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ROLEX FARR 40 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
After day two of racing in the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship 2007, the top four boats overall are all familiar names - Mascalzone Latino, Alinghi, Nerone, and Barking Mad - all are previous Rolex Farr 40 World Champions. Yet several other boats picked the shifts well enough on a difficult day to move up in the standings. Struntje Light (GER), Siragusawa (FIN), Nanoq (DEN), and Norwegian Steam (NOR) all had a top five race finish - no mean feat in this fleet. The key to this tight one-design class racing is peaking at the right time and those who have managed to do so are trending up in the rankings.

For the second day of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, weather conditions continued to affect the leaderboard. The day was overcast with scattered rain and a WSW breeze at 12-14 knots at the first race start, dropping to 8 knots for the second race. A third race was postponed as the wind was forecast to drop further.

The Farr 40 fleet was back to its more aggressive race mode at the first start with two general recalls. In the third restart, several boats were over the line early and had to return to restart, including day one leader, Antonio Sodo Migliori's Nerone (ITA).

Racing continues tomorrow, Friday 30 August with a first race start at 1100; three races are planned.

Current standings:

1. Mascalzone Latino, ITA, Vincenzo Onorato, 24 points
2. Alinghi, SUI, Ernesto Bertarelli, 34
3. Nerone, ITA, Antonio Sodo Migliori & Massimo Mezzaroma, 39
4. Barking Mad, USA, Jim Richardson, 39
5. Infinity, USA, John Thomson, 48
6. Sputnik, AUS, Ivan Wheen, 48
7. Opus One, GER, Wolfgang Stolz, 57
8. Calvi, ITA, Carlo Alberini, 68
9. Ichi Ban, AUS, Matt Allen, 68
10. Enfant Terrible, ITA, Gianluigi Serena, 68

farr40.kdy.dk

IMOCA CIRCUIT: CURRENT RANKINGS
Between the Barcelona World Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre, it will be not less than 25 IMOCA boats, of which 17 are new, who will be competing for a place on the podium of those 2 IMOCA championship official events.

On the 3rd of November, 16 skippers and their co-skippers will be departing from Le Havre in France towards Brazil for the 8th edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, while 9 other boats (18 skippers and co-skippers) will be testing themselves in the new non-stop round the world race leaving from Barcelona on November 11th, the Barcelona World Race.

The current situation of the championship, after the Rolex Fastnet race, shows a close fight for the podium places between Bernard Stamm (Cheminees Poujoulat) -after his great win in the Velux 5 oceans race- followed by a very determined Jean le Cam (VM Materiaux) onboard his well tested Lombard design. On third place, Dominique Wavre (Temenos) is the best representative of the new breed of boats having been launched recently. This top three will see the level of competition increase in the following weeks as skippers like Alex Thomson, Mike Golding or French solo legend Michel Desjoyeaux are just launching their new boats this summer.

IMOCA 2007 current ranking

1. Bernard Stamm (SUI), Cheminees Poujoulat
2. Jean le Cam (FRA), VM Materiaux
3. Dominique Wavre (SUI), Temenos

The complete IMOCA ranking can be seen on the new IMOCA website ( http://www.imoca.org ) Along with other useful information on the races, official documents, notice of race.

IMOCA strengthens its Ocean Racing World Championship

Thanks to the efforts made by all IMOCA members, the fleet is now benefiting from a recognised maturity both in terms of safety and performance on the water. In order to continue its development and reinforce its position on the international sporting scene, IMOCA will now focus its attention in promoting its unique ocean racing world championship and, as a result, anticipates new IMOCA events being announced before the end of the year.

www.imoca.org

SOUTHAMPTON BOAT SHOW
The Southampton Boat Show in association with ITV Meridian returns to Mayflower Park this September. Celebrating its 39th year the Show, which has Europe's largest purpose built on-water marina, takes place from 14-23 September 2007. This year, the Show will see an exciting line up of famous boats on the feature berth of the Hydropool Marina. Not only will Sir Robin Knox-Johnston be there with his Open 60 "Lombard Marine Finance:, along with Mike Golding and the Open 60 ECOVER but TEAMORIGIN, Official Challenger for the 33rd America's Cup, will bring the newly liveried GBR 75 race training America's Cup boat to the Show.

www.southamptonboatshow.com

TODAY'S PHOTO ALBUMS IN THE EUROBUTT GALLERY...
J Cup Final
Photos by Lee Whitehead, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=225

La Solitaire du Figaro
Photos by Marmara/Vialeron/Bouchon - Le Figaro, www.lasolitaire.com
scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=224

Ronstan International 18' Skiff Regatta
Photos by Sergei Zavarin, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=223

Swan Rendezvous Scarlino
Photos by James Robinson Taylor, www.jrtphoto.com
scuttlebutteurope.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=222

RONSTAN INTERNATIONAL 18' SKIFF REGATTA
San Francisco, California, USA: Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin and Paul Allen of Team Pegasus clinched their overall win in the Ronstan 18' Skiff International Regatta on Saturday. But the competition was not going to let them come away without a tussle... literally. Second and third place boats Yandoo and Delonghi both made contact with Pegasus.

First it was Pegasus, wildy chasing Yandoo down the course, claiming overlap at the leeward mark, and heading for the inside. The two boats locked wings and wrestled for a moment before Pegasus came out with windward advantage. Both boats claim they were in the right. "Protest?" said Paul Allen laughing, "I don't even think the rules allow for that."

Later it was Pegasus on starboard, headed for the windward mark and Delonghi on port, ducking, but trying to minimize the loss. They cut it a little too close and their bowsprit make contact, shattering on impact. "Mike Martin said, "We were driving along, minding our own business, and we heard this bang. It knocked us right off the wing. We didn't know what hit us."

"Extremely unlucky," said Grant Rollerson of Delonghi.

"Not something to do with being too close?" joked Howard Hamlin, "Or is that the Australian version of luck?"

At the end of the day the local boats were laid up and the visiting boats were packed into a container on its way to Australia for the start of the season there. Summarizing his experience Steve Mclean, said, "I've never felt so scared, or so alive as when I'm sailing an 18 footer."

St. Francis YC: stfyc.com

GETTING CHURLISH...
There has already been an angry confrontation in the not so wonderful city of Copenhagen. It has been cold and miserable for the Farr 40 worlds, but some heat was injected from outside when Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi asked that the chairman of the jury, Tom Ehman, should step down. As Ehman is at the centre of the litigation by GGYC, at the behest of BMW Oracle's Larry Ellison, Alinghi, as a competitor, felt there could be some conflict of interest.

Ehman did not step down, doubtless because he thought that his four co-jurors would never allow themselves to be manipulated in what could be seen as vindictive behavour. But Bertarelli's skipper, Brad Butterworth, is incensed and has written to the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with a formal complaint.

The stage is being set for a bitter battle. Expect SNG (Alinghi) to have a formidable team of lawyers which will assert that the event already has a mechanism for resolving disputes. It is called the Arbitration Panel, appinted by ACM, and may well deliver an opinion prior to any court hearing. SNG may also say that any quarrels over mutual consent have been covered by the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, the chosen Challenger of Record, having signed up to the new protocol - as, by implication, have challengers from South Africa, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany.

Which leaves the case of the validity, under the terms of the Deed of Gift, of the CNEV challenge. That will doubtless give rise to long arguments over previous challenging clubs, not least the Mercury Bay and the SNG. But they went ahead, and so have the power of precedent. What everyone could do with is a tutorial on trust law in the New York Supreme Court. That is something which Justice Cahn is expected to give the highest priority. -- Stuart Alexander, full editorial at www.stuartalexander.eu

THE ISAF WORLD SAILING RANKINGS
Australia continue their reign as the nation with the most sailors at a #1 position on the ISAF World Sailing Rankings, holding three of the top spots but Great Britain and Germany each have four sailors in top three positions. Three classes witness a change to the #1 team and 40 new skippers join the Rankings today.

Great Britain cleaned up in Qingdao and they are still a dominant force on the Rankings. Whilst gold medallists Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson hit the #1 position for the first time, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes dip down to #2 to make way for the German training partners Jan-Peter and Hannes Peckolt at #1.

Tom Slingsby (AUS) in the Laser and Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) in the Men's 470, and 2006 World title winners Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) in the Tornado continue to hold the torch for Australia, holding on to their #1 positions for another Ranking release.

The Netherlands lose their only #1 spot in the Women's 470 to Italy as Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol conclude their steady march up the rankings.

The next Rankings release will be on 3 October 2007, following the ISAF Grade 2 Oktoberfest Regatta for the Star Class in Germany.

Full rankings at sailing.org

OYSTER MARINE LTD
As we head towards our 35th year, our ongoing success means that everyone at Oyster's Ipswich HQ is full on busy and we need additional help.

Project Managers
We have vacancies for Project Managers with relevant experience in the operation, construction or management of quality cruising yachts. Successful candidates will share our passion for excellence and innovation and must be team players with a "can do" attitude.

Administrative Assistants
We are also seeking Administrative Assistants to support our Production and Commercial Managers.

Apply in confidence by email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

S&S SWAN RENDEZVOUS
Scarlino, Italy: The 3rd Edition of the Sparkman & Stephens Rendezvous drew to a close at La Marina di Scarlino in Tuscany Italy. For three days the 17 yachts coming from Belgium, Holland, Finland, Austria and Italy offered a spectacular show sailing across the Bay of Follonica to the Island of Elba and to Punta Ala.

Tarantella, the very 1st boat designed by Sparkman & Stephens for Swan was among the boats which took part in the event.

On the third day of racing conditions at the start saw shifty and unstable winds from the northeast. The Race Committee fired the starting gun at 2 p.m. but the wind decreased during the afternoon forcing officials to abandon all racing. The international fleet headed back to harbor and in the evening La Marina di Scarlino offered a closing gala dinner for over 300 people completing the evening with a half an hour fireworks show that could be admired across the bay.

The final ranking list follows:

Class A (above 47 feet)
1. Coast to Coast, Swan 65, Degli Esposti, 2-1 pts 3
2. Matchless, Swan 57, Comparini-Bartolozzi, 1-3, pts 4
3. Maveria, Swan 65, Leitgeb (Austria), 3-2, pts 5

Class B (under 47 feet)
1. Ki, Swan 37, Doufur, 1-2 pts 3
2. Tarantella, Swan 36, Gesi, 5-1 pts 6
3. Only You, Swan 38, Salamon, 2-4 pts

During a press conference held in the afternoon to illustrate the future plans of the Club Nautico, Enrico Chieffi, winner of two World Championships and Tactician for "Il Moro di Venezia", stated: "Maremma is one of the best race courses in the world, one where any sailor dreams of competing. It has nothing to envy to Hawaii, Australia or New Zealand. The fact that so many international champions have taken part in events organized the past year by the Club Nautico Scarlino is proof that the sailing world has appreciated and will appreciate more and more the fantastic wind and sea conditions in Maremma and Scarlino."

www.clubnauticoscarlino.com

LIPTON CHALLENGE CUP
Cape Town, South Africa: Defending champions Greg Davis and Gareth Blanckenberg of Theewater Sports Club's Dalys Insurance are back in the top spot overall after bagging a win and a second place in two back to back races sailed in boisterous 15 knot north westerly winds on the penultimate day of racing in the Lipton Challenge Cup regatta being contested in Cape Town's Table Bay this week.

But it is a tenuous one point lead for Davis and Blanckenberg who with 12 points from three wins, a seventh and a second place, are in danger of being overhauled in the final race of the event Friday (31 August) by Shosholoza skipper Mark Sadler racing for Royal Natal Yacht Club's Orion. Sadler who is charged with taking the Cup back to Durban's KwaZulu/Natal waters, is second overall with 13 points on the leader board with two seconds and three third places.

Also still very much in contention to take the prestigious Cup donated to South African sailing in 1909 by America's Cup challenger Sir Thomas Lipton are father and son co-skippers Dave and Roger Hudson for Royal Cape Yacht Club's Greenlight who with a third place and a win in today's two races are just two points back in third place overall with 15 points.

Consistently solid performances have also come from the next five teams notably skipper William Norton and his crew from University of Cape Town's Lipton UCT who with four 7th and a 4th place is sixth overall and Port Elizabeth's Simon Baer on Algoa Bay Yacht Club's Isuzu Challenger with three 6th places, a 10th and a 12th is seventh overall, Limpopo co-skippers Peter Hill and Thomas Swana on Mountain Yacht Club's Mac a Tini are eighth, Rian Turner skipper of Hout Bay Yacht Club's Bandito is ninth and Rodney Tanner for the Traditional Boat Association's Team Escape 10th.

Only one race will be held tomorrow (Friday 31 August). The Lipton Cup will be presented to the 2007 Lipton Challenge Cup champions dockside immediately after the race. -- Di Meek

IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE BY ITALIAN F18 TEAM
Ullman Sails customers had outstanding performances at the 2007 F18 Italian Championships in Vada (Li), Italy, 23-26 August. Congratulations to champions Vincenzo Sorrentino and Paolo Fava who were tough to beat with five first place finishes out of seven races total. Their worst finish was second place. The winning team sailed with full Ullman Sails inventory, including a newly designed mainsail and jib that proved extremely quick upwind. Ullman Sails is committed to developing new designs and better sails to make sure customers always compete with the 'Fastest Sails on the Planet.'

Contact a local loft and visit www.ullmansails.com

JUAN KOUYOUMDJIAN TALKS TO VALENCIA SAILING'S PIERRE ORPHANIDIS
Excerpts:

Valencia Sailing: Before we start talking about the present and future of the America's Cup let's start with its recent past. In its 32nd edition you were involved with BMW Oracle. The team's racing yacht (USA-98) was supposed to be the "ultimate sailing machine", referring to BMW's car advertisements. Taking into consideration the budget, resources and aspirations of the American team, the final result was a failure. What went wrong? Was the boat's design wrong?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: The result was an absolute failure of course. I don't think it was all necessarily due to the boat, although I'm obviously biased. I think the design team as a whole worked fairly well at the end of the campaign and we achieved a goal that I'm still convinced had a lot more potential than what was shown in the final races...To answer your question directly, I don't think the final result was directly related to a lack of performance of the boat. I think USA-98 was a very good boat. To be honest with you, if I were completely free to choose a boat to repeat those races, particularly the choppier ones during the final stages, I would pick USA-98 again, without any hesitation, neither SUI-100 nor NZL-92. You can again say I'm biased but that's what I believe.

Valencia Sailing: Do you think BMW Oracle's setup of having yourself and Bruce Farr working together on design was a mistake?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: There are two models nowadays. First, you have the more traditional model, for big-budget teams, of hiring 2-3 designers together with other very clever people, making them work in a coherent way while having a central coordinator whose role will be to assemble and coordinate all these little things done individually and independently. In BMW Oracle's case that role was played by Ian Burns but also a number of other extremely clever people. Still, this is a model I don't like at all and I think it doesn't work. That doesn't mean that once you're on it you can't make it work but my point is that you can go much further with a different model.

Valencia Sailing: Moving to the future of the world's oldest sport event, you once said the America's Cup in Valencia was like watching F1 races on tractors. If you were given a blank check what boat would you design for the America's Cup since you don't like these tractors?

Juan Kouyoumdjian: If you allow a very free rule where you only define the "engines", that is the sail plan, then for sure you will end up with a multihull. From a boat design point of view or yacht performance point of view, there is nothing that will get you further than a multihull. There is an argument that multihulls are not dynamic and are difficult to tack. I don't agree with that because the greatest evolutions of multihulls, particularly in France, were done with offshore racing in mind. They were optimized for single-handed or dual-handed people to cross oceans. They did have a series of inshore races, Grand Prix as they called them, and that was one of the reasons that class failed, because of the discrepancies of what kind of boat you have to design for inshore races against offshore races. In essence you cope with two different boats and unfortunately budgets were not sufficient.

My point is that if you dedicate the resources one has in the America's Cup to make a multihull dedicated to match racing it will not take more than a year to achieve it. From a yacht design point of view, the multihull is the "ultimate racing machine".

Valencia Sailing: Last but not least, let's talk about the other projects and classes you are involved in. I don't remember seeing any TP52 or GP42 boat from you.

Juan Kouyoumdjian: We are doing a 100ft boat for an American client, built at Cookson. It's a very exciting yacht and is scheduled to make her debut in Newport next year. It's a very nice and innovative project.

As far as the other classes are concerned, we designed a TP52 boat only once but we had some rule issues. Essentially, we found some characteristics of the rule we thought would be beneficial to the performance of the yacht but the chief measurer and the person in charge of the class at that time (2 years ago) refused to give us a certificate for no other reason than the fact it didn't look like the other boats. As a result, we decided that until the TP52 comes up with a proper rule we will not be involved.

But even if somebody comes and asks us to design a TP52 yacht, we will not have the time to do it because all our resources are fully dedicated to the VOR and AC. We are 15 people now and 22 very soon but still fully dedicated to these two classes.

The full interview at valenciasailing.blogspot.com

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 Peter Cook: re: HMS Bounty 'Fresh from a leading role in the latest film from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Worlds End, HMS Bounty moors alongside Solent Park. Visitors can have the opportunity to self tour the ship along with a helpful crew offering you an insight into life on a Pirate Ship.'

The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2007:

12-year-old boy catches Black Pearl pirates

'A ship touring the country claiming to be the vessel The Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean films has been exposed as a fake - by a 12-year-old schoolboy.

'Ross Winstanley paid 7.50 to board the vessel with his mother Julie, in Torquay, Devon. He noticed that the deck and cabins were not the same as those in the films which he had seen dozens of times.

'Ross challenged the ship's "crew" - who admitted it had never been used as The Black Pearl, which was actually a floating set made of plywood mounted on a barge.

'The tour organizers have now admitted the vessel made only a brief appearance in the second and third films of the series - in the background as The Edinburgh Trader.'

It will be interesting to see what turns up at the Southampton Show next month.

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THE LAST WORD
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. -- Dalai Lama

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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