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STILL ON A FAST BOIL...
Statment from the GGYC today:

Golden Gate Yacht Club said today that the San Francisco club's challenge will continue building on the sportsmanship and close competition of the latest America's Cup.

Last week, Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) lodged a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup with Defender Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), and in taking this step, the GGYC also wants to support the competitive position of all challengers.

"Close racing and intense rivalry are at the heart of a great event," GGYC Commodore Marcus Young said. "We want the next regatta to be as exciting as the last one - and to do that it must offer neutral rules and an equal chance for all syndicates."

He said the recent Protocol proposed by SNG raised serious concerns in departing from fair competition.

"It is proposed to abandon neutral regatta officials. The Challenger Commission would lose its voting powers. And for the first time in history, the Defender not only wants to introduce its own new rule for the class of boat to be raced, but also to keep this new rule secret. It will be disclosed to challengers at a much later stage, putting all challengers at a huge disadvantage."

"These proposed changes are moves against the fantastic and close competition that we have witnessed in the last regatta," he said.

Golden Gate's vision for the 33rd America's Cup is for a circuit of races in the current ACC yachts, shared neutral event management and a democratic challenger commission.

GGYC supports the right of challengers to determine their own selection series format. It also wants to create a continuous circuit of world-class events throughout the world to provide exciting competition in the interim Cup years for the competitors, media, sponsors and fans.

The San Francisco club supports the continued use of Valencia as the venue for the next regatta. "The city has made an enormous investment developing a magnificent America's Cup port and infrastructure that far exceeds any previous Cup host city and this should be retained," the GGYC Commodore said.

"The proposed changes would not only reduce the asset value of current boats to almost zero but also jeopardize the participation of syndicates and damage the event," he said.

GGYC believes all participants - challengers and the Defender - should start immediately to mutually develop a new design rule, allowing all future competitors a fair and equal opportunity and sufficient time to develop, design and build their new yachts.

Each competitor should be permitted to build the same number of yachts.

"Achieving these goals would benefit all challengers in delivering fair competition and build on the great successes of the 32nd America's Cup in Valencia," Young said.

GGYC awaits confirmation of acceptance from SNG to become the Challenger of Record for the 33rd AC.

www.ggyc.com

* Quote of the day, from Sail-World NZL's Richard Gladwell: "Very simply, the America's Cup scrum has been screwed. It must be reset and Alinghi will have to put the ball in again."

FORMULA 1, AMERICA'S CUP AND VALENCIA
Work will start on Valencia's spectacular Formula 1 street circuit this October and will be finished next June, in time to hold the European Grand Prix in the autumn of 2008.

The 5.4 kilometre circuit will have a lap time of about 1.37 minutes and the cars will travel at speeds of between 95 and 320 kph. There will be 25 bends, 11 left handers and 14 right handers, with a minimum circuit width of 12 metres.

The 656 metre pit lane will run alongside the ancient Tinglados and the circuit will then go round Port America's Cup, crossing the exit canal via a new swinging bridge, before returning to the city via the Astilleros bridge, which will be improved. This will mean spectacular viewing for yachts moored in the existing megayacht marina.

Concerning the Americas Cup, Valencia mayoress Rita Barbera has said that negotiations are "alive and on track" and she hopes that a contract, naming Valencia as host for the 33rd America's Cup, in 2009, will be signed before the start of the Spanish holidays in August. Barbera made the comment after the vice president of the Council, Gerardo Camps, and the Government delegate to Valencia, Antonio Bernabe, had met with America's Cup Management, on Tuesday evening, to discuss the draft contract that ACM has submitted. -- Marian Martin in BYM news, www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=12382

BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2007 SET TO GO
Sven Herlyn, CEO of Bank DnB NORD launched a great send-off party at Copenhagen tonight for the 26 yachts setting off tomorrow Friday in the 640-mile 3rd Baltic Sprint Cup. "The programme is intense" said Herlyn, who will be sailing in leg one with bank employees "and has a wonderful mix of sailing and parties!" After Copenhagen the fleet gets a knees-up in no less than 5 more countries (each speaking a different language) with offshore sailing between each one until the final "showdown" in Parnu, Estonia, in the NE of the Gulf of Riga. According to top weather consultant Meeno Schrader, working for Sail and Race the event organizers, the first race to Sassnitz on the Island of Ruegen, Germany will feature light winds. It's not always like that in the Baltic - Vakare, from Lithuania, was tonight still forging ahead after days of strong head winds -and that was to make the start.

The Baltic Sprint Cup is sponsored by Bank DnB NORD. Copenhagen party courtesy Nestle

www.balticsprintcup.com

BREITLING MED CUP
Vicente Tirado's Caixa Galicia leads the Regatta Breitling Illes Balearia after three difficult races in light sea breeze conditions on the Bay of Palma, out from Puerto Portales today.

With Roberto Bermudez de Castro steering and John Kostecki calling the tactics, the new Botin Carkeek design showed pace across the wind range, between 5-11 knots, but it was sharp starting and equally acute tactics which gave Caixa Galicia back to back wins from the first two races and a solid fourth to lead the 24 boat regatta by three points from Eamon Conneely's Irish flagged Patches.

Patches 2,4,3 for the day keeps them five points clear of Peter de Ridder's Valle Romano Mean Machine which won the third race today.

The breeze built to just on 10 knots for the second race and faded for the third race, late in the day, when it became more unsettled and fickle.

After a 13th in the first race Artemis, with Russell Coutts making the tactical calls for owner-helm Torqvist, chased Caixa Galicia across the finish line in the second race before going on to a seventh in Race 3 to lie fourth overall.

With skipper Ian Walker on tactics and Tim Powell now well established on the helm of Patches, the Reichel Pugh design proved quick across the wind range, but they too were among the most consistent starters.

Results after three races:
1. CxG Corporacion, Caixa Galicia (V Torado, ESP-Botin Carkeek 2007) 6 points
2. Patches (E Conneely, IRL-Reichel Pugh 2007) 9 pts
3. Valle Romano Mean Machine (P de Ridder, MON- Judel Vrolijk 2006) 14pts
4 Artemis (T Tornqvist, SWE-Judel Vrolijk 2007) 22pts
5 ONO (I Castaner, ESP - Botin Carkeek 2005) 26 pts

www.medcup.org

* Photos from Thursday's racing, courtesy Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com , in the Eurobutt Gallery: scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/

GOVERNMENT GIVES NOD TO VOR BID BUT FINANCING NEEDED
The Hong Kong government is backing plans to bring the Volvo Ocean Race to Victoria Harbour in 2009, but all the enthusiasm and planning will be wasted unless organisers can raise about US$25 million to bring the race here and enter a Hong Kong boat.

Organisers of the race are in Hong Kong this week lobbying officials and potential corporate sponsors to back their plan. While the government has agreed to play a supervisory and co-ordinating role, it has yet to put money on the table, and race organisers are seeking private money. The race, in which about 10 yachts race around the globe, has been re- routed to take the 70-foot boats into Asian waters for the first time in order to satisfy sponsors eager to target Asian consumers.

The boats will come via India and are expected to stop in Singapore before stops in Qingdao - which is also hosting the Olympic sailing events - and Hong Kong.

West Kowloon has been offered as a location for the race village and boatyard, and organisers are looking at other options The yachts will be pulled from the water for major maintenance and will stage an inshore race in Victoria Harbour.

The plan also includes entering a Hong Kong boat, which is expected to cost US$20 million. -- Cameron Dueck in the South China Morning Post, full article at: www.scmp.com

ULLMAN SAILS DOMINATE 2007 ISAF TORNADO WORLDS
Ullman Sails customers swept top 3 places in the Tornado class at the 2007 Sailing World Championships, June 28-July13, in Cascais, Portugal. Congratulations to Tornado World Champions Fernando Echavarri & Anton Paz (Spain). Fernando and Anton won with a full inventory of Ullman Sails. Finishing 2nd was Carolijn Brouwer & Sebastien Godefroid (Belgium), followed by Mitch Booth & Pim Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) in 3rd. Again and again, Champions select Ullman Sails to deliver the speed and reliability to win world class regattas. If you are ready for the "Fastest Sails on the Planet", contact Ullman Sails and visit www.ullmansails.com

GROUPAMA ON TRANSATLANTIC RECORD RUN
Franck Cammas and crew crossed the start line at the Ambrose Lighthouse off New York Harbour on Thursday at 18h 02 m 55s UTC.

Time to beat: 4 days 8 hours 23 minutes and 54 seconds from the Ambrose Lighthouse to Lizard Point! A reference time held by Bruno Peyron since July 2006 on board Orange 2, which will be very hard to beat. Patience in New York has to be combined with an ideal weather window allowing a crossing with a speed average of over 28 knots!

The oldest and fastest of all oceanic records. We have to go back as far as the 19th century to relate the first record attempts. The course between New York and England covers nearly 3 000 miles. Once the Newfoundland banks are rounded, the road can be attacked...

To beat the record, the Groupama multihull will have to cross the finish line at The Lizard before 02h 27m 49s UTC Tuesday 24 July.

www.cammas-groupama.com

TOUR DE VOILE FLEET IS IN THE MED...
The boats of the Tour de Voile gathered together in Saint-Cyprien at 6am Thursday morning. This is the time for the preparers to get in the game and make sure their Mumm 30s are back in their original condition, everything needs to be checked...

The competitors left the harbour of Royan yesterday and hit the road for the Mediterranean Sea. The 600 kilometres transport across France demanded quite a lot of organisation seeing it included thirty convoys.

Hugues Leclerc, the preparer of Nouvelle-Caledonie, has experienced years of the Tour de France sailing race tells us about the execution of the process: "For the lifting of the boats the whole crew needs to take the boats apart, this is a rather quick operation. The convoy starts the next day, we then call our transporters who help bring the trailer all the way to the Mediterranean. The trailer weighs about 3 tons and is 15 meters long and 5 meters high". But it isn't until they get to Saint-Cyprien that the preparers enter the game for real, they then need to repair all the little impacts on the hull and they have to partially sand and repair the entirety of their boats until they look like new. "Yesterday I believe I worked from 10am in the morning until midnight and today from 6am until noon..."

The boats will race in a force 4 to 5 wind in front of Saint-Cyprien Friday at half past noon... and the preparers will be awaiting their return. -- Anatole Lucet

www.tourvoile.fr

'LET'S GET THE KEDGE OUT, GUYS'
Start Point's flashing three every ten. It's gone light, you're in 60 metres and in an hour, the tide turns foul. Get out the spare sheets, spi sheets, halyards - anything you can to hook in. Protect your advantage. That's what Dubarry has done with the new Fastnet boot, taken the world's best sea boot and made it better with elasticated legs to keep you dry and non-slip non-marking soles with incredible grip thanks to F1 technology, The Dubarry Fastnet boot - protect your advantage.

www.dubarry.com

TEAM SHOSHOLOZA ISSUES ITS CHALLENGE FOR THE 33RD AMERICA'S CUP
The Royal Cape Yacht Club and its Team Shosholoza have lodged a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup with the Societe Nautique de Genève, the Defending yacht club.

Team Shosholoza founder and managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno confirmed that he has sent a Notice of Entry and submitted the necessary paperwork and fee as outlined in the Protocol for the 33rd America's Cup.

"We showed what novices can achieve," said Captain Sarno. "We earned the respect of our competitors by punching way above our weight and our indomitable spirit captivated hearts and inspired millions around the world. Now we want to do another campaign. It would be silly not to. We have acquired a lot of knowledge; our crew have achieved a level close to the best in the world. We are hungry to get better results! We want to win."

Shosholoza joins the Challenger of Record, Desafio Espanol and the Defender Alinghi, as the first confirmed participants in the 33rd America's Cup.

www.americascup.com

SHORT TACKS
* In this week's Volvo Ocean Race Podcast we hear from Lizzie Ward on the ground in Canada about all the latest goings-on at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships. We also get an exclusive insight from Commercial Director George Blake into the latest developments as the build towards the next Volvo Ocean Race gathers pace.

As ever live Thurs afternoon/Fri morning at www.volvooceanrace.org/podcast/

* Video of the recent RC44 Malcesine Cup, from APP: www.appftp.com/appclient/RC44/RC44_MALCESINE_WEB.mov

* Marine footwear specialist Dubarry of Ireland, has announced that it is to become the title sponsor for the 2007 J24 UK National Open Championships. The Dubarry J24 Championships will take place at Parkstone Yacht Club, Poole from 13-16 September.

The J24 class is one of today's most successful one-design keel boats. It is estimated that over 50,000 people are sailing in over 5,000 boats with 150 fleets in over 40 countries - stretching from the US, Italy, Japan and Australia.

Competitors in the three day event will benefit directly from the sponsorship provided by Dubarry. The top five winning crews in the Championships and the Old Boat Crew will be kitted out with Dubarry's performance GORE-TEX boots or deck shoes. -- www.dubarry.com

* British round the world sailor Mike Golding's latest Open 60 ECOVER will be officially named by HRH The Princess Royal at the Southampton Boat Show on Monday 17th September. The new Owen Clarke designed Open 60 has been under construction at Hakes Marine (Wellington, New Zealand) for the last nine months and will return to the UK via cargo ship in early September.

The Princess Royal will officially name the boat and become Godmother to the new Open 60. After the naming ceremony, ECOVER will undergo sea trials as she is prepared for her first competitive outing in the Transat Jacques Vabre Race, a two handed battle across the Atlantic starting this November from Le Havre, France. -- www.mikegolding.com

* Sports producer Sunset + Vine has been appointed as the production partner for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

Sunset + Vine will produce 39 half-hour programmes and nine one-hour monthly programmes as part of the race's broadcast output during the nine months of the event. They will also have responsibility for international broadcast distribution.

An innovation for the 2008-09 will include a media crew member on board.

* Peter Rebovich has been awarded the first Olin J. Stephens Ocean Racing Trophy for the top combined ORR performance in consecutive Newport Bermuda and Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Races. Olin Stephens presented the trophy for the first time at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax on Thursday, July 12th at the awards ceremony. Rebovich from Metuchen New Jersey sailed his vintage Cal 40 Sinn Fein to 3rd place in the ORR Division of the 2007 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race. That performance, combined with his 1st place finish in the ORR fleet of the St. David's Lighthouse Division of 2006 Centennial Newport Bermuda Race, earned him the new prize.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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* From Scott McLeod: All this talk about the next America's Cup and cancelled Cup boat events is very interesting and as we have seen it usually sorts itself out. However, to be totally self serving all the close action and one-on-one battles we just saw in the America's Cup are continuing as the Cup skippers flock back on to the World Match Racing Tour. The following skippers are signed up to compete on the World Tour which now offers over 1M Euros in prize money and determines the ISAF Match Racing World Champion at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia. Some of the recent Cup skippers include:

Ed Baird - Team Alinghi
James Spithill - Lunna Rossa
Gavin Brady - BMW Oracle Racing
Magnus Holmberg - Victory Challenge
Sebastion Col - Areva Challenge
Karol Jablonski - United Internet Team Germany
Paolo Cian - Team Shosholoza
Ian Ainsle - Team Shosholoza

While racing doesn't take place in large ACC yachts but in identically supplied 40 footers the battles, tactics and lead changes are all the same and happen even quicker within a few yards of shore side spectators. You can follow all of the action on www.sail.tv or www.worldmatchracingtour.com or come visit an event.

THE LAST WORD
There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses. -- George Bernard Shaw

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

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