Brought to you by boats.com Europe with the support of OC Events, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

THE CHALLENGE
In the first warning shots of a row that could end up in the New York courts, Oracle boss Larry Ellison yesterday issued his own challenge for the next America's Cup and called into question the validity of the finish-line challenge from Spain at the end of the most recent contest on 3 July.

On Wednesday, his Golden Gate Yacht Club representative Melinda Erkelens and syndicate representative Tom Ehman went to the club which represents Ernesto Bertarelli, the Societe Nautique de Geneve, and presented a new challenge. The GGYC then said the challenge from the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela was invalid.

"It appears that CNEV is a new yacht club specifically created for this challenge and, as such, fails to meet the requirements as defined by the 1857 Deed of Gift." This requires that a challenging club conducts an annual regatta on the sea.

"CNEV has never conducted a regatta and cannot be a legitimate challenger," said GGYC. "Furthermore, the race protocol for the 33rd America's Cup is invalid because they fail to specify the rules for the next Cup by omitting a specific date, location and class of boat."

If the challenge is rejected, and the Spanish refuse to back down then legal action could begin next week. -- Stuart Alexander in The Independent, sport.independent.co.uk/general/article2765515.ece

* From Richard Gladwell's editorial in Sail-World NZL:

Before rolling your eyeballs, with the 'here we go again' - with yet another court saga similar tio that which stemmed from the Challenge from Mercury bay Boating Club in 1987, there had to be a way out of the impasse which the Challengers found themselves for the proposed 33rd America's Cup.

To recap, the Protocol announced in Valencia had a variation of two years in the dates of the next Match; no named venue; no class of yacht named; the Defenders gave themselves the right to sail in the Challenger series (as well as sail in their own Defender selection series); and took control of all aspects of organisation of both series, which included the setting of the dates. Additionally America's Cup Management had the sole rights of appointment and dismissal of all officials, Jury and Umpires.

Yes there was a Competitors Commission formed, but this had no power, and was a move well away from the position pre-2003 when issues of Mutual Consent, where resolved by discussion by the Challenger and Defender.

The other issue related to the development of the new Rule for the AC class, which Sail-World understands was originally not to be bought in until AC 34. In this regard, Team Alinghi had taken the sole prerogative of developing the new Rule, without any consultation with other parties. This arrangement potentially gave a very unfair advantage to the Defenders.

While the America's Cup has never been about fairness, for the event to be able to attract sponsors and challengers, then it had to retain some integrity, and be consistent with the Deed of Gift which had driven the regatta for the past 150 years. However the 33rd Protocol shifted the event from a Challenger driven contest to a Defender controlled event - and that is believed to be at the heart of the actions by Golden Gate Yacht Club.

What happens from here will be interesting. If Golden Gate can secure the support of major Challengers, plus the Trustees of the America's Cup, then they would appear to have a rather compelling case. But if not, then the process will get interesting.

Certainly the ball lies in Team Alinghi's hands. Their options are to fight the GGYC challenge through the Courts, or defuse the situation by making an early announcement of the outstanding issues on the 33rd America's Cup - which could be to name Valencia as the venue; set a date for the start of the Challenger Selection series as starting in May/June 2008; name the class as either the ACC Version 5 (with a single new boat) or a true 'box rule' of 90ft overall length, 6.5 metres maximum draft reducing to 4.1 metres and with a 'no hollows' rule to prevent multihulls, plus a statement that racing will be held in a wind range of 8-30 knots - and a maximum of two new boats.

The current situation for the Challengers is untenable. All are in the position of having to wind down teams, to conserve money for what could be a four year wait, while the Defender is in the unprecedented position of being able to set all the conditions and plan accordingly for an event which is maybe just two years away.

www.sail-world.com

* The full text of the GGYC press release can be downloaded as a Word doc at www.ggyc.com

Here are the two money paragraphs:

After Alinghi won the 32nd America's Cup on July 3rd, SNG accepted a challenge from the Spanish Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV). It appears that CNEV is a brand new yacht club specifically created for this challenge and as such fails to meet the requirements for a challenging yacht club as defined by the Deed of Gift. The Deed of Gift, a document written in 1857, defines the rules for the America's Cup to this day. The Deed of Gift requires that the Challenging yacht club conduct an annual regatta on an arm of the sea. CNEV has never conducted a regatta of any kind and thus cannot be a legitimate Cup challenger.

The Deed of Gift requires the Defender to accept a valid challenge, and together the Defender and Challenger can mutually agree on the rules for the competition. Failing such agreement, then the original rules in the Deed will dictate the terms, defaulting to a challenge to take place in ten months with a boat defined by the challenger.

ISAF SAILING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
In the first of Thursday's two windsurfing Medal Races at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Zofia Klepacka (POL) stormed through the pack to win the 2007 Women's RS:X World Championship title in style. Ricardo Santos (BRA) won the Men's RS:X World Championship title after an incredible finish to the day's second Medal Race.

After an action-packed first beat, Klepacka stormed back through the fleet to win the World title with a Medal Race bullet. Barbara Kendall (NZL) had at one stage been in a gold medal winning position, but eventually finished in eighth, just holding on to the silver medal. Jessica CRISP (AUS) won her battle with world #1 Marina Alabau (ESP) to take the bronze.

If the women's race was exciting, the Men's RS:X Medal Race was something else. World #1 and eventual World Championship silver medallist Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) called it 'the most incredible race in my life'. It ended with Santos crossing the line in seventh place to take his first World Championship title, with Miarczynski getting silver and Nick Dempsey (GBR) the bronze.

The final two races for the 49er and 470 gold fleets decided their Medal Race line ups. The 470s were again racing out on course areas 4 and 5, whilst the 49ers where in the shiftier breeze closer to the shore.

There is live online tracking of the Medal Races at http://www.isafworldstracking.com - where you can also watch the tracking from the Medal Races which have taken place so far in Cascais. -- ISAF, sailing.org

Event site: www.cascaisworlds2007.com

Sail TV news highlights from Cascais:

11th July - Yngling and Finn
www.sail.tv/player?cid=455&source=email120207

10th July - Laser and Laser Radials
www.sail.tv/player?cid=452&source=email120207

9th July - First day of medal races
www.sail.tv/player?cid=448&source=email120207

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

TROFEO S.M. LA REINA ROLEX CUP
Valencia, Spain: With an offshore southeasterly breeze fluctuating between 8 and 14 knots throughout the day, the IX Trofeo S.M. La Reina Rolex Cup kicked off with a great start. The 140-boat fleet enjoyed some close racing on the three race courses.

The racing was as tense and as challenging as expected in the Alpha course where the fleet of TP52s and GP42s offered an exciting show in today's two windward-leeward races of 8 nautical miles each.

In the TP52 class Mutua Madrilenna, with skipper Vasco Vascotto, currently holds the provisional overall lead by 2 points over Gonzalo Araujo's Baleria by finishing second and a first in today's races. The brand new Matador, owned by Alberto Roemmers, performed very well in the first race by beating Mutua Madrilenna but then finished a disappointing 8th in race 2.

The GP42s are having their debut in Spain, the regatta counting as the first leg of the Spanish National Championship. The nine GP42s competed in real time, Laureano Wizner's Quebramar-Chrysler and his winning Alinghi America's Cup crew won both races. Jan Santana's Zurich and Filippo Fauffini's Roma finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the provisional ranking.

The IMS Open, IMS 670 and IMS 570 divisions were able to complete two windward-leeward races, while the three classes of the RN division completed one.

In the IMS 670 class, the 2006 World Champion Navantia, skippered by Jesus Pintos, showed true champion form to win the IX Trofeo SM La Reina Rolex Cup by scoring a first and a second in today's races, while Carlos Rodriguez' Icaro dominated the IMS 570 fleet with a first in both real and elapsed time.

Friday's weather forecast predicts similar wind conditions as today with approximately 8 -10 knots coming from a southeasterly direction.

Racing is due to start at 12 noon and will see the Classic yachts in their debut race at the IX Trofeo SM La Reina Rolex Cup.

www.trofeoreina.com

VOLVO DUN LAOGHAIRE REGATTA
Conditions that varied from windless with heavy rain and poor visibility at the start to sunshine and a brisk westerly at the end greeted the 500+ boats competing on the first day of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay today (Thursday 12th July).

In the Super 0 division, first honours went to Paul Winkelmann's TP52 'Island Fling' with a narrow handicap win over Colm Barrington's newly acquired 'Flash Glove' and the highly competitive Class 0 fleet saw 'Jump Juice' (Conor & Denise Phelan) from Cork emerge successful ahead of local Dun Laoghaire boat 'Tiamat' (Tim Costello).

'Kinetic', the Colwell/Murphy Corby 25 from Howth, headed Class 2 and David Bolger's 'Lady Rowena' from DMYC topped the large Class 3 fleet.

The long awaited SB3 appearance in a major regatta saw Ben Duncan and crew from Howth take the honours and in the longer established J24s, Flor O'Driscoll won out as did David and Sarah Gorman in the Flying Fifteens, and the Cullen/Brown/Kirwan partnership in the Ruffians.

On the dinghy front, the National YC's Francis Rowan and Jonathon O'Rourke headed the Fireballs and Mermaids respectively while Alan Carr from Sutton took the gun in the IDRA14s.

The race schedule for day 2 (Friday 13th) is for three races on each course.

www.dlregatta.org

ECOVER HALF TON CLASSICS CUP
The monopoly of 'Henri-Lloyd Harmony' in the Ecover Half Ton Classics Cup on Dublin Bay continued into the third day with Tino Hyland, Nigel Biggs and crew notching another two wins on both scratch and handicap, making it eight wins on the trot and extending their overall to over 20 points.

The battle for the secondary places continues apace, with George Radley's 'Miss Whiplash' from Glandore holding second overall from joint third placed 'Per Elisa' (Tregear/Pullen) and 'Misjif' (Houston/Angus) on IRC.

The former half Ton Worlds' winner 'King One' (Cullen/Bourke) had their best day with 2nd on the water and on handicap in the second race, while 'Dick Dastardly' did exceptionally well to finish 2nd in the opening race, considering it broke its mast earlier in the series.

Overall (after 8 races)
1. Henri-Lloyd Harmony
2. Miss Whiplash
3. General Tapioca

www.dlregatta.org

2007 ULLMAN SAILS INSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Ullman Sails' 3rd annual Inshore Championship Series was sailed over a three-month period and encompassed 4 major Southern California regattas and exceeded our expectations, again! A special thanks to the following yacht clubs for their superb management and support of the regattas: N.H.Y.C.; S.D.Y.C.; C.Y.C.; L.B.Y.C. and A.B.Y.C. Congratulations to the overall series winners: Fast 50's Alec Oberschmidt's "Staghound", Fast 40's Laura Schlessinger's "The Doc", and Sportboats Geoff Longenecker's "Nemesis". All are Ullman Sails customers and won, decisively. For the "Fastest Sails on the Planet" and information regarding the Ullman Sails Inshore Championship Series visit www.ullmansails.com

HORN BLOWING AND BARGING: A WILD 2ND START
Splashing and crashing, charging and barging and the oompah of a tuba wafting on a brisk breeze under sunny skies set the tone for a rambunctious second start to the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii Thursday.

With 12 knots of fresh wind gusting to 14, Adrenalin was pumping. That's the name of David Clark's Santa Cruz 50 from Newport Beach that protested Sean Doyle's 1D35, On the Edge of Destiny, with Transpac's youngest crew ever. The pre-start protest---possibly for barging---will be sorted out after the two boats reach Waikiki in a couple of weeks or less, but a fair guess is that Destiny tried to squeeze in from behind the committee boat without right of way.

If so, Destiny wasn't the only one. Although the line was set square to a due-west wind, presenting a cleaner shot from the pin end to the west end of Santa Catalina Island to the left, most boats chose to start at the committee boat end of the line.

"It looked like the whole fleet was coming right at us," said a race committee member. "There was tremendous barging going on."

Several boats did 360-degree turns, apparently not for penalties but because they couldn't find room to get through the gridlock of what looked like West Los Angeles' 405 freeway at rush hour. Meanwhile, out at sea, Monday's 23 starters found some encouraging wind after a depressing couple of days and were making up to 7 knots. Although they gained less distance southwest toward Hawaii, boats that went south, led by Simon Garland's Hobie 33, Peregrine, in Division 6 and Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 52, Between the Sheets, in Aloha A, appeared to have gained leverage on the others as they continued south while rivals lifted west more directly toward their destination. -- Rich Roberts

Divisions 1, 2 and 3 start this Sunday July 15th.

www.transpacificyc.org

DEXIA FARR 40 SKAGEN
Yesterdays shifty moderate winds gave way this morning to stable moderate conditions. Which would have been nice for the rest of the day, however we were forecast (and received) building wind speed and increasing swings. "Happy Happy" from Norway suffered hydraulic problems during the first race and are ashore awaiting repairs.

In a separate incident team Siragusawa lost their mast head crane. After a mid-field position in race 1 Siragusawa were well up in the fleet on the first downwind leg when their bow dug itself deep in a wave.

Mascalzone Latino had a very mixed day but one that Tactician Adrian Stead had otherwise predicted rather well. They crossed the line 8th in race 1 but in race they were early on the start and failed to correct earning them an 'OCS' and 24 points. Sadly that was not the worst of it as Mascalzone Latino suffered serious damage in the third race. They were rounding the bottom mark and tensioning the backstay when they suffered the same fate as Siragusawa and lost their mast head crane. "We are probably out of this regatta, it really depends on the mast builder and is probably an insurance issue; we will need to see what happens. However it is far better that this happens now than at the Worlds." -- Gordon Smith, Royal Danish Yacht Club

Full result list and further information on www.farr40.kdy.dk

A RECORD NUMBER OF CLASSIC YACHTS GATHER IN COWES
Forty seven Classic yachts spanning a century in age are gathering in Cowes, UK this coming weekend, at the British Classic Yacht Club and Spirit Yachts Regatta 2007 for a week of racing and rallying. The entry level is a record, as the interest in competitive classic yacht racing continues to grow.

The Classic class is joined this year by eight Spirit Yachts, the product of the Ipswich based wooden boat builder of the same name, whose blend of state of the art technology and elegant finish characterises the design of these stunning wood yachts.

Amongst the Classics the 1952 Laurent Giles designed Lutine of Helford is likely to be a strong contender, while the Phil Rhodes designed pair Josephine and Undina will no doubt go head to head in a tight battle.

The 12-metre Sceptre will be attending as will the 70ft Spirit Ghost, ensuring plenty of action amongst the bigger yachts.

The event is supporting charity Sail 4 Cancer, which will be hosting a reception at the event, plus a Pro-Celeb Day in which comedian Griff Rhys-Jones will take on a number of well known sailors in a Classic challenge.

Event sponsors include McMurdo, Harken, Sandeman, Sea Dragon and Traditional Shipwright Services.

The full social programme and all information can be found at
www.britishclassicyachtclub.org

WORLDWIDE WOMEN'S MATCH RACING CLINICS
The Women's International Match Racing Association has joined forces with North U to offer a series of introductory clinics world wide. To encourage interest in women's match racing, WIMRA will bring some of the sport's best champions, including Liz Baylis, Dave Perry and Katie Spithill, to share their expertise with the growing group of women's sailors looking to win in match racing.

Dates:

Izola, Slovenia / August 17 - 19
Manhasset Bay, New York, USA / August 31 - September 2
Auckland, New Zealand / September 14 - 16
Rio de Janiero, Brazil / September 14 - 16
Cape Town, South Africa / September 21 - 23
St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles / September 28 - 30
Tortola, British Virgin Islands / October 4 - 5
Buenos Aires, Argentina / October 16 - 18
Korea / (Location and Date To Be Announced)

The curriculum will include 2 full days of training, drills, and races and conclude with a day long (grade 5) regatta.

Full information, curriculum and registration details will be available on the Women's International Match Racing Association (WIMRA) web site: www.wimra.org

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 David Thomas: What is going to happen to all the existing Americas Cup yachts now that the AC is moving Up Size ?

Maybe an international Sponsors Circus with the Incredible 40s as an added sideshow.

All this to go with the Real America's Cup for the Real Big Class to a modernised J-Class Rule ; but all Challengers to be designed without CAD ( all working to be shown ) !

FEATURED BROKERAGE
2006 Farr Yacht Design Transpac 52 'STAY CALM'

Design # 597 is Farr Yacht Design's most recent generation Transpac 52. Designed and built beyond typical Med Cup standards, this Goetz-built TP52 is an All-Purpose design, capable of offshore racing in any condition. Stay Calm was launched in 2006 and immediately won Key West Race Week and continued to show great performance at the 2006 Global Championships and 2006 Med Cup Series. Currently lying in Palma, Spain Stay Calm is immediately available for the 2007 Med Cup Series or the up coming USA IRC and TP52 winter events. This is a fantastic offering on a current model All-Purpose design Transpac 52.

Exclusive brokerage through Farr Yacht Sales: www.FarrYachtSales.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at:
www.farrdesign.com/brokerage/597_StayCalm.htm

THE LAST WORD
When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. -- Bernard Bailey

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

Scuttlebutt Europe is available via email:
To subscribe visit scuttlebutteurope.com

Editorial and letter submissions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/content/view/7/6/