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CHIEFTAIN OVERALL ROLEX FASTNET RACE WINNER ON CORRECTED TIME
Ger O'Rourke's Cookson 50, Chieftain (IRL), has been confirmed as the overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race. The Farr-designed carbon fibre yacht finished Wednesday night at 19:43:44 local time with an elapsed sailing time of 55:04:43.

O'Rourke, the first Irish trophy winner, will be awarded the Fastnet Challenge Cup and a Rolex Yacht-Master timepiece at the prizegiving on Friday, 17 August at the historic Royal Citadel in Plymouth.

O'Rourke, a property developer from Limerick, Ireland has been sailing for the past 20 years, cruising on a succession of 30-40 footers along the south coast of Ireland, before he got the racing bug, sailing out of the Western Yacht Club in Kilrush, County Clare as crew on some race boats. He then started racing dinghies and worked his way up to bigger grand-prix yachts.

Chieftain was built in 2005 at Cookson's in New Zealand. It was the fifth Cookson 50-foot design built at the yard, but with some key modifications including adding a single forward canard and removing the trim tab. The boat has had some good success, including this summer's HSH Nordbank Blue Race (transatlantic race from Newport - Hamburg), where the boat was 2nd across the line, 2nd in class, and 1st in IRM class.

As for Chieftain's prior race history, shortly after it was launched the boat went straight to Australia for Hamilton Island Race Week, where it came in 5th, it then won class in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race before being shipped to Ireland. Back home, Chieftain competed in all of the 2006 season RORC races and won class in the Round Ireland, won overall in Round Britain and Ireland Race, and were deservedly awarded Boat of the Year in Ireland in 2006. At the 2007 Antigua Sailing Week the boat beat ABN AMRO on handicap once, and then it headed north to Newport, Rhode Island and the transatlantic race earlier this summer.

As of the latest OC Tracker position update at 1300 BST, leading on corrected time are Rambler (USA) in IRC Super Zero; Chieftain (IRL) in IRC SZ Canting Keel and overall; Courrier des Coeur (FRA) in IRC Zero; Scarlet Oyster (GBR) in IRC 1; Foggy Dew (FRA) in IRC 2; Persephone of London (GBR) in IRC 3, and PRB, in the Open 60 class.

As of Thursday at 1300 BST, 22 yachts had finished, 45 yachts are racing and approximately 204 yachts have retired from the race.

* The newly-launched Class 40 monohull, 40 degrees, co-skippered by British sailors Miranda Merron and Peter Harding with three crew onboard, crossed the finish line at 15:36:11 BST.

Merron and Harding will be racing in this November's Transat Jacques Vabre - Merron has raced it three times before -- and used the Rolex Fastnet as a competitive testing ground for the new boat.

As for the breeze and sea state during the first nights, Merron said "it was just very, deeply unpleasant, but we have a seaworthy boat and expect it to be able to handle the conditions and expect the crew to be able to as well."

After the launch in late June in South Africa, the boat was shipped to Spain before sailing a 450 mile passage from Vigo to La Rochelle in a "full Biscay blow, but downwind so that was all right. It was the first real test of the boat", then raced in the Class 40 Worlds and came in 2nd. Next Merron and Harding did their obligatory double-handed 1,000 mile qualifier for the the Transat Jacques Vabre straight off the back of that, before Skandia Cowes Week and the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Crewmember Fraser Brown has sailed many ocean miles on 60+ footers and found the smaller boat physically testing. Referencing the 608-mile race just completed he said with a smile "it's long way on a 40-footer" after logging 74 hours at sea in very testing conditions.

Brown continued, "For a 40-foot boat. it was very moguly and the boat is like a cork in the seaway. It's the first time I've been in a 40-foot boat in a very long time. In a 60-foot boat you push through it much better. It's the difference of having 2 tons of ballast - and forward ballast - instead of 750kg. You have to really change your way of sailing to get through the seaway."

The crew looked a bit worn, but given the pounding not that bad. "We were pretty knackered coming down last night. I must say the trip up to the rock was pretty hard, No one actually ate anything of substance for 48 hours. We had a stew on the boat we managed to get down in the early hours of Monday night and Tuesday morning. After that no one got anything into them besides some fresh fruit and chocolate for 48 hours because the conditions were so horrible. I don't think you really sleep, you close your eyes, but you're not really sleeping, you're banging around. You get up on deck and you're pretty wiped out."

fastnet.rorc.org

FASTNET 2007: 'OUTSTANDING - JUST OUTSTANDING!'
Hats off from Dubes - what a superlative race! 300 boats, the biggest entry since 1979, waited an extra 25 hours after the Fastnet's first ever postponement to battle F8 winds and 5m seas. 197 boats retired before line honours went to Mike Slade's 100ft ICAP Leopard in a new race record time of 44h 18m - 8h 50m (or 17%) faster than Ross Field's Grand Mistral 80 in 1999 - with Ger O'Rourke's Cookson 50 Chieftain taking overall honours.

Performance, endurance and incredible grip. Dubarry's new Fastnet boots - wear the name with pride.

www.dubarry.com

Still a few days to answer this week's Fastnet Quiz and get a chance to win Dubarry shirts and a pair of Fastnet Boots...

What was the first foreign boat to sail in a Fastnet Race (bonus points for who designed her)?

Give us your answer at www.scuttlebutteurope.com/index.php?option=com_philaform&form_id=5&Itemid=1

GERMANS IN CONTROL AS WIND INCREASES
Todays racing at the IMS World Championship confirmed German dominance in both classes as the wind increased towards 30 knots in the third and final race of Hanko, Norway. Team of the day was never the less King Harald and his crew on "Fram XV" which finished second and first i the last two races and c,imbed back to bronze position before fridays offshore and the final short race on saturday.

German Christian Plump and his "Beluga Sailing Team" looks however set to become World Champion in class 1, holding a 15,5 point lead over "Alfa Romeo", Jani Lehti FIN and the King. "Bohemia Express" Evropska Vodni Doprava, CZE in fourth has however a good shot at the silver as he ay discard his DSQ (28 p) if the organizers manages to finish a 7th short race on Saturday, pushing King Harald out of his podium position.

As the ind increased to 30 knots +, the teams were having diffuculties controlling their boats. A chinese jibe on Carl Janses B+C 46 footer "Too Obnoxious" looked particularly vioulent and the skipper claimed it took to crew three minutes to regain control. Sail damages, broaches and collisions gave the jury plenty of work after the races had finsihed and some changes on the leaderboard was the unavoidable outcome.

Also class 2 is dominated by German. "Chinook", Johann Friedrichsen won race 7 and leads the little Dehler 29 "Cala Ventinove", Uwe Wenzel by 22.72 points. Four Norwegian boats are fighting it out for the final posium position. "Extreme" Erik Kristiansen is 4th having finished 7, 1 and 3 yoday. Next are "Felicia" Eirik Bakke, "Aiming First" Trond Kristensen and "Hyak" Pål Kragerud.

* The IMS World Championship at Hanko, Norway took a dramatic turn of events late last night when King Harald of Norway, a medal contender at the championship, along with two competitors was disqualified from the long ocean race after failing to round the right mark off Kragero on the Norwegian South coast. Originally the international jury had penalized the King, his compatriot Carl Jansen and German Bernd Kriegel with a 20% score penalty after breaking RR 28.1 (sailing the course). According to the jury it was ORC who instructed them to change the verdict saying that breach of RR 28.1 does not open for other penalty than DSQ. It is evident that the jury has used the tracking system in the regatta as evidence, as far as we know, the first time such a system has been used as evidence in a protest situation. According to Jansen, one of the disqualified skippers, the tracking system shows that another competitor has sailed outside course limits, a fact ignored by the jury, despite a protest filed by him.

For updated results see www.kns.no

CORENTIN DOUGUET VICTORIOUS IN LA CORUNA
Corentin Douguet crossed the finish line on Wednesday 15th of August at 23h39m45s to win the third leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro race between Brest and La Coruna. The skipper of E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom covered 562 miles in 4 days 5 hours 29 minutes and 45 seconds at an average 5.52 knots. This is a first Figaro victory for the 33-yearold French sailor from Nantes who won the last Mini-Transat in 2005.

Douguet, Desjoyeaux and Troussel - top three to finish on the podium of the third leg of La Solitaire Afflelou Le Figaro between Brest and La Coruna. Nicolas Troussel (Financo) finishes 2nd 28 minutes and 5 seconds behind to the leader. Nicolas currently lies in third place in the overall provisional time rankings, 17 minutes and 26 seconds behind Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) and 8 minutes and 13 seconds behind Corentin Douguet (E.Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom).

Corentin Douguet (E. Leclerc / Bouygues Telecom) - first words from the winner...

"You must not this kind of thing too often; it is not good for your health! I have aged at least 10 years. It was too much...hours and hours of upwind in 40 knots, its pure hell. These boats are only little and the sea was truly awful. It was painful and at one point I nearly gave up. I had been there for hours and went below deck to check on the charts...have a look and see I was exactly half way between the home and the finish, only that heading home would have been downwind and hesitated at one point because it was so tough. I never thought that all my fellow competitors would leave me to work alone. When I heard that I was in 33rd place on this mornings poling, I even told myself that fine, they had all tacked before me so felt confident. I said to myself that maybe there is a chance here. On the next position report I was 18th and then on the last one I was second behind Bostik. It was incredible when I thought I could do it."

"I was with Gildas (Le Comptoir Immobilier) and then Mich' (Foncia) in the same place. I must have continued west for a couple of hours. It is just incredible because that happens because Michel Desjoyeaux does not make mistakes."

Michel Desjoyeaux, 3rd in La Coruna and leader in the overall time rankings - "we had our plates full!"

"We certainly had our plates full! It is very nice of you all to send us off to do that! It was non-stop for the whole leg: upwind, downwind...a thrashing. We had 40 knots. It was beautiful with huge breaking waves in the evening light. I was ahead, behind...then this morning I had no one in sight. At the finish it was quite a surprise to see the positions. It is was stupid because I lost the leaders yesterday afternoon when I did an unnecessary tack when not clear minded and impatient...I headed quite far offshore and then made de the mistake of coming back down. The waves were really quite impressive."

"We had between 30 and 40 knots over 24 hours. The sea was rough at one point, which is when I had the storm sail up. The least sail I had was a storm sail and one reef in the main. The sea was really quite crossed and it was not so much an Atlantic swell. It was hard for the boat in those seas and you would put the autopilot on without feeling sure so you just had to go and drive the thing. The sea ties in with the size of the boat. For a 60 footer or a 90 footer, these conditions are easy, for a Figaro it starts to get tough. There were a couple of bad knock that throw the whole boat out of the water to then come crashing down again. The boat goes along at 8 knots over a wave then just goes and lands into a whole so you just crash down."

www.lasolitaire.com

MUMM 30 'ILLUSION' CHAMPION FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR
Ullman Sails customer John Podmajersky and crew on Mumm 30 'Illusion' celebrated their third consecutive victory at Lakeside Yacht Club's 2007 Great Lakes Championship in Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-12. Despite close racing and shifty conditions, Illusion clinched the regatta with an eight point margin over second place. Racing with a complete set of Ullman Sails, Podmajersky won five out of 11 races and never finished out of the top three. In competitive fleets where everything counts, top sailors rely on Ullman Sails for consistent performance and speed that wins regattas.

Contact an Ullman Sails loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

THE TRANSAT 2008 AT SUTTON HARBOUR, PLYMOUTH
After being short listed by The Transat race organiser, OC Events Ltd as one of two UK cities bidding for the start of The Transat 2008, Plymouth has succeeded in defeating the close competition to retain this most historic of ocean yacht races formerly known as the OSTAR.

The Transat, which has started from Plymouth ever since the inaugural race in 1960 when Sir Francis Chichester won the event in just over 40 days, has become synonymous with the city. Steeped in maritime history, The Transat, referred to as the toughest of them all, is known for its demands on both skipper and boat as they race solo, against the prevailing winds across the North Atlantic to America.

Plymouth's successful bid to host the start of The Transat 2008 has been led by Plymouth based Ocean Yachtsman, Conrad Humphreys and backed by the Sutton Harbour Group, the South West Regional Development Agency and Plymouth City Council, all of whom have been key to the success of Plymouth's bid.

Central to winning the bid was the decision to bring the race into the heart of the city at Sutton Harbour, which will be achieved by building a race village around the Barbican. This will be open to the public free of charge over a 10 day period running up to the start of the Race, on 11 May 2008. The spectacular fleet of yachts that will participate in The Transat 2008 will be moored at Sutton Harbour, creating a spectacular interactive venue for everyone to enjoy.

The title partner to The Transat 2008 will be announced in the coming weeks along with the publication of the Notice of Race confirming the classes and the US finish port.

To download a graphic showing the proposed layout of the berthing and race village in the Barbican for the Transat 2008, please click on the link below: www.ocftp2.com/transat/Berthing_RaceVillage_TheTransat2008.jpg

www.thetransat.com

TRANSPACIFIC YACHT CLUB REVIVES THE TAHITI RACE
The Transpacific Yacht Club is convinced that many of those 2,000-plus competitors who sailed more than 200 boats in the last three Transpacs are ready now for the next great ocean adventure: across the equator to the South Pacific.

With its 44th biennial race to Hawaii successfully completed last month, the TPYC announced that for 2008 it will revive the race to Tahiti that it ran intermittently a dozen times from 1925 to 1994---this time, it envisions, not only with boats at the leading edge of evolution in the sport but a new generation of sailors sailing smaller boats with their families and friends. For many, that's more than enough reason to race to Tahiti.

After the 1964 race Dale Budlong wrote in Sea Magazine: "There is a saying at the Tahiti Yacht Club that there is no one winner in a race to Tahiti. Any boat that anchors off the quay in Papeete has won an adventure in paradise."

All qualified ocean racers that meet ISAF Category 1 and the minimum size requirement are eligible. Those interested may contact entries chairman Mike Nash: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

At 3,571 nautical miles, Los Angeles to Tahiti was once known as the longest regularly scheduled race in the world. The renewal is scheduled to start June 21, the date of the summer solstice that marks the longest day of the year. The start will be off Point Fermin in San Pedro where this summer's Transpac started at the southernmost tip of the City of Los Angeles. That's also where the last 10 of the 12 Tahiti races started, following those in 1925 from San Francisco and in 1953 from Honolulu.

Already declaring to compete are Doug Baker's Magnitude 80, an Andrews 80, and race co-chairman Bob Lane's Medicine Man, an Andrews 63.

But even in the Tahiti race's early days, smaller boats upstaged much larger frontrunning rivals by correcting out on handicap time, as Walter Johnson's 38-foot Mistress did against Spencer Murfey Jr.'s 55-foot Silhouette in 1953. George Kiskaddon's 33-foot Spirit, the smallest boat ever to sail the Tahiti race, was fifth overall among 14 boats in 1970.

The fastest elapsed time to Tahiti of 14 days 21 hours 15 minutes 26 seconds---an average speed of about 10 knots, modest by current standards---was achieved by Fred Kirschner's Santa Cruz 70, Kathmandu, in the most recent race in 1994. Kathmandu's only rival was Wood's Mull 82, a larger and heavier Sorcery that finished more than a day later. -- Rich Roberts

THE INTERNATIONAL OPTIMIST DINGHY ASSOCIATION SEEKS A SECRETARY GENERAL
We are: the major Under-16 sailing Class in the world and one of the most successful organizations in sailing.

We seek:
- a good honours graduate or an individual who has received relevant training to an equivalent level, and/or
- a person with experience of managing a small or medium-sized business
- who would like to dedicate his or her talents and experience to the development of young people through sport, and
- has the ability to work successfully with intelligent and dedicated volunteers and executives in a truly global business

Please go to www.optiworld.org/iodanewsecadvert.pdf for more details and how to apply.

* Editor: Robert Wilkes is retiring after over 30 years involvement in the Optimist Class. Robert, only the third secretary in the 42-year history of IODA, has been involved with the Class since 1976. He is married to Helen Mary who was president of IODA 1989-1998. and he has been secretary since 1997.

ESTRELLA DAMM STARTS BARCELONA RACE QUALIFIER
Guillermo Altadill and Jonathan McKee left Cowes, UK for Barcelona today and will sail the 2800 mandatory miles en route to qualify for the two-handed, non-stop Barcelona World Race that starts on 11th November, 2007.

The electrical problem that forced the Estrella Damm crew to retire from the Rolex Fastnet Race earlier this week has been fixed and a few last details onboard thoroughly checked. At 1034 BST hours, Guillermo Altadill's Estrella Damm left her Venture Quays dock in Cowes and the duo hoisted their colourful sails to head out into the British Channel. Altadill and McKee will benefit from NNW winds to get out of ! the Channel and enter the Bay of Biscay. If the forecast is correct they will be sailing downwind all the way to the Azores before reaching the Gibraltar straight. Leaving the Atlantic behind, they will enter the Mediterranean and sail to port of the Balearic Islands to add to the course and reach the 2800 nautical miles. "I hope the Azores High Pressure system won't be too large so that we can sail as many miles as possible in the Atlantic. We are expecting light airs in the Mediterranean and that would extend the length of our qualification," commented Guillermo Altdatill before leaving dock.

www.estrelladammsailingteam.com
www.barcelonaworldrace.com

JOCHEN SCHUEMANN LEAVES ALINGHI
The previous sportsdirector of the Alinghi-America's-Cup-Team, German Jochen Schuemann, has told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), that he has left Swiss syndicate and that he is now on the market again.

To news-agency DPA he said, he is looking for a new challenge. It's likely that the German sailor, who has his residence in Penzberg close to Starnberger Lake in Bavaria, will search for a new job in the America's Cup circuit. But he didn't told the news-agency anything concrete.

Schuemann could move to United Internet Team Germany (UITG). As in the past he often said, that he would like to sail under German colors, but only if such a campaign would have a chance to win the Cup.

Meanwhile new the gGrman skipper Karol Jablonski (former skipper of the Spanish syndicate Desafio Espanol) said to the leading German sail magazine YACHT, that he and the UITG had already spoken to Jochen Schuemann and did make an offer to him. "I would be happy to see Jochen in our Team, but he is in great demand, and now he has to decide which alternative is the best for himself", said Karol Jablonski. -- Mathias Muller

FEATURED BROKERAGE
TP52 'Stay Calm', $1,200,000. Lying Palma, Spain.

Stay Calm a fourth generation Farr Transpac 52, built by Goetz Custom Boats, RI, was developed to compete in both the European and US Transpac 52 competitions. 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. This design is the direct result of first hand experience gained while sailing and competing in Transpac 52 class for the 3 years.

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
Half the world is composed of idiots, the other half of people clever enough to take indecent advantage of them. --Walter Kerr

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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