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ALINGHI WINS FIRST RACE
Switzerland's Alinghi team, the Defender of the America's Cup, won the first race of the 32nd America's Cup Match on Saturday afternoon in front of an enormous spectator fleet of nearly 800 boats on the waters off Valencia.

The two teams left Port America's Cup to a cacophony of boat horns, fireworks and an impressive air display. Over 70 000 people poured through the gates of Port America's Cup on Saturday, setting a new daily attendance record.

On the water, conditions were perfect for racing, with a stable 12 knot sea breeze on the race course. Top model Petra Nemcova was on board the Race Committee boat and fired the starting gun for race one of the Match.

The first minutes of the America's Cup Match are a unique moment in sport. Despite intense scrutiny, not even the teams really know which boat might have a speed advantage. In this race, it was Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker who won the better start, but within a few minutes, Alinghi showed enough pace to force the Kiwi boat to tack, and from there, the Swiss were in control. -- www.americascup.com

* If the America's Cup was won on artistic merit, then Alinghi would have lost badly today. SUI 100 looked so ungainly bashing through the nasty slop and chop, giving the foredeck crew a good dousing every time they ventured up to the bow.

Normally when a boat looks bad, it sails bad, but the dreadnought-bowed Defender defied convention, hobby-horsing upwind every bit as quickly as the much steadier, smoother running NZL 92.

Downwind the boat looked very pacy, with the Alinghi crew extending their lead on both offwind legs. From the outside the signs look very ominous, SUI 100 appearing to live up to the pre-race hype about being a rocket.

The sailors read it quite differently, though. ETNZ pitman Barry McKay sounded a little relieved after the race to have discovered that SUI 100 was good, but not invincible. "It's not a rocket," he said. "There's been a lot of mystique around it. It's a good boat, but it's not out of this world. It's game on."

Brad Butterworth offered a similar view from the Alinghi perspective. "I think the boats are much the same speed ... we caught some nice waves downwind but they are pretty much the same. I think that getting the left-hand side of the course was key. We got that, managed to get the other boat to tack away, and that was it." -- Andy Rice in sailjuice.blogspot.com

Photos from today's racing courtesy Ingrid Abery, www.hotcapers.com , in the Scuttlebutt Europe photo gallery: scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/

ULLMAN SAILS 2007 SIR THOMAS LIPTON CUP!
For the 4th year in a row, the winning Yacht Club chose Ullman Sails to win or defend the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup trophy. Congratulations to San Diego Yacht Club for successfully retaining possession of the Cup, June 9 & 10 with a full inventory of J105 Ullman Sails. Six highly talented Southern California Yacht Club teams competed for the prestigious trophy with boat speed being a dominant factor. Again, Ullman Sails delivered! If you and your team are ready for the Fastest Sails on the Planet, contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

JPMORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT ROUND THE ISLAND RACE
Hitting speeds of close to 30 knots the Extreme 40 JPMorgan Asset Management helmed by Ellen MacArthur took line honours in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race today after 4 hours and 6 minutes of full-on racing. Fifty seconds, at 0916 BST later, the Extreme 40 ABN AMRO slipped across the line making it a one, two for this exciting 40-ft catamaran class who are competing in the event as one of the iShares Endurance Races in the iShares Cup Extreme 40 series. Nick Moloney's Offshore Challenges Sailing Team, had to officially retire having received outside support during a man-over-board incident, finished seven minutes later crossing the line in fourth as Mike Slade's brand new 100-ft monohull ICAP Leopard, which scuppered the potential Extreme 40 hat-trick by squeezing across the finish line 54 seconds before in third place.

While Ellen MacArthur and skipper of ABN AMRO Jonnie Hutchcroft had a relatively smooth race, Offshore Challenges Sailing Team had a bumpier run round the island, facing a series of problems with the drama unfolding even before the Royal Yacht Squadron start line.

At 0510 hours the Extreme 40s were off the start line with JPMorgan Asset Management and ABN AMRO clearing the line ahead of Basilica while Offshore Challenges Sailing Team were suffering from hydraulic problems and were late for the start-gun.

With the 55-mile race underway and the 1753-boat fleet heading west out of the Solent towards the west, the four Extreme 40 boats approached the iconic Needles in building wind and lumpy seas. Three of the boats made the call to round the Needles, whilst Basilica who had suffered damage to her boat the day before, turned back, officially retiring from the race.

The three remaining boats pushed on, rounding the western point of the island and tackled the 4-6 foot swells head on with Offshore Challenges SailingTeam feeling the pressure. "We had an unfortunate scenario just after the Needles when three big waves caught the boat and Charlie Darbyshire was knocked off balance," recounted Moloney. "He managed to grab the traveller and he was half in, half out and being dragged along in the water. Our support RIB was a couple of metres away so he let go and was picked up by the RIB. We stopped the boat and he got back on and I reckon in total he was probably in the water for just 10-15 seconds, but it's always stressful when you have a man overboard situation."

Once recovered Offshore Challenges Sailing Team put the pedal to the metal and were the first boat to unfurl their huge gennaker on the downwind section of the course along the south-side of the island. An incredibly close race between the three Extreme 40s ensued with little distance separating the boats as they closed in on the 100-foot monohull ICAP Leopard. Just after the halfway mark of the course off St. Catherine's Point, the three Extreme 40s overtook ICAP Leopard with JPMorganAsset Management pulling ahead first with ABN AMRO in tow.

To follow the Extreme 40 Sailing Series visit the official event website www.iSharesCup.com

* The 2007 JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race broke the record for the highest number of finishers in the history of the race. In the past ten years, 2001 saw 1,493 finishers. The majority of results have now been processed and show a 2007 figure of 1,559 which may well increase once queries have been resolved.

Provisional results show the top IRC boat on handicap and winner of the Gold Roman Bowl is Edward Donald's Folkboat Madelaine. The boat and owner have won the Gold Roman Bowl before, in 1999. Edward commented: "We had a taxing day and had to make sure we got out of the tide. Basically we hugged the shore all day long - and saw a lot of the Island. Most of the time we were up with the H-Boats and quarter tonners. We had a great day out!"

Edward's crew for the race were two more "dads" from Winchester, Rob Reed and Dan Rigden, who all met through their children, all at Weston School. The boat is named after "Maddie" Edward's 10 year old daughter. He would like to dedicate this race to the memory of his elder brother Richard.

Race Control believe the final boat to cross the line was Elektra raced by Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year Katie Miller and Dan Monk. They had encountered problems with gear failure throughout the day but had soldiered on, and in so doing helped The Ellen Macarthur Trust.

Last year the total raised for charity by all the participants was 30,000 pounds and the organisers are confident this has already been exceeded in 2007.

* Artemis Ocean Racing (AOR), the sailing team sponsored by UK investment company, crossed the finish line of the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race at 10.26 UK. It was a great victory for the Artemis crew, who arrived half an hour before Dee Caffari onboard Aviva, time, winning the Open 60 Class. The boat, lead by British skipper Jonny Malbon, was only the third monohull in the race to cross the finish line off Cowes after 5 hours, 26 minutes and 7 seconds despite conditions that were not suited to optimal performance.

Arriving on the dockside, Jonny Malbon commented, "Obviously I am really happy with our result. It is really good to be the first Open 60, but also to be the third monohull across the line, close behind Bounder which is a new and powerful boat. Congratulations to Leopard and it was a shame that she was so short of beating the race record."

Malbon continued, "It was a very early morning for us. We got up at three and it was still dark when we sailed to the start line. 44 boats were on our start line and the weather was as expected, with light winds of five to ten knots from the West. Artemis got a very good start in the first row, with Leopard and Bounder ahead of us. We were right up there at the top of the fleet and had a short tack all the way down the Solent, which is always difficult on a canting keel boat like Artemis. We had to deal with a big swell which was largely formed by the tide. We sat on it as much as possible to get our boat speed up and just played around up and down the waves."

"When we got to the Needles, we knew we would be a bit quicker so we put the big spinnaker up and chose a totally different tactic from most of the boats, who tried to stay inshore. We went offshore, which is much easier for us and that was when we made some massive gains. Before we knew it, we were probably in second or third place on the water (monohull). Leopard obviously took off but we had quite a good battle with Bounder from Saint Catherine's point at the tip of the Isle of Wight all the way to the finish line. In the end, Bounder only finished a few minutes ahead of us."

"We hit 20 knots a few times during the race and with downwind sailing we were doing 14 to 18 knots on average. These conditions were quite difficult for us as short tacking in the Solent is not our strongest point of sail. We had a very, very good crew onboard. It is a good bunch of guys and we have basically enjoyed it and had great fun. I have clocked up a significant amount of miles on the boat now and she is great. I love the Artemis boat and I am really confident with her. She is light, fully optimised and as a boat right now, she is pretty much together."

Results can be found at www.roundtheisland.org.uk

BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2007: NESTLE MAKES A COOL REGATTA
Competitors at Copenhagen for the Baltic Sprint Cup, the Baltic's top cruiser/racer offshore event starting Friday 20th July 2007 in the summer heat will get a cold reception - the regatta has been joined by Nestle - the largest food and beverage company in the world. Nestle will supply to crews their unique formula ice cream.

More competitors are joining this great 624-mile offshore sailing event from Copenhagen - Sassnitz - Gdansk - Klaipeda - Ventspils with its finale at Parnu, Estonia (less than 2 hours low-cost flight from London).

Racing under ORC Club with IRC shadow scoring. Closing date for entries 30th June.

The Baltic Sprint Cup 2007 is sponsored by Bank DnB NORD, Copenhagen. www.balticsprintcup.com

BIG BOAT FLEET STARTS HSH NORBANK RACE
Newport, Rhode Island, USA: In an ideal 12-14 knot northwesterly breeze, the three yachts constituting the "big-boat" fleet in the HSH Nordbank blue race across the North Atlantic set out from Newport, RI this afternoon to join the 21 yachts that began the race on June 16th. Meanwhile, some 240 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland, German sailor Kerstin Troeger - who'd suffered a severely broken ankle when she was launched across the cockpit of the 48-foot HSH Nordbank several days ago - was successfully transferred to a Canadian Coast Guard vessel this afternoon and is bound for shore where she'll undergo immediate surgery on her injured leg.

Conditions were perfect when the 90-foot Rambler, owned by Connecticut sailor George David and skippered by sailmaker Ken Read, led the fleet out of Newport's Narragansett Bay and into the blue Atlantic. Rambler, under main and jib, held a slight early lead over the 80-foot Bon Bon, which started with main and jib alone but hoisted a small staysail moments after the start. Bringing up the rear in majestic style was the grand, ketch-rigged, 177-foot Perini Navi Parsifal III. Read is hoping for an 11-day passage, which would bring Rambler across the finish line on the Fourth of July.

At the front of the fleet, the Elliott 52 Outsider continues to set the pace and hold the lead, with the Cookson 50 Chieftain maintaining its lock on second place. Earlier today, Outsider was the most northerly boat in the fleet, at 47 N, and was making 12 knots while continuing to consolidate and extend its lead.

www.hsh-nordbank-blue-race.com

BUNDOCK/ASHBY WIN ZWITSERLEVEN ROUND TEXEL RACE
De Koog, Texel / Netherlands: On Saturday June 23 2007, the Nissan Pro Team Bundock/Ashby won the 30th Zwitserleven Round Texel Race on handicap. The Aussies started with their F18 Hobie Tiger as the furthest boat on the right and grabbed immediately the lead on elapsed time. The experimental Dutch M20's of Pols/Veenstra and Dercksen/Mcintosh battled for the line honours. Thanks to the bigger sail plan of Performance Sails, Xander Pols and Tjiddo Veenstra had a speed advantage. They were streets ahead when they crossed the finish line after 3 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds. The jubilee edition was sailed in favourable conditions with a south-westerly force three and a calm sea. At 13:00 hours local time, the fleet put up a great show with a spinnaker start. It was unexpectedly sunny and thousands of visitors enjoyed the spectacle.

Pols: "The wind decreased on the Wadden Sea, so we could extend our lead on Herbert." After the first celebrations on the Texel beach, Veenstra's face beamed: "My first Round Texel Race was fifteen years ago. We had a collision and did not finish. This time we took the line honours."

The 20-foot Eagle of Jaap Straakenbroek and Menno Vercouteren finished third.

Top five overall on handicap:

1. Bundock/Ashby, AUS, F18 Hobie Tiger
2. Heemskerk/Tentij, NED, F18 Nacra Infusion
3. Mourniac/Citeau, FRA, F18 Hobie Tiger
4. Boulogne/Lepetre, FRA, F18 Cirrus
5. Gosche/Gosche, GER, F18 Hobie Tiger

www.roundtexel.com

THE LAST WORD
Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age. -- Christopher Morley

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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