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ARTEMIS TAKES THE BREITLING MEDCUP TROPHY
It was neither particularly pretty nor was it winning ugly, but Russell Coutts, skippering the crew of owner-helm Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis, today finally lifts the Breitling MedCup trophy on the final day of his third season competing on the world's leading fleet racing circuit.

In 2005 on the last day of the season Coutts had to settle for second to Vasco Vascotto and the crew of Pisco Sour.

Today a nervous tenth followed by a solid fifth was enough for Coutts and the hand- picked team on Artemis to clinch the 2007 Breitling MedCup Circuit.

In a light easterly breeze with a 17 points cushion to protect Artemis made a shaky start to the first of two final windward leeward races.

Forced to the wrong side of the left favoured track Coutts, Tornqvist and team rounded the first windward mark 13th, with only one boat behind them.

They recovered two places on the second beat, and one on the final run.

The second race start went marginally better, but with four boats recalled for jumping the start gun at! the pin end of the line, Artemis effectively had the title secured by the first windward mark.

Bribon, Jose Cusi's Judel Vrolijk design won the Santa Ana trophy as the season's top performer in the 24 boat fleet across the coastal race.

2007 Breitling MedCup TP52 Circuit, Final results:

1. Artemis (T Tornqvist SWE-Judel Vrolijk 2007) 199 pts
2. CxG Corporacion Caixa Galicia (V Tirado-ESP Botin & Carkeek 2007) 206 pts
3. Patches (E Conneely, IRL- Reichel Pugh 2007) 244 pts
4. Bribon (J Cusi, SM Juan Carlos-ESP Judel Vrolijk 2007) 262 pts
5. Valle Romano Mean Machine (P de Ridder, MON-Judel Vrolijk 2006) 262 pts
6. Mutua Madrilena (V Vascotto, ESP-Botin & Carkeek 2007) 262pts

Hyeres Trophy Final results:

1. Artemis (T Tornqvist SWE-Judel Vrolijk 2007) 37 points
2. CxG Corporacion Caixa Galicia (V Tirado-ESP Botin & Carkeek 2007) 45
3. Mutua Madrilena (V Vascotto, ESP-Botin & Carkeek 2007) 47
4. Patches (E Conneely, IRL- Reichel Pugh 2007) 59
5. Stay Calm (S Robinson, GBR-Judel Vrolijk 2007) 64

www.medcup.org

ISHARES CUP FINAL
The iShares Cup final in Amsterdam has culminated in a fantastic demonstration of what Extreme 40 racing is all about - 40ft catamarans racing within inches of the spectators, who cheered and whooped as the crews raced past; pure on water drama - near capsizes, collisions, triumphs and disasters.

Robert Greenhalgh and Team Basilica swept the board winning the overall 2007 iShares Cup and taking the Amsterdam event as well holding off the challenge of the Dutch 'home team' Holmatro who were leading the event until race 16 out of 18 when Basillica wrenched back control.

Incredibly close racing for the eight teams on the ij Haven canal in Amsterdam and going into the final, 18th, double points race the series remained up for grabs with the final scores revealing a slim three point margin between third, fourth and fifth.

Home team Holmatro put up an excellent challenge at this event and certainly had the support of their fellow Dutchmen who cheered them around every mark and applauded each time they flew a hull. Skipper Carolijn Brouwer with her team of Greg Homann, Sebbe Godefroid and Gert Jan Poortman came off the water disappointed with their performance on the final day.

BT Better World cap off the event podium and the overall iShares Cup score in third. The team had a chance to better their result but in race 17 were called over the start-line early and never re-crossed the line giving them zero points for the race.

www.iSharesCup.com

* Check out these two pictures:
ocvision.co.uk/cms/img/500/27838.jpg - BT Better World RIGHT on the edge...
ocvision.co.uk/cms/img/500/27839.jpg - Basilica throwing VIP guests around...

TRANSAT 6.50 CHARENTE-MARITIME/BAHIA
The prologue race started at 11 am Saturday, with 89 Minis sailed by crews of 2-3 sailors heading out in a very low northeast wind. Alex Pella (Open Sea) was first followed by Aloys Claquin (Vecteur Plus) and Adrien Hardy (Brossard). However, at 2 pm the race director cancelled the race due to low wind.

Sunday's start has been delayed until Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. A cold front is approaching the Bay of Biscay, which is forecast to generate a strong flow of westerly winds of up to force 9.

www.transat650.org

TODAY'S PHOTO ALBUMS
Find them all in the Eurobutt Gallery:
www.scuttlebutteurope.com/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,30/

iShares Cup at Amsterdam, Photos by Vincent Curuchet/ DPPI/ OC Events.

18 Foot Skiff Grand Prix, Carnac, Photos by Christophe Favreau, www.christophefavreau.book.fr

Tour de Bretagne, Photos by Benoit Stichelbaut, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Musto Skiff UK Championship, Photos by Paul Manning MPSCA

Medcup Hyeres Trophy, Photos by Thierry Martinez, www.thmartinez.com and Max Ranchi, www.maxranchi.com

TP52 MEDCUP 2007 CHAMPIONS - WELL DONE ARTEMIS
Southern Spars would like to congratulate the TP52 crew on board Artemis in winning the overall Breitling MedCup along with the four other regatta winners during the season. If you'd like to know more about the design innovations, or even dig deeper into the aerodynamic study or the sail-rig flow study that has gone into developing the TP52 rigs visit www.southernspars.com

Four of the 5 winning yachts in the season's regattas were rigged by Southern Spars.

DURBAN 2010 AND BEYOND TAKES THE LEAD IN CLIPPER 07-08
Durban 2010 and Beyond was first across the line at the start of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race in Liverpool this afternoon. As the cannon fired to signal the start of this 35,000-mile race across the world's oceans tens of thousands of people lined the banks of the Mersey to cheer the ten yachts on their way. Durban 2010 and Beyond was closely followed across the line by the home favourite, Liverpool 08 with Hull & Humber in third place.

Earlier today skippers and crew bid final farewells to their families and friends who had come to see them off from Liverpool's historic Albert Dock. The fleet will return here in ten months time as part of the city's European Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations. Before the start of the race at 1500 BST the fleet, led by the Tall Ship Mercedes, sailed in formation past Liverpool's iconic landmarks, the Three Graces.

In testing conditions, with southwesterly winds gusting up to 22 knots on the start line, defending champions westernaustralia2011.com were in the middle of the pack. They are sure to face some stiff competition on their way round the world. Already positions had changed as the yachts rounded the first mark, with Hull & Humber moving up to overtake Liverpool 08.

This first race is 610 nautical miles and will finish in La Rochelle, where the fleet is due to arrive on Wednesday 19 September. Their visit coincides with the Grand Pavois boat show, one of the largest floating shows in the world. They will set off from La Rochelle on Sunday 23 September for their first ocean passage, racing across the Atlantic to Salvador da Bahia in Brazil.

Race followers can chart the progress of the yachts on the state of the art race viewer on the new Clipper 07-08 website, www.clipperroundtheworld.com

* The final entry in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race was unveiled as Nova Scotia in an official ceremony at Liverpool's historic Albert Dock. The 68-foot racing yacht will carry the name of the Canadian province to 14 ports around the world.

The Clipper fleet will also visit Nova Scotia in early June 2008 ahead of the final long race. The fleet will arrive in Yarmouth, a historic seaport at the province's southwestern tip. It will then visit Halifax, the province's capital which is renowned around the globe for hosting world-class sailing events. The fleet will then move north to Sydney on Cape Breton Island before heading back across the Atlantic towards a heroes' welcome in Liverpool on 5 July.

* Clipper Ventures has annouced that the Clipper Fleet will be visiting Santa Cruz during the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race which starts this Sunday in Liverpool, UK.

By the time the ten 68-foot yachts reach Santa Cruz they will have raced between nine ports on five continents and covered over 25,000 miles of their ten month, 35,000 mile exhilarating race around the world.

The Clipper Fleet will be racing towards Santa Cruz from Hawaii and are due to arrive on 8 April 2008. The yachts will remain in Santa Cruz for ten days and then race the 3300 miles down through the Pacific Ocean towards Panama.

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

TEAMORIGIN PRESENTS ITS LINE-UP
Sir Keith Mills and Mike Sanderson presented the sailing, design, shore and management teams at the core of TeamOrigin, Britain's challenge for the 33rd America's Cup.

"This is a British challenge. At least 50% of our team is British. The funding is British, the flag is British, the race boats will be built in Britain, GBR will appear on the mainsail of every one of our racing yachts," said Sir Keith.

TeamOrigin is a new team, but 70% of the line-up have previous America's Cup experience at the highest level. Four members of the team are past America's Cup winners, five are round the world race winners and two are recent Olympic gold medallists. Ten countries are currently represented and more than half of the team is British-born.

Britain's Challenge for the next America's Cup will be led on the water by triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie OBE.

TeamOrigin's design office will be led by Briton Andy Claughton, Argentinean Juan Kouyoumdjian, and German Mickey Ickert.

TeamOrigin is a commercially-led team and one that will run on a mixture of private and sponsor funding.

"I'm also happy to announce that Charles Dunstone has decided to join me as a partner in financing this project, something that I believe lends enormous credibility to the seriousness of this campaign" said Sir Keith.

As a keen amateur sailor and one of Britain's leading businessmen Charles Dunstone has a strong personal interest in TeamOrigin as many members of his crew from previous campaigns have joined the team." concluded Sir Keith.

www.TeamOrigin.com

NOBLE MARINE MUSTO PERFORMANCE SKIFF UK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
In challenging conditions which saw 3 overall leaders during the event and 7 individual race winners, Rick Perkins from Whitstable Sailing Club has won the UK National Championships, making him the fourth different champion in the past four years.

The event was superbly run by Lyme Regis Sailing Club with racing held in predominately light airs off the famous Cobb and harbour.

In an event where good tactics and speed were equally essential, a number of sailors showed at the fore in individual races, only to post less convincing results later in the series, leaving Rick Perkins as the sole consistent front runner. Indeed his worst result, a 15th, was heading for a 5th until his tactics for once let him down on the last beat.

Without doubt the luckiest two sailors competing were Phil Robinson and John Simpson. Phil had somehow convinced his new wife that Lyme Regis would make for a wonderful honeymoon location, and John must have been in on it too, as it was his 10th wedding anniversary!

The most memorable event of the regatta must have been the end of race 2, when a pod of Bottlenose dolphins decided to pay a visit, and spent some time playing around the skiffs as the sailors were finishing. It was quite magical for some of the lucky sailors who actually had dolphins swimming right up to and under their boats. I'm not sure if anyone lost places because of a lack in concentration, but nobody commented that they were after dolphin related redress. -- Paul Manning

Final top five:
1. Rick Perkins Whitstable - Yacht Club
2. Daniel Henderson - Thorpe Bay Yacht Club
3. Dan Dixon - Stone Sailing Club
4. Michael Palfreman - Starcross Yacht Club
5. Ian Trotter - Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club

CLARIFICATION ON 2008 ROLEX COMMODORES' CUP CLASSES
Please note that the Displacement Length Ratios for the three 2008 Rolex Commodores' Cup classes are as follows:

Class 1 1.120 - 1.230 DLR (Displacement Length Ratio) 200
Class 2 1.075 - 1.119 DLR 200
Class 3 1.025 - 1.074 DLR 215

These differ to the DLRs as stated in the 'RYA Call For Entries' press statement issued on Tuesday, 11 September. We apologise for any confusion caused.

Expressions of interest must be made to the RYA by the end of September with a boat owner and representatives' meeting planned for October. To express an interest, or for further information, contact David Atkinson at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 023 80 604166.

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 Hugh Loewenthal: Here in the Netherlands most boats fly the national flag at the stern. About one third of the flag poles are bent in the upper third; why? Nobody I have asked here seems to know the answer - can your community help a puzzled Australian?

* From John C. Quigley: Sorry to be a kill-joy - great fun and intellectually challenging I am sure - but unmanned craft charging around the Atlantic does not sound like the best idea (be they big or small). The idea has been played with in the commercial shipping field for years and technology has certainly enabled a 'reduction' in crew numbers (not always with best results). The sea is an unpredictable environment and human ability to assess a situation as it actually is rather than appears to be on paper and physically intercede or react to the unexpected is the difference. How many short handed yachtsmen (and commercial vessels) experience gear failure in navigation or steering equipment and rely of manual override - despite spares and built in redundancy factors? When these boats' electronics throw a wobbly who is going to take over? At 4metres in length they are probably only going to be able to sink a passing yacht of less than 60 foot, so no worries there! What size will the next batch of important research work robots be?

Why not try remote control cars on the M3 Motorway (only 4 metre length cars though)? At least you will be able to see the carnage there. Assuming they will all carry a minimum of US$2m Third Party Liability Insurance to provide for damage to third party property and loss of life (like other Yachts) - I would recommend $10m in the circumstances - who is providing this insurance coverage? Whoever it is we can get more low risk business such as this for them! Get them back on a lake or loch.

* From Geoff Williams: As a past member of the sailing committee of the Royal Natal there is some folklore attached to a reply that was sent to the Admiralty when the question of South African membership of the Commonwealth was withdrawn. This was one of the conditions of maintaining a Royal Warrant and the correspondence is reputed to end with a letter reading "your letter of the XXth has not been received". Another Nelson touch lost in the mists of time.

One must ask if the Royal Cape managed to keep their warrant through the turbulent times in the history of the country. To my knowledge RN was the only one.

* From Len Davies: Re: Michael Brown - Scuttlebutt # 1315 re Royal Warrants - I believe Michael failed in his reading of the article by missing the fact that the Royal Natal Yacht Club's warrant was the last to have been issued by Queen Victoria. Who signed that of the Royal Cape Yacht Club could well be different as it was awarded some years later.

* From John Browning: September 16, Miami: China Delegation puts Spotlight on Sailing Events for 2008 Olympics. City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz will host a breakfast in honor of Mayor of Qingdao Geng Xia on Tuesday, September 18, 2007, at the Coral Reef Yacht Club, 2484 South Bayshore Drive, in Coconut Grove at 8:30 a.m. Mayor Xia will visit Miami for the first time to promote the 29th Olympic Sailing Regatta which will be held in Qingdao next August 2008.

At the breakfast, both mayors will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to solidify the existing "Friendship City" relationship between Miami and Qingdao which was initiated two years ago.

Author comment: As reported in SailingNews September 10: Britain is embroiled in a bizarre spying row with China after the confiscation of weather monitoring equipment used by the British Olympic sailing team.

The gear was taken when Chinese police officers raided the team's flat, which is near a Chinese Navy submarine training base in the northern city of Qingdao. They removed two 5ft tall weather stations, worth 8,000 GBP, from the apartment and sent them for analysis. The team is in China preparing for next year's Olympics and had been using the equipment to download data on temperatures and wave and wind directions.

Stephen Park, the Royal Yachting Association's Olympic manager, said September 7, 2007: "We have been told by friends and sources in China that the authorities thought our equipment could be used for spying. In fact, it is purely so we know the precise weather conditions we will encounter." He added: "We'd like the equipment back." The raid took place in March last year and the equipment has not yet been returned.

Possibly if enough US sailors e-mailed the Mayors Office, a 'hint' at the breakfast could help not just the Brit's get their equipment back, but prevent similar happenings to the US and other Teams:

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Isabel M. de Quesada
Executive Director
Mayor's International Council
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, Florida 33133
Tel: (305) 250-5300 Fax (305) 854-4001

FEATURED BROKERAGE
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THE LAST WORD
Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. -- Napoleon

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.

www.YachtsandCruisers.com the new place to buy and sell prestige boats, the website has been designed to showcase high-end boats. People looking to buy prestige boats will be able to easily navigate their way around the site quickly. The portfolio of thousands of boats can be viewed by category, make, location and price. Alternatively the 'Advanced Search' facility will benefit those buyers who have a specific boat in mind.

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