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CALAIS ROUND BRITAIN RACE
With a 40 mile lead ahead of the ten other monohulls this Monday evening, Vincent Riou, the winner of the last Vendee Globe and the 2003 edition of the Calais Round Britain Race must surely have victory within his grasp after 8 days of racing. The final hurdle, a zone of light wind at the entry to the Channel, is just about the only thing that can stop him now as he wisely positions himself between the chasing pack and the elusive port of Calais in NE France.

Though victory for PRB tomorrow would appear to be fairly certain tomorrow, crew Hugues Destremau, tactician during the last Louis Vuitton Cup, is not terribly optimistic about the end of the race. "The conditions have become very variable: sometimes it works and sometimes it's a real hassle. There's not much we can do on deck to change the situation. It's not over for us yet though. The wind is very light and very shifty, with 90 degree wind shifts. We're currently in a calm zone again which wasn't really forecast and we're having to react to the wind when we have it. There are no radical explanations we are simply remaining humble, but if it stays like this we won't make Calais tomorrow as planned!"

Closing on second with every ranking, Jeremie Beyou (Delta Dore) was still in hope prior to crossing the finish line.

www.calaisroundbritainrace.com

COUTTS QUARTER TON CUP
Peter Morton and his Espada crew of Kelvin Rawlings, John Newnham, Stuart Childerly and John Kemp are the 2007 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup Champions. Designed by Bruce Farr in 1980 Espada has undergone extensive restoration work in the past two years, virtually all of it undertaken by Peter and his crew personally.

The three day regatta hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes, concluded with a final day of superbly competitive racing that brought the best conditions of the series for the 26 competitors. Race Officer Bob Milner initially held the crews ashore for an hour as the sun burnt off the mist and his team kept an eye on the evolving conditions around the Solent. Before long the first signs of a South Easterly breeze were developing and the fleet was off across the Bramble Bank and preparing to set up for the final three races of the nine race regatta. Two windward leeward races were followed by a final romp around the cans home to Cowes which brought both the strongest winds of the day in the mid teens and the lightest when the wind dropped off to almost nothing at all as the boast struggled to cross the line against the tide off Cowes.

Tom Bombadil, designed by Doug Peterson in 1980, owned by Chris Frost and Kevin George with Kevin at the helm, also showed great form in races seven and eight scoring two thirds. They were looking set for another good result in the final race until the closing moments when the fleet compressed as the wind ran out on the final approaches to the finish and they ultimately scored an 8th, their worst result of the regatta.

The Christie/Layton/Crawford/Paul owned ASAP, designed by Fauroux in 1989 was the top performer of the day coming home with a win and two second places.

As always the prize giving was an entertaining affair with 68 year old Pete Bryant of Alice winning the oldest bowman prize. The Red Funnel Trophy for the youngest crew went to Captain Moonlight, a 1973 Paul Whiting design owned by Tye Shuttleworth, and Tony Dodd and the legendary Purple Haze crew won the oldest crew award. Ollie Ophaus was the very proud recipient of the Marine Ware Concourse d'Elegance Tropphy, awarded for the fantastic refit job he has done on the 1978 Ed Dubois designed Supernova. The Ron Holland Eygthene Trophy for the first production boat went to Chris Frost and Kevin George's Tom Bombadil.

For the Quarter Ton Class the next major event on the horizon is the Round The Island Race when at least 15 Quarter Tonners are expected to compete.

Top Six
1. Espada, Peter Morton
2. Catch, Darren Marston
3. ASAP, Christie/Layton/Crawford/Paul
4. Tom Bombadil, Chris Frost/Kevin George
5. Runaway Bus, Paul Kelsey
6. Super Q, Louise Morton

Full results at www.rcyc.co.uk

For further information about the Quarter Ton Class please visit www.quartertonclass.org

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FINN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Lake Balaton, Hungary: It has been 21 years since a Russian sailor has won a major Finn title, but today on Lake Balaton Eduard Skornyakov (RUS) successfully defended his overnight points lead to take the 2007 Finn European title on the last beat of the medal race.

A week of challenging and intense sailing culminated on Lake Balaton Saturday, with the medal race for the top ten and the final points race for the rest of the fleet. As has been the pattern for the past four days, a thermal wind filled in around 0800 and, although one of the weakest of the week, was enough to sail both races.

The course was set close to the club for the spectators to enjoy with two windward leeward loops sailed.

On the tense final leg Skornyakov covered Kljakovic Gaspic's wind from behind, but he had done enough. Kljakovic Gaspic needed at least two boats between himself and the Russian to take the title. Meanwhile at the front of the fleet, Papathanasiou's third win of the regatta secured him the bronze medal.

Skornyakov has only been sailing the Finn since September 2006, after moving out of 49ers. He was well prepared from sailing on the lakes in Moscow, where he is supported by the Moscow Sailing School.

According to Pat Healy, the Chairman of the International Jury, the sailors here have been remarkably well behaved - well on the water anyway, with relatively few flags and protests. Healy is happy with the way week has gone. He commented, "This generation of Finn sailors seem to have an awful lot of respect, not only for the rules but also for their fellow competitors. If someone makes a mistake, they are generally doing their two turns automatically. As for Rule 42, the fleet looks very quiet on the whole. Personally, I think that sailing is more fun when everyone follows the rules, and I hope that the Finn sailors here do too and also had an enjoyable week."

The Finn class has one more major regatta - Kiel Week - before assembling in Cascais, Portugal for the ISAF Worlds and the first qualification opportunity for the 2008 Olympic Regatta. -- Robert Deaves

Top five final places:
1. Eduard Skornyakov, RUS, 56 points
2. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, CRO, 59
3. Emilios Papathanasiou, GRE, 68
4. Gasper Vincenc, SLO, 78
5. Jonas H. Christensen, DEN, 86

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

THE ARCH
Saturday morning Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who likes to be known simply as 'The Arch', visited the Team Shosholoza base, proudly sporting one of the team's baseball caps. The Archbishop has been a fan of the South African team from the very start of the Shosholoza campaign almost three years ago, and he held true to his promise of visiting the team in Valencia during the 32nd America's Cup.

The Archbishop won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts in helping to bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, and is a tireless campaigner to improve the lives of children in Africa who have the AIDS syndrome. He is also a big sports fan, and has been one of Shosholoza's most enthusiastic supporters, assuring the sailors earlier this year that he would be making the most of his "hotline to God". He may be a holy man, but he has a sense of humour to go with it.

Shosholoza's team boss Captain Salvatore Sarno was there to greet The Arch, and showed him around the base.

Captain Sarno has already committed Shosholoza to participating in the 33rd America's Cup, although he makes no secret of "hoping that it remains in Europe in order to take advantage of existing infrastructure". If it does stay in Europe, Captain Sarno says the team would operate on an estimated budget of 30 million Euros. "If we exceed this limit, it would be an insult against the many people that we represent [in South Africa] who have so few comforts in their lives."

www.americascup.com

* Photos courtesy Ingrid Abery, www.hotcapers.com in the Scuttlebutt Europe photo gallery, scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/

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BREITLING MEDCUP
The opening event of the Breitling MedCup will be held in Alicante on Spain's Costa Blanca, just a couple of hours south of the America's Cup host city, Valencia.

In addition to playing host to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2008, this year the TP52 fleet will be able to take advantage of the new marina and harbour in the city centre.

The Alicante Cup starts on Tuesday 12th June in Alicante, Spain with a practice race. An average of nine races are sailed during the regatta (a mixture of windward/leeward course and coastal races). Racing finishes on Sunday 17th June with the Official Prizegiving that same evening.

The fleet is making last minute adjustments and some are already out sailing in the waters off Alicante. For a few of the newer boats this is the first time that they have been able to square up against their competitors. The new boats, which account for over a third of the fleet, will be seeing how they square up against the older, but modified, boats. Most of the entries have strengthened their crews to include more of the top names in sailing.

* The big launch Monday was the Alicante presentation of Fernando Leon and Fernando Sanchez Luna's new Botin & Carkeek designed Goetz Custom built Cam.

It is a significant step up from the IMS circuit and the TP52's predecessor which was a big, heavy IMS 54.

Cam, too, are up against a tough timescale. They have lost about three weeks of preparation time after they discovered a problem with the keel not long after the boat was launched and sailed.

"For now we have only really sailed the boat for two days so all the time we get is important to us." Smiles Fernando Leon, co-owner along with Francisco Sanchez Luna. "We were trying a new system with the keel, we have to understand what happened. The keel fits in a box in the boat and it uses a little epoxy around it and there was not enough around it, so it has been repaired with more epoxy, so we have done better. We have only managed a little sailing."

"I do not exactly how our boat compares with the others, but we are the same as Caixa Galicia and Mutua, and all the time we are talking about the evolution from Botin & Carkeek, I feel this is a little lighter and all the extra goes in the keel, and it should be that it will be better than the old ones, but I don't know how the shape of the keel compares to the old one."

"The only differences between the (new B&C) boats is the decks."

"Our mast was built in USA from Hall Spars, with two spreaders. We have a smaller section. For us there is no reason to sail with three spreaders, ours is less section and lighter. We will see how it goes."

* Siemens Matador is one of the four new Judel Vrolijk designs. Launched in Valencia three weeks ago, they too have been taking every chance of some last minute practice.

"We are getting there slowly, at this stage it is really just trying to learn the boat. We are in good shape at least. We have only really had three days and have had very little wind, but today we have some wind so we will maybe get the chance to see a little more." Explains Guildermo Parada, Siemens Matador's skipper explains, "Our boat is more powerful than last year's boats, so optimised a little more for stronger winds, for 10-12knots, so we will probably suffer a little in the very light stuff, but we are expecting the circuit this year to have a little more wind in Portugal and Hyeres especially are windier, so we have gone for a wider boat with more volume, a more powerful boat."

www.medcup.org

NEW SPONSOR SOLON AG WELCOMED TO BALTIC SPRINT CUP
"We're delighted to welcome SOLON AG to the Baltic Sprint Cup!" said Event Director Henning Rocholl today. SOLON is one of the largest manufacturers of solar modules in Europe. Company personnel will sail Solair in the Baltic Sprint Cup and will help host the first stopover at Sassnitz, an unspoilt resort town on the island of Ruegen, Germany. The event is open to offshore cruiser-racers, starting on July 20th at Copenhagen staging in five legs and 624 miles to Parnu Estonia finishing 3rd August.

Entries open until 30th June. www.balticsprintcup.com

The Baltic Sprint Cup is sponsored by Bank DnB NORD.

GIRAGLIA ROLEX CUP
St.Tropez, France / Genoa, Italy: It's Bob Oatley's 79th birthday, and he could not have celebrated better than he did on the water today during the second inshore race of the 2007 Giraglia Rolex Cup. Taking first place today in both real and corrected time, the Australians move into the top 3 below Favonius and Magic Carpet, who have the overall rank of 1st and 2nd respectively after two days of inshore races. In the much disputed IMS Class Group A, Atalanta II lost her first place position to Edimetra VI, who came in 7th in the second race and who is now leading the overall ranking.

The lack of wind on the course made navigation difficult for the leaders of Group B. By 17.00 the results were still unknown, but Citta' di Genova, Betta Splendens and Calima came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the second race and the overall rankings saw Calima in 1st, Betta Splendens in 2nd, and Lima Golf 3 in 3rd.

A speedy return for Magic Carpet Squared, who today welcomed Maud Fontenoy on board, put Lindsay Owen Jones' Wally in 3rd place after the day's race and 2nd place overall in the IRC class. Alfa Romeo had a poor start and had to sail perfectly in order to join back up with the leaders of the pack, finally finishing 2nd today for a 4th place overall ranking. Wild Oats almost lost their comfortable advantage when they had a mishap involving a tangled spinnaker, but the quick reaction time of the crew enabled the team to limit the damages. Finishing the race was nothing more than a formality for the Australian boat, and at the end of 32.5 mile course, Wild Oats had a first in both real and corrected time, a perfect gift for her owner Bob Oatley, who is celebrating his 79th birthday. Today's results pushed Wild Oats from 5th place into 3rd overall. Tomorrow's races will be the essential factor for determining the overall inshore race winners as the 1st and 5th place boats are separated by a mere four points.

On Tuesday the participants should find themselves face to face with conditions similar to today's with light winds in the afternoon.

IMS Class Group A (Top 3)
1. Edimetra VI - Ernesto Gismondi - Wally 65
2. Atalanta II - Carlo Puri Negri - Farr 70 Racer
3. Aria TX Active - Alberto Franchella - Comet 41S

IMS Class Group B (Top 3)
1. Calima- Javier Pujol - Proto
2. Betta Splendens - Orazio Olivio - First 36.7
3. Lima Golf 3 - Giorgio Gobbo - Mescal 31 MOD

IRC Class (Top 3)
1. Favonius - Roel Pieper - Swan 80
2. Magic Carpet - Lindsay Owen Jones - Wally 94.2
3. Wild Oats XI - Robert Oatley - Super Maxi

www.yci.it , www.snst.org or www.regattanews.com

CAP ISTANBUL RACE: CAPITOL FIRST TO BOZCAADA
No more than 140 miles left to get to Istanbul! The fleet has arrived in Bozcaada, Turkey, after a 110 mile leg from Foca that started on Sunday.

A beautiful time, a beautiful sea for Christian Bos and Rodolphe Jacq in Bozcaada, as they were first to cross the line aboard Capitol, one of the fifteen Figaro Beneteaus sailed double-handed in this four leg race across the Mediterranean to Istanbul.

After a passage through the Dardanelles by motor, the fourth and final stage sails from Gelibolu to Istanbul on Tuesday.

Arrival order in Bozcaada:

1. Capitol, Christian Bos / Rodolphe Jacq
2. Defi Mousquetaires, Thomas Rouxel / Erwan Israel
3. Kone Elevators, Nicolas Berenger / Thierry Chabagny
4. Aquarelle.com, Yannick Bestaven / Ronan Guerin
5. TEB, Erwan Tabarly / Romain Attanasio
6. Domaine du Mont d'Arbois, Thierry Duprey du Vorsent / Kito de Pavant
7. Docteur Valnet, Laurent Pellecuer / Francois Gabart
8. M@rseillentreprises, Jean Paul Mouren / Elise Garcin
9. Groupe Celeos, Ronan Treussart / Anthony Marchand
10. Bostik, Nicolas Lunven / Oliver Krauss
11. Suzuki Automobiles, Eric Defert / Christian Gout
12. Vakko, Frederic Rivet / Adrien Hardy
13. Luisina Design, Eric Drouglazet / Christophe Bouvet
14. Brossard, Servane Escoffier / Christophe Lebas
15. Baiko, Antonio Pedro Da Cruz / Pierre-Yves Collet

Top five places overall after three legs (cumulative time)

1. Kone Elevators, Nicolas Berenger / Thierry Chabagny, 9 days 04h 32min 44s
2. Docteur Valnet, Laurent Pellecuer / Francois Gabart, +3h 05min 02s more than leader
3. Capitol, Christian Bos / Rodolphe Jacq, +5h 38min 42s
4. Domaine du Mont d'Arbois, Thierry Duprey du Vorsent / Kito de Pavant, +5h 39min 15s
5. Luisina Design, Eric Drouglazet / Christophe Bouvet, +6h 05min 41s

www.capistanbul.com

ELLEN, THE ALBATROSS AND A NEW WEBSITE…
Tuesday night BBC4 will be broadcasting a 60-minute documentary covering Ellen's visit to South Georgia as research assistant to marine biologist, Sally Poncet, highlighting the desperate plight of the albatross.

BBC4, 9pm, Tuesday, 12th June ... BBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television via Freeview, satellite and cable viewers in the UK

This documentary features previously unseen footage from Ellen's two-month visit to South Georgia in December 2005 to pursue a cause close to her heart, the plight of the albatross. These graceful, powerful birds were frequent companions onher solo circumnavigations but are now facing tough times in the turbulent Southern Ocean. Their numbers are massively in decline at the rate of over 100,000 albatrosses each year, mainly due to long-line fishing. Nineteen of the 21 species of albatross are now endangered, many critically. Ellen accompanied marine biologist, Sally Poncet, on her annual birdlife survey on South Georgia to see the impact of this for herself.

To find out more about Ellen's keen interest in moving towards a more sustainable personal and business lifestyle, visit the Our Long Term Challenge page on Ellen's new website now online. This new look website reflects her continued passion for the sport of sailing, but also her other activities on land, including her love of the environment and protecting the planet that she has already circumnavigated three times. www.ellenmacarthur.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From Trevor Wilkins: I full realise that you focus on European events... but as our Boat Shosholoza was so much in the news I though that I'd send you this album of a few pics taken during the Portugal Bay Race sailed in Table Bay, Cape Town South Africa... just to give you an indication of the weather in which our Yachties go out for an afternoon of fun!

See picasaweb.google.com/wilcopix/PortugalBayRaceJune2007

THE LAST WORD
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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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