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 ATLANTIC IN A HUNDRED HOURS
Franck Cammas and his nine crew have smashed the Atlantic crossing record in a time of 4 days 03 hours 57 minutes 54 seconds (time in the process of ratification), at an average of 28.65 knots over the 2,925 mile course. Groupama 3 crossed the finish line off Lizard Point on Tuesday at 00 hours 00 minutes 49 seconds (French time), improving on Bruno Peyron's time of (4d 08hr 23' 54'') by 4 hours 26 minutes.

Nonetheless, the giant trimaran has not had ideal conditions for this historic record, officially established for the first time on 11th June 1905 by the Atlantic schooner helmed by the legendary Charlie Barr. For the past 102 years, this reference time has been beaten nine times by multihulls but the progress in speed has virtually tripled! In fact Groupama 3 has maintained an incredible average of over 28.6 knots for over four days... An unimaginable level just ten years ago, since it is greater than the ocean liners, which still cross the Atlantic today.

The weather situation at the start on Thursday 19th July at 20hrs 02m 55s off Ambrose Light (New York) only offered up a single, very narrow window that gave them a sniff of the record, though its evolution in the Atlantic was not totally clear: a depression for starters, a zone of high pressure to skirt to the North forcing them off the direct course and an unsettled area to follow with a N'ly of varying strength to end the course... Despite extending its trajectory in relation to the previous record set by Bruno Peyron, Groupama 3's configuration proved favourable in the end for Franck Cammas and his crew, who had to continually get the very most from the giant trimaran. In so doing, the ten men devoured the last miles in the Channel at over 29 knots, snatching back even more minutes on their course time...

www.cammas-groupama.com

* Photos by Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com , in the Eurobutt Gallery: scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=186

COUTTS SIGNS WITH BMW ORACLE RACING
Larry Ellison, the owner of the BMW Oracle Racing team, announced yesterday that he had appointed Russell Coutts to be CEO and skipper for the next America's Cup. But where and when that will take place is something of a mystery as Ellison's club, the Golden Gate YC of San Francisco, has an outstanding court action against the Cup's holder, the Societe Nautique de Geneve that questions the validity of a challenge lodged by a Spanish club.

GGYC holds that the Spanish club that the Swiss has appointed as Challenger of Record is improperly constituted and does not meet the requirements of the Deed of Gift, the 1887 trust document under which the America's Cup is raced. In addition, it objects to the draconian Protocol that the Swiss has imposed in which it can dismiss any challenger at any time without reason or warning.

Ellison said: "Our object is to return to the close and exciting racing we had, not the type in which we are unsure of our place. We cannot make a challenge in which we can be dismissed - no team would have any chance but Alinghi." He objects too to the decision of Alinghi to change the class of boats to be used without first giving details of what it will be while at the same time advancing its own design team on the project. "They will have more than a year's design lead on any challenger," he added.

Coutts, who parted from Alinghi with animosity, will be delighted to race his old team. "We will build on what this team had last time to produce a winner," he predicted. -- Bob Fisher

AC VALENCIA SIGNING DELAYED AFTER MADRID MEETING
In further developments in the America's Cup saga, the signing of the agreement between ACM and Valencia for the running of the 33rd America´s Cup is now not expected until the end of August.

The damper was put on the excited comments of Vicente Rambla, that signing was to take place within days if not hours, by a more circumspect Elena Salgado, Spain's Minister for Public Administration.

Following a meeting between Ernesto Bertarelli, head of Alinghi, and Spain's Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, yesterday afternoon in Madrid. Salgado stated that the central government was more cautious and they hoped that an agreement could be made before the end of August.

The media conference scheduled for Wednesday at 12:00hrs local time has been called off. -- Gerald New in Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=35964

GERMAN 18FT SKIFF GRAND PRIX
Day 2 of the European 18ft Skiff Grand Prix brought with sunnier conditions than day 1, with a SW gradient breeze across the course area. However with this direction of wind and the proximity to the beach spectator area, it meant the 20 storey high Hotel Maritim was going to play a big part in the shifty conditions of the day.

Three races were run in anything between 6-12knots, but it was the shifts and velocity changes of the breeze which was to sort out the rankings. Pindar Radii (GBR), read the breeze well in the first race and added to their perfect score sheet of the previous day. Ed Browne in Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics (GBR) also consolidated their second place overall holding off the ever improving UTI (SUI) who they pipped into 2nd place.

The racing so far leaves Pindar Radii with a unassailable lead with two races to go, and gives them the German Grand Prix title. The fight for second place is a tight one with all to play for between GE Commercial Finance and Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics. -- Christophe Favreau

Results (6 races, 1 discard, 16 starters)
1. Pindar Radii, GBR, 5 points
2. Gill / Wet and Wild Graphics, GBR, 13
3. GE Commercial Finance, GBR, 14
4. UTI, SUI, 22
5. Bodotex, DEN, 25
6. GP Covers, DEN, 30

www.18footer.org

* Photos by Christophe Favreau, www.christophefavreau.book.fr , in the Eurobutt Gallery: scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=185

METRE CLASS REGATTA
No press reports have come in from any quarter (please send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), however daily results are being posted on the Royal Yacht Squadron site.

Leading boats by class;
10 / 12 Metre: Crusader K24
8 / CR Metre: Saskia, AUS6
6 Metre Modern: Jungfrun, SWE133
6 Metre Classic: Titia, GBR22
5.5 Metre: Halloh Ru III, F123
Daring: Darius, K30
5 Metre / Other: Sensa, S11

Photos of the 8m Hispania IV colliding with the 6m Nada and dismasting her, from the first race of the Metre Regatta in Cowes, photos by Kos, http://www.kospictures.com , in the Eurobutt Gallery: scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=184

Results for each class: www.rys.org.uk/da/58145

TP52 PATCHES AVAILABLE FOR CHARTER
One of the most successful TP52's ever built, Patches 2005 is now available for charter in the Mediteranean. Winner of the 2006 Copa Del Rey, and Cuidad de Castellion events, Patches finished 3rd in the Medcup last season and is also an exceptional performer under IRC.

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information

BALTIC SPRINT CUP
All skippers and crews of the 25 boats participating in first leg of the Baltic Sprint Cup from Copenhagen to Sassnitz attended a great party hosted at the Bank DnB NORD headquarters on the 19th July. Baltic Sprint Cup committee chairman and Bank DnB NORD CEO, Sven Herlyn welcomed everyone and wished them fair winds on the third year of the Baltic Sprint Cup.

The weather on the following day was nice, the sky was all clear, no rain, but sadly, there was only very little wind. The sailing yacht "Fruhstucksdirektor" had a spectacular start as the first boat to pass all the initial course marks. Although all the other yachts managed to catch up with them at several points during race, SY "Fruhstucksdirektor" kept their lead and was the first ship home. They also won the yellow flag as leading yacht so far, the winner over both classes in leg one and winner of Class A.

The second prize in Class A went to SY "Emil Reiseschwein" and the third to SY "Philomena". The winner in Class B was SY "Meltemi", SY "Chaos quarante" became second in this class and SY "Schuddelfrost" third. Overall, the winner SY "Fruhstucksdirektor" was followed by SY "Meltemi" and SY "Emil Reiseschwein". Complete result tables can be found here.

Once the boats arrived in Rugen, a very warm welcome was extended to them from the city and the port of Sassnitz.

Because of a heavy gale warning the start on Sunday was delayed for eighteen hours and thirty minutes until Monday the 23rd July. However the bad weather, which lead to severe problems in many places in Germany, was not as strong in along the coast as forecasted, but did bring a bunch of grey clouds and lots of rain.

Luckily the clouds disappeared just minutes before the start of the second leg and all boats hoisted their spinnaker immediately after crossing the starting line between the two SAR boats of the DGzRS in twenty-five knots of wind.

Because the wind was forecasted to decrease to nothing later in the day, the race committee decided to shorten of the second leg the course from originally 200 to 170 miles. The new finishing line is at Wladislawowo, Poland, which proved to be a good decision. At the present time, many yachts are just a few miles away from the finishing line in four to seven knots of wind.

Surely after this leg, which is by far the longest of this years Baltic Sprint Cup, the sailors are looking forward to the reception sponsored by the City of Gdansk and the second prize giving at the DnB NORD/BISE party. -- Deike Schutt

www.balticsprintcup.com

THE LESSONS OF TROIA
After this successful event, there can be no doubt that Women's Match Racing has a place in the Olympic Regatta. It fulfils all the necessary criteria of the International Olympic Committee, particularly with regard to its suitability for television, and it is this that sets it apart. True the medium's technology could be more sophisticated and eliminate the need for cameramen on the boats, but that is but detail.

Here is an Olympic discipline that could also help to reduce the numbers of athletes in the Games, but it would need pre-selection regattas so that there would be only six crews, each of four women, to represent a country - a total of 24 athletes in the proposed new total of 380 (a reduction of 20) for the 2012 Olympics at Weymouth.

It is spectator-friendly, as I found out in Troia, where I was able to watch the action from off the water and still be aware of the nuances of the sport. Add a giant screen, in the manner of the America's Cup viewing areas, and the spectators would be more than content.

The idea is one to which the ISAF should give serious consideration at its upcoming Annual Conference in October when the events of the 2012 Games are decided. There has to be a big shake-up as the number of classes is to be reduced from 11 to ten, once again an IOC demand, and this could result in major change, one of which might see Women's Match Racing in its proper place.

There were other lessons to be learned from the Troia event, not the least the scheduling of the races, which because of uncertainty in the weather (whenever can this be guaranteed?) almost resulted in the last race of the final being held after sunset, thereby bringing a different set of rules and regulations into play.

Considerable time was lost in swapping the skippers' names on the mainsails ands however desirable this may be for television, a faster means of change must be found rather than dropping the mainsails to the deck each time. In addition, these were almost unreadable, even from close-up on the water. Surnames would be enough, and for them to be recognisable it might need some reduction on the size or number of sponsors' logos on the mainsails.

Perhaps even better, the skippers' names should be on the luff of the jibs in the style of the countries on America's Cup boats. Add to that, spinnakers in the national colours (or even national flags) and the individual competitors become even more obvious to the spectator or television viewer.

The loss of valuable time also resulted in a rush to finish the racing and it ought to have been possible for a reasonable break between the semi-finals and the final. Sally Barkow was obviously more tired than her opponent, Jenny Axhede, for the major prize as she had been in a five-setter in her semi-final against Claire Leroy, while Axhede despatched Klaartje Zuiderbaan in three matches. A request for a short rest by Barkow was denied.

I have to question the necessity for the Principal Race Officer to attempt to organise the racing from a RIB. It is, after all, impossible for the conductor of an orchestra to carry out his task from anywhere but a central podium. It is the single centre of focus and a position from which the person in charge has a far better view, in this case, the committee boat.

Umpire calls were, as usual, faultless and it was interesting to hear (by VHF) the overlap calls of the wing umpires that would have left no doubts in the minds of those in the RIBs behind. Interesting too that some of those employed at Troia had also been present throughout the early summer in Valencia. -- Bob Fisher

OK DINGHY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
What do you do with 118 OK Dinghy sailors when there is either too much wind or not enough wind to be able to get in any races? Well the after sailing free beer on offer here in Leba, Poland helps, but the sailors' frustration is very apparent as for the third day in a row there was no racing. However today, it because the winds were too light and fickle.

Sailors were sent afloat at 08.30 for a 10.00 start to make up on lost ground after yesterday's opening races and Sunday's practice races were abandoned because the winds were too strong. A light but steady breeze awaited them, but after two failed starts, the easterly wind died for 90 minutes before reappearing in the west. For a while it looked good, but then it died again and then reappeared back in the east.

At last night's OK Dinghy International Association (OKDIA) Annual General Meeting, the class unanimously voted in Canada as a returning member of OKDIA and accepted the bid from Wellington in New Zealand to host the 2010 World Championships. Most of the committee remains the same except that the current secretary Robert Deaves (GBR) becomes the Chairman of the Marketing Committee while Mary Reddyhoff (GBR) becomes the new secretary.

In its fiftieth year the class is also looking at how it can ensure the next 50 are just as successful. Towards this end, additional items discussed included plans to look at simplifying and standardising many of the class rules, encouraging more youth and grass roots development in the class and looking at more professional marketing opportunities.

The schedule for the 2007 World Championships is now becoming tight and three races per day are planned on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Five races are needed to make a series. The worry is that the forecast is for 30 knots on Wednesday, but the sailors are determined to go sailing come what may. Hopefully there will be some real news to report tomorrow. -- Robert Deaves

www.okdworlds2007.com
Class website: www.okdia.org

ISAF ROLEX WORLD SAILOR OF THE YEAR AWARDS
Nominations are now invited for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2007 - the most prestigious award of recognition in the sport of sailing. Since the inaugural presentation in 1994, an exceptional list of the world's top sailors have been nominated for the awards.

Numerous success stories have already been witnessed since the start of the nomination period on 1 September 2006 and with less than two months remaining until the close of nominations on 1 September 2007 there will no doubt be many more achievements which merit nomination.

Anyone can nominate a sailor and all nominations must be submitted on the official nomination form which is available on the ISAF website via the following link www.sailing.org/worldsailor/2007WSOYnominationform.doc

A shortlist will be decided from all of the nominations received by the deadline and those sailors will go on to become the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2007 Nominees. The ISAF Member National Authorities will be then vote for those sailors who they believe merit the awards but the winners will not be announced until the night of the awards presentation on Tuesday 6 November in Estoril, Portugal.

The winners will be presented with the unique marble and silver trophy, depicting the globe crowned with five silver spinnakers representing the continents and a Rolex timepiece.

2006 Winners: Paige Railey (USA) and Mike Sanderson (NZL)

Nominations close at 1000 UTC on Monday 3 September 2007.

sailing.org/worldsailor/

HILARY LISTER SAILS SOLO ROUND THE ISLE OF WIGHT
Hilary Lister, 35, the first quadriplegic to sail solo across the English Channel exactly two years ago, today became the first female quadriplegic to sail solo around the Isle of Wight. Lister, who is able to move only her head and neck, used a 'sip-puff' method of steering to control her boat, by breathing down two straws enabling her to steer and adjust the sails.

Hilary crossed the start line off Cowes at 08.12 (BST) on Tuesday 24th July in her 'Artemis 20', a 20 foot racing boat named 'Me Too'. She covered an incredible 50 miles in 11 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds, sailing at an average speed of ten knots. Crossing the finish line at 19.20 (BST) an exhausted but jubilant Lister was overjoyed to have completed this important prologue to her solo sail Round Britain next summer, a dream she declared at the finish of her cross Channel record.

Hilary will now continue her training for her 'Round Britain Dream', including her search for support which will enable her to achieve this dream. Hilary intends to set up a charity which will aim to helping disadvantaged and disabled people to get out on the water and experience the thrill of sailing, whilst showing that disabled people can live challenging and exciting lives. -- Kate Fairclough

www.hilarylister.com

AUSTRALIA'S HAMILTON WINS 2007 CONTENDER WORLDS
Marcus Hamilton was confirmed as the 2007 Contender World Champion in Holland yesterday. Racing was cancelled on the last day of the championship when 35 knot north easterlies blasted the Medemblik course.

The Italian Andrea Bonezzi, the 2006 World Champion who has amassed an amazing five titles, led earlier in the series but had a disastrous seventh race drop of 24th.

The 25 year old Australian, who sails out Royal Brighton and Sandringham clubs in Melbourne, was runner up in the 2004 and 2006 Worlds. However this time he proved too consistent, his 2007 World series regatta drop being a third place; he had four wins, a second and two third places.

Germany's Jan von der Bank, the 2005 World Champion was third, just two points ahead of Soren Andreasen from Denmark. The two Brits Stuart Jones and Graham Scott, both previous World Champions, finished fifth and sixth.

The 144 competitors sailed eight races, from the scheduled ten. -- Rob Kothe, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=35902

Final top ten:

1. Marcus Hamilton, AUS, 12.0 points
2. Andrea Bonezzi, ITA, 17
3. Jan von der Bank, GER, 31
4. Soren Andreasen, DEN, 33
5. Stuart Jones, GBR, 34
6. Graham Scott, GBR, 36
7. Tim Hill, AUS, 42
8. Neil Wilson, GBR, 45
9. Christoph Homeier, GER, 49
10. Jono Neate, AUS, 50

THE LAST WORD
A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog. -- Jack London

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/