST THE AMERICA'S CUP LOGO DIDN'T CAUSE SEIZURES...
Animated footage promoting the logo for the 2012 London Olympic Games was removed from the organisers' Web site on Tuesday amid concern it could trigger epileptic fits.

The video clip shows a diver plunging into a pool as part of a campaign to promote the jagged Olympic logo, a graffiti-like blow-up of the number 2012 in a range of colours including hot pink and electric blue.

A London 2012 spokeswoman said the concerns surrounded a four-second piece of animation shown at the logo's launch on Monday and recorded by broadcasters.

Emphasising that it was not the logo itself which was the focus of health worries, she said: "This concerns a short piece of animation which we used as part of the logo launch event and not the actual logo."

"It was a diver diving into a pool which had multi-colour ripple effects," the spokeswoman said. Critics of the emblem have described it as "hideous", while organisers called it powerful and modern.

The clip's removal follows comments by Professor Graham Harding, an expert in clinical neuro-physiology who developed a test used to measure photo-sensitivity levels in animated TV material.

"The logo should not be shown on TV at all at the moment," Harding told the BBC. "It fails Harding FPA machine test which is the machine the television industry uses to test images." He said the footage did not comply with regulatory guidelines.

sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6685903,00.html

* Correction: last night's Eurobutt stated that the logo design cost 500,000 pounds. It was merely 400,000 (which presumably covered the crayon and marker costs). Nice work if you can get it.

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

SECOND LEG VICTORY FOR BERENGER AND CHAGABNY: CAP ISTANBUL
And now a win in the second leg! Kone Elevators, the Figaro Beneteau sailed by Nicolas Berenger and Thierry Chabagny, sailed in Foca, Turkey on Wednesday June 6 at 2125 local time. The winners of the first stage have done it again.

After leading into and out of the Ionian Sea, the duo didn't weaken in the Aegean sea. The next competitor, Docteur Valnet (Pellecuer-Gabart), was expected at 2300.

"We are immensely happy.. we had an exceptional final sprint along the Turkish coasts, which are really superb. It's a great pleasure to win this 800 mile stage across the Mediterranean. We gave it 100%", said Berenger.

The third stage is 100 miles long and will take the fleet to Bozcaada, at the entrance of the Dardanelles. That stage will start on Sunday 10 June, with the fleet expected to arrive on Tuesday, where they'll convoy through the Dardenelles. The final stage sails from Bozcaada on Wednesday 13 June, 110 miles to the finish at Istanbul.

Another superb race tracker for this site, direct to it is capistanbul.geovoile.com

Event site: www.capistanbul.com (In French, English and Turkish, but only the French portion is regularly updated...)

ROLEX FARR 40 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy: Three races, three different winners and only three points separating the top three boats. The Rolex Farr 40 Europeans are underway and the racing was as tight and exciting as expected. A difficult day for the tacticians with only 7-8 knots of breeze, that started from the North East and ended up from the South East. A perfect day for spectators gathered to watch one design racing at its best. The secret seemed to be to pick the correct side of the first beat, establish a lead and trust one's judgment for the remainder of the race. Easier said than done, as two of the leaders after the first two races discovered in the third race, when they finished at the back of the fleet.

Leading after three 7 nautical mile windward-leeward races is Eivind Astrup and Norwegian Steam. By Astrup's own admission after a successful 2006 season, 2007 has proved difficult with poor results to date. A bullet in race 1 clearly helped their confidence and although that success was not repeated, two more top ten results have edged the Nordic crew led by tactician Morten Henriksen into a slender two point lead over Marco Rodolfi's TWT, who also posted a first today. One point further back lies Massimo Mezzaroma and Nerone. Tactician Vasco Vascotto kept the results firmly in the top ten in each race. And, as Farr 40 events have proven time and time again, it is consistent top ten finishes that offer a good chance for overall victory.

Racing at the Rolex Settimana delle Bocche, for the Rolex Farr 40 European Championship organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda continues tomorrow 7th June 2007. The first race is scheduled for 12 noon. The forecast wind tomorrow is for south-easterly winds of around 5 knots moving easterly in the afternoon.

Top five provisional standings:

1. Norwegian Steam, NOR, Eivind Astrup, 14.00 points
2. TWT, Marco Rodolfi, ITA, 16.00
3. Nerone, Massimo Mezzaroma, ITA, 17.00
4. Cannonball, Dario Ferrari, ITA, 23.00
5. Kokomo, Lang & Sue Walker, AUS, 24.00

www.rolexsettimanadellebocche.com

JOIN PELAGIC AUSTRALIS - SOUTH GEORGIA ADVENTURES
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FINN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lake Balaton, Hungary: Only one race was sailed Wednesday at the Finn European Championship. The race win went to Walclaw Szukiel (POL) after a close battle with Dan Slater (NZL), but the current world champion, Jonas Hogh-Christensen (DEN) takes the lead of the regatta with a 16, 4, 17 scoreline.

Wednesday dawned colder and cloudy on Lake Balaton, with more light winds providing very tricky conditions. Course 2, the double return loop was sailed again. However, conditions were more challenging with a fickle 4-6 knot breeze that turned some sailors race into a game of dice.

This event is looking like being a very high scoring regatta. After just three races, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen moved from 5th to 1st after scoring at 17th today. Slater's second place moves him up to second overall, while overnight leader Eduard Skornyakov (RUS) drops to third. The highest placed British sailor is in fourth place. After a 19th today Nick Craig (GBR) moves up two places to 4th overall with Brendan Casey in 5th and Andre Budzien (GER) in 6th. In the juniors, Marko Kolic (ITA) is in 29th place, only 4 points ahead of Ian Cook (USA) who placed 11th today. Third placed Junior is Frederico Melo (POR). With the seemingly random results of some competitors, it is hard to make any sort of prediction for the rest of the regatta.

The depth of the fleet here is a major challenge to competitors. With 27 nations competing, and 91 boats on the water, getting anywhere near the front is very tough. Currently, there are 16 nations represented in the top 20. Interestingly, the Dutch and the British teams both have three boats in the top 20. Highlighting how tough it is to stay consistent here, the winners of yesterday's races finished 47th and 76th respectively. -- Robert Deaves

Two races are scheduled for Thursday at 10.00 wind permitting.

Event website: www.spartacus.hu
Class website: www.finnclass.org

* Photos by Robert Deaves at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos in the Other Events section

ISAF MATCH RACE RANKINGS
There is no stopping Claire Leroy (FRA) as the French skipper holds the world #1 spot for the 20th consecutive release of the Women's ISAF World Match Race Rankings. In the Open Rankings, Ian Williams (GBR) also stays at #1, although he has the on form Mathieu Richard (FRA) hot on his heels.

Although Williams could only place 11th and lost his World Championship lead at the latest stage of the World Match Racing Tour, his brilliant early season form keeps him safely in the top spot. However Richard has taken a big chunk out the gap between the top two, as the ISAF Nations Cup winner enjoyed a fantastic May. First of all he donned the Crimson Blazer after winning the ISAF Grade 1 Congressional Cup in Long Beach, before zipping back across the Atlantic to take second place at the ISAF Grade WC Match Race Germany and the overall lead in the World Championship Standings.

The major move at the top of the Rankings come from the winner in Germany Paolo CIAN (ITA), who climbs up two places to #3. After impressing in Valencia behind the wheel of the South African challenger Shosholoza, the Italian looked very impressive on his return to the smaller boats and his win on Lake Constance boosted him up to second in the World Championship Standings.

It was also a great May for Russian skipper Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS), who finished fifth at Long Beach before recording a World Tour-best result of fourth in Germany. The 25 year old Russian consequently moves up to enter the world top five, just behind Sebastien Col (FRA).

Claire Leroy's (FRA) reign as the women's world #1 match racer continues as she stands firm at the top of the Rankings for the 20th consecutive release. Since knocking Marie Bjorling (SWE) off the top spot on 4 May 2005, the 27 year old French skipper has recorded ten ISAF Graded event wins and 21 top-three finishes to maintain her world #1 Ranking. However, Leroy's dominance of the World Rankings has yet to be reflected in the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship, a statistic she will be looking to put right when the Worlds come to her home waters in France this August.

A two-time winner of the Women's Worlds, Sally Barkow (USA), also got the better of Leroy at the latest event on the women's circuit, the ISAF Grade 1 Boat U.S. Santa Maria Cup in Annapolis, USA. Barkow brought her Yngling crew Debbie Capozzi and Carrie Howe to Annapolis and teamed up with Laser Radial world #1 Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) to form what proved to be a formidable team.

Top ten, Open:
1. Ian Williams, Great Britain
2. Mathieu Richard, France
3. Paolo Cian, Italy
4. Sebastien Col, France
5. Eugeniy Neugodnikov, Russia
6. Staffan Lindberg, Finland
7. Chris Dickson, New Zealand
8. Damien Iehl, France
9. Bjorn Hansen, Sweden
10. Peter Gilmour, Australia

Top ten, Women:
1. Claire Leroy , France
2. Lotte Meldgaared Pedersen, Denmark
3. Klaartje Zuiderbaan, Netherlands
4. Silke Hahlbrock, Germany
5. Nicky Souter, Australia
6. Katie Spithill, Australia
7. Christelle Philippe, France
8. Jenny Axhede, Sweden
9. Silja Lehtinen, Finland
10. Josie Gibson, Great Britain

Complete rankings at sailing.org

THE LAST WORD
Architecture in general is frozen music. -- F.W.J. Schelling

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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