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ALINGHI WINS THE 32ND AMERICA'S CUP...BY ONE SECOND!
Alinghi won the 32nd America's Cup on Tuesday afternoon on the waters off Valencia. The Swiss Defender won its fourth consecutive race in dramatic fashion, by just one second, to win the Match 5-2.

This final race of the America's Cup was befitting of what has been the closest, most exciting America's Cup in recent history. Emirates Team New Zealand spent much of the race ahead on the advantage line, but with Alinghi in strong tactical position on the right hand side of the race course. The Kiwis were never able to get a big enough lead to cross ahead and switch sides.

After making a pass on the first run and leading through the leeward gate by 14 seconds, Emirates Team New Zealand again found it couldn't get across the bow of SUI 100 on the second upwind leg.

With both boats approaching the top mark separated by just a few metres, the Kiwis, approaching from the left on port tack, faced Alinghi roaring in on the privileged starboard tack. Both boats went into a 'dial-down' and the Umpires penalised the port tack NZL 92 crew for not keeping clear of Alinghi. That, effectively, was the race. Alinghi rounded the top mark ahead by 12 seconds and looked secure for the win.

But then, an enormous windshift saw Emirates Team New Zealand able to lay finishing line which was now upwind. As Alinghi struggled to drop its spinnaker, the Kiwis turned into tack to fulfil its penalty obligation. Now downspeed, the Kiwis could only watch in horror as Alinghi slid across the line, just one second ahead.

It was a perfect day for racing on the waters off Valencia, with the bright, warm, Valencian sun generating a strong 14 to 17 knot sea breeze until the final moments of the race. -- www.americascup.com

* There is no doubt that Alinghi won this contest fair and square. Every race was up for grabs, the boats were very even in speed, the breaks went both ways, and all seven races were a joy to watch. Alinghi just had a little extra of everything when it counted and that was the difference. It will be a long time before Emirates Team New Zealand recovers. But when Kiwis do regroup watch out because they will be strong again.

Every amateur and professional sailing tactician in the world will have an opinion on the incident approaching the second windward mark of Race 7. It is a shame that the cameras did not capture the action from directly overhead. That was the only view that would ever solve the big question of whether or not there was a foul. Of course, the only thing that counts is the ruling by the on-the-water umpires. Unlike all the other races, I was not present in Valencia so I was at the mercy of the replay camera and 3 D graphic rendering. Based on those views I think New Zealand was very much at risk diving below Alinghi. If Alinghi held a steady course then there was a foul. It looked to me like Alinghi would have sailed right through New Zealand. Alinghi's helmsman Ed Baird luffed hard at the appropriate moment to avoid a collision. I think the umpires made the correct call. -- Gary Jobson, see his full commentary on www.jobsonsailing.com

* Bizarrely, there was no joint press conference for winner and loser today. Just the winners - Alinghi. I wonder why. Perhaps there was a clue in Ernesto Bertarelli's final comment in the winner's conference this afternoon.

"For us it was coming out alive or dead, and we came out of it alive with our leather shorts and our edelweiss, cuckoo clocks and chocolate factories. I think what Alinghi is a lot of what Switzerland is: a country in the middle of Europe which has had to survive; has had to deal with with its bigger neighbours; has had to be open to different cultures; three different cultures; welcomes foreigners who have contributed to the country and to its culture; a country that looks forward, to its technology, doesn't have great natural resources, has to be inventive.

"I think the culture of Alinghi is a little like that. An open culture, friendly culture, very welcoming, bigger through diversity, and we certainly enjoy being able to meet and compete against people from different backgrounds and we would never lock anyone out of this competition. I never thought when we started, that we would be locked out of it. When I said that we were fighting for our survival, I didn't know how right I was, and here we are. Alive and kicking. And I'm looking forward to continue."

So, no love lost for the Kiwis there, then. In a half hour's press conference, there was no praise for the losing team forthcoming from Alinghi's representatives on stage - until TV journo Digby Fox prompted Ed Baird to give his appraisal of the Kiwi team. When Ed picked up his microphone, he looked like he'd been handed the poisoned chalice. "Well… I was going to pass that on to Brad because he has a lot more history there. I was part of the team in '95 when Brad was there as well. It's been amazing to watch the team grow and develop.

"Certainly the team that's now is substantially changed from that original group, but they're showing great strength and prowess on the race course. They developed good skills in every area to a very high level, and we're really proud to finish in front of them at this regatta. I'd like to congratulate them for really doing a great job. It's not an easy event, there's a lot of stress involved. At any moment disaster can strike. I think we've had two great competitors out there all week." -- Andy Rice in sailjuice.blogspot.com

* With less than a mile to go to the line, the big shift came. It almost came to the rescue of Team New Zealand, but that would have been too much. Alinghi deserved the victory.

It didn't deserve to treat Emirates Team New Zealand in the manner it did.

At all other America's Cups, the victors and the vanquished have shared the stage at the final press conference, but Ernesto Bertarelli saw fit to meddle with this tradition and even to suggest that the Kiwis have a losers' press conference.

Despite the all-too-obvious handing of a challenge from the Desafio Espanol to the Societe Nautique de Geneve immediately after the race aboard Bertarelli's mega-yacht, Vava, the syndicate head refused to be drawn into any details.

Bertarelli promised that the Protocol for the 33rd America's Cup would be issued on Thursday, but would not even hint that it would be back in Valencia or in two years. He probably hasn't had sufficient financial commitment from the Valencian government to agree to hold the cup there once more. -- Bob Fisher in Sail-World.com, his full column at www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=35325

AMERICA'S CUP PHOTOS
Tonight we've added no less than four new albums from the final race and awards ceremony, from Gilles Martin-Raget ( www.martin-raget.com ), Oskar Kihlborg ( www.kihlborg.se ), Gilles Martin-Raget ( www.martin-raget.com ) and Ingrid Abery ( www.hotcapers.com ).

See the Eurobutt gallery at scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/

There's also some great shots of some AC crew sailing (and drooling over) the Moth "Bladerider" at Valencia, courtesy Thierry Martinez ( www.thmartinez.com ) in the Launchings section of the gallery.

The sailors had a bit of a run-in with a, shall we say, overzealous harbor policeman. That bit of theatre, and some very cool sailing is at www.alinghi.com/en/multimedia/video/index.php?video=12027&open=2

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ALL GO IN CASCAIS
The ISAF Sailing World Championships launched into action today with the opening races in the Star and Tornado fleets. It was an unusually overcast day in Cascais, but the grey skies did nothing to dampen the start of the Championships, especially for the French, who top the overall standings in both classes.

Low clouds hung over the headlands and extended as far as the eye could see over the water. A small swell and 8-10 knots of breeze - that picked up to the point that it whistled through the halyards of some of the spectator boats - prevailed throughout the day. According to Alfonso Domingos (POR), world #8 in the Star and a Cascais native, 'The wind conditions that we saw today were normal given today's cloud conditions.'

The Tornado and the Star (racing in blue and yellow fleets) both completed their opening two races as scheduled. The northwesterly breeze was slight stronger and steadier on race area 5 where the Stars were competing, but more shifty and lighter for the Tornados close to the shore.

Tomorrow, there is more action in the Tornado and Star fleets and the single-handed Laser and Laser Radials also kick off their series.

* After the first day of racing at the 2007 Star World Championship in Cascais, Portugal, the 2005 and 2006 world champions are tied for the lead. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams, the reigning world champions, and Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau, the 2005 world championship team, each have 4 points following two races in a split fleet. Working with a thirty boat fleet and a shorter course than is usually sailed, Pepper/Williams, Rohart/Rambeau, and Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson of Great Britain, were able to pull off impressive starts, round the first weather mark in first place and extend their leads so that they finished with a notable gap behind them. In fact, Rohart/Rambeau won their race with more than a minute's jump on second place finishers Italians Diego Negri and Gigi Vaile. Sailing consistently, each of today's top ten teams have only single digit finishes.

Low clouds hung over the headlands and extended as far as the eye could see over the water. A small swell and 8-10 knots of breeze that picked up to the point that it whistled through the halyards of some of the spectator boats, prevailed throughout the day. -- Lynn Fitzpatrick

* Day 1 of racing started quite unusual for the Tornado fleet. The shifty and challenging conditions of course 4 saw some different teams holding the top positions for a change after 2 races.

Not a good day for some of the top sailors that struggled to get it right, or left, for this matter.

Defending World Champions AUS Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby finished 19th on both races. Double Gold Medalists AUT Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher 18th and 23rd.

But a great day for he French team of Billy Besson and Arnaud Jarlegan. Sailing 2 very consistent races puts them as leaders of the Tornados with a 2nd and a 7th.

BEL Carolijn Brouwer and Sebastien Godefroid are holding the third position overall after a 5th and a 10th.

"It was important to have sailed consistently today. We did the right calls for the pressures and had good speed. We are happy with our performance and the way we started this event", said Carolijn.

2 more races are scheduled for Wednesday starting at 13h00.

www.cascaisworlds2007.com

THE FASTNET QUIZ...
Last week's question:
In 2005 a remarkable feat was accomplished by Alex Whitworth and Peter Crozier who sailed their Brolga 33 from Australia, raced in the Fastnet, then sailed back to Australia again. What was the name of their boat?
Answer: Berrimilla

This week's question:
The Admiral's Cup series first included the Fastnet Race in which year?

TWO correct answer winners this week and for the following weeks of our contest: one will win a copy of the new Fastnet book "Beyond Endurance" ( see www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771057557 ), another lucky sailor gets a free Dubarry Tshirt, front is plain, back features the famous Dubarry Knot Ur Dubes - the secret of the best shoelace knot in the world! T-shirts are really nice quality and 100 per cent faded cotton. See dubarry.com/htmlsite/productdetails.asp?pstring=1,76&catid=76&id=451

Cast your vote at www.scuttlebutteurope.com/index.php?option=com_philaform&form_id=5&Itemid=1

DUBARRY FASTNET BOOTS: IF YOU GIVE AN INCH THEY'LL TAKE A MILE
Night watch. Storm force conditions. Fleet is bunched. You have to be in control. By first light performance minutiae will have separated winners from losers. Dubarry's GORE-TEX lined Fastnet boots have a sole that owes its grip to F1 tyre technology, tapered elasticated legs to keep seawater out, fluorescent strips to spot crew position at night and Dry Fast - Dry Soft performance leathers. The Dubarry Fastnet - surefooted performance. www.dubarry.com

MATCH CUP SWEDEN
Marstrand, Sweden: In a day of challenges produced by light, patchy winds and intermittent rain showers, Gavin Brady (NZL) and his team from Oracle Racing and Jesper Radich (DEN) from Desafio Espanol managed to emerge with unbeaten records in the first day of racing at Match Cup Sweden. The two are ahead on three and four wins each to lead their respective groups of eight in the first day of round robin racing.

Both Brady and Radich are recent veterans of the Louis Vuitton Semi-Final round in Valencia, but their America's Cup programmes have kept them too busy from being recently active on the World Tour. However, both are pleased to be back in battle against some of the world's best here in Marstrand.

"It's great to be back racing on the Tour," said Brady, who continues to train Oracle syndicate head Larry Ellison in match race sailing. "We intend to use the Tour events to learn about the latest moves and interpretations in the rules, and bring them back to practice with Larry in San Francisco on the two Swedish Match 40's we've been training with there."

About the morning session's racing, Brady said "Today was a real mixed bag for us: we led in the first race from start to finish, changed leads twice in the second, and were behind and then caught up and passed on the last leg in the last." About the DS 37's used in the competition here, he said "These boats are highly maneuverable, especially compared to America's Cup boats, so this has been a real eye-opener for us coming from Valencia. There are things you'd never dream of doing in a Cup boat that are no problem here."

Having competed as a skipper at last October's Allianz Cup, would Ellison make another appearance at a Tour event? "I think he would be keen," said Brady. "He really loves sailing in San Francisco, and had a lot of fun at the Allianz Cup."

"We're not sure right now about Oracle Racing's future interest in the America's Cup," Brady continued, "that will depend on many things we just don't know right now, but Larry does really love the event despite our obvious disappointment in the results for us. In the meantime our intent is to keep working on our match racing skills, as we saw that slip as a team in Valencia."

Round robin racing resumes tomorrow, with Group B racing three flights in the morning, followed by Group A racing four flights in the afternoon.

www.matchcupsweden.com

LAUNCHINGS
* Alex Thomson's new 60-foot Open Hugo Boss was discreetly launched in Lymington a few days ago. The champagne was sprayed over her and the project leader, Jason Carrington said a few words telling everyone that this was without doubt the most beautiful boat he had ever built. In all, the construction will have taken 26,000 man-hours and 9 months of graft. The Finot-Conq design is wider and higher in the water than the former Hugo Boss, which Alex says in comparison, was more like a submarine. Thanks to Paolo Manganelli's engineering skill (SP Engineering), the boat is also 25 percent lighter than the old one, which should make quite some difference in terms of performance. Last Friday, the 180 degree capsize test was carried in the presence of Pascal Conq and Alex Thomson. Everything went well, even if the righting was fairly violent according to Alex, who could hardly wait to get out of there. The next stage will involve carrying out the 90 degree test and weighing the boat before she is revealed in all her glory to the public on 11th July. -- www.vendeeglobe.org

* British print and electronic media company Pindar ( www.pindar.com ) this week launched its brand new Open 60 in Auckland, New Zealand. A radical new design, which incorporates many cutting edge features including a rotating wing mast and hydraulically adjustable outriggers, this boat will be capable of breaking boundaries, setting records, and winning races. Having teamed up with ISAF World Sailor of the Year and Volvo Ocean Race winner, Mike Sanderson, and innovative designer, Juan Kouyoumdjian, Pindar's new Open 60 is being likened to the latest generation Volvo 70s, proven to be some of the fastest monohulls on the planet.

At 60 foot long, with a 4.5 metre draft and over six metres wide, Pindar has a soaring wing mast which is able to rotate side to side, as well as being raked forward and aft using telescopic outriggers, enhancing her performance on all points of sail. Pindar's towering mast allows her a much larger sail area than her predecessors, which together with advances in keel design promise to ensure that the new Pindar is far more powerful than either of Pindar's two previous Open 60s. Pindar has an innovative hull shape incorporating deep chines into the back section of the boat, which afford greater power and stability when the boat is sailing heeled over.

Project managed by Tom Faire and built by TP Cookson's boatyard in New Zealand over an eight month period, the hull was constructed from a carbon composite using a male mould. The design and build process amassed 25,000 man hours of building, with hundreds more spent in research and testing. The new Pindar comprises sails made by Hadleigh Prendergast at North Sails NZ, with her mast and rigging supplied by Southern Spars and Future Fibres.

* Seawonder 007 Reichel/Pugh's first GP42 design, owned by Vittorio Urbinati and skippered by Flavio Favini was the winner of the debut regatta of the Grand Prix 42 class. www.gp42.it

The recently launched Seawonder 007 had only one day of sea trials before the start of the seven race Croatian Grand Prix.

* Given the enthusiastic reception received by the Beneteau First 50 from customers and the international yachting press (voted Yacht of the Year in Norway, Slovenia, the USA and Italy), there's every reason to suppose that an equally warm welcome awaits the Philippe Briand-designed Beneteau First 45 when it is unveiled and premiered at the next Paris Boat Show. Its purity of line, now-famous attributes ("eye-lid" blinds, and flush hatches), sleek, aggressive profile, hull balance when heeled and high-precision 2-wheel helm give this 45-footer all the qualities so admired in its big brother.

This new First is designed for lovers of fast, comfortable cruising... but the First 45 has also been designed as a boat for cruiser/racers, with a lot of attention paid to its hull shape, deck plan and sail plan, including an IRC option. The IRC rules favour reduced sail overlap, so to avoid the need to reduce overall sail area and the resulting loss of performance, the First 45 will be offered in a tall mast version for improved aerodynamic efficiency, whilst remaining inside the rating rules.

* Broadblue Catamarans will showcase the new Broadblue 415 as well as the popular Broadblue 385 at this year's Southampton Boat Show. Making her world debut, the Broadblue 415 is the first new addition of 2007 to Broadblue Catamarans' range of blue water cruisers.

The Broadblue 415 is also the first model in the fleet available with Ossa Powerlite propulsion system as an option. The diesel electric drive offers many advantages such as providing a generator without added cost, sufficient to run a full DC/AC system including air conditioning.

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 Adrian Morgan: So selling overpriced handbags to Victoria Beckham lookalikes is not all about money? Do me a favour, Mr Trouble. "We're in the America's Cup because it's much more than sport: it's elegance, tradition ... if the game is to take the cup to new grounds to make it just another sporting event to be commercial, then I think not only Vuitton, but most of the luxury good companies, would be willing to quit." Good riddance, I say. The money saved could be used to reduce the ridiculously inflated price of their goods, and I could do with a new suitcase...

THE LAST WORD
Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid. -- Walter Winchell

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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