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PROTOCOL AMENDMENT AND A FINAL APPEAL TO BMW ORACLE RACING
Today the Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) and Alinghi announced that after a series of successful Competitor Commission meetings and discussions with the legitimately entered challengers, the Protocol has been amended in agreement with the Challenger of Record, Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV). As a result of this, the majority of BMW Oracle Racing's concerns have been addressed and the Defender issues a final appeal to the American team to drop their legal actions and join the competition.

These amendments, as a result of Competitor Commission meetings, also reflect many of the desired changes brought forward by BMW Oracle Racing and discussed between Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts, BOR skipper, over the last few weeks, in an attempt to resolve their concerns over the 33rd America's Cup Protocol.

As a result and following these changes, Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi syndicate head, appeals to the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC): "I would again appeal to BMW Oracle Racing to enter the 33rd America's Cup as a legitimate challenger. It has been demonstrated that dialogue is possible for the better of this event and it should be noted by them that many areas of their concerns have been addressed."

And finally he added: "We would also like BMW Oracle Racing to consider that their action is hindering the opportunity for other teams to enter the competition, and harming the ability of existing competitors to generate sponsorship income and properly plan their challenge."

The Protocol amendments are as follows:

With regards America's Cup Management's (ACM) power to disqualify a competitor, this has been clarified to say that, should a competitor refuse to be bound by the Protocol, then they will have recourse to the Arbitration Panel without risk of disqualification until the Panel rules.

Secondly with regards ACM's right to refuse an entry. The amendment is a restriction of ACM's 'ability to reject' to an ability only on very specific grounds, which are: failure to comply with the Deed of Gift, a capacity issue within Port America's Cup or a need to provide an equitable balance of competing nations. The SNG has made it clear that, should the GGYC abandon their legal action, they would be welcomed as a competitor for the 33rd edition and could shape the event along with the other challengers and the Defender during the ongoing Competitor Commission meetings.

A further suggested amendment point, on recommendation from the Arbitration Panel, regards the power of ACM to amend the Protocol and other rules. This has been changed to state that 'any proposal to make any Protocol changes, related to the way in which the Arbitration Panel works, must be subject to its prior approval.'

In addition to this amendment, the SNG and CNEV have deleted the power of ACM to remove members of the Arbitration Panel.

Finally, the concern regarding 'neutral management' has been amended to extend the Fair Sailing rule to apply to all matters directly related to the regatta. -- Daphne Morgan Barnicoat

www.alinghi.com

MINI TRANSAT CLOSE TO CAP FINISTERE
Isabelle Joschke (Degremont-Synergie) is still leading the race. Peter Laureyssens (Ecover) is 7 nautical miles away, followed by Samuel Manuard (Sitting Bull), Yves Le Blevec (Actual), Ronan Deshayes (Pco Technologies), Olivier Cusin (Energies autour du monde) and Alex Pella (Generalitat Valenciana). They all follow almost the same route.

The first series boat, Stephane Le Diraison (Cultisol-Institut Curie) is in 13th place.

The fleet plays with the rocks along the Spanish coats. No doubt that the turning at Cap Finistere will be tight... Isabelle navigates a few nautical miles away from the coast and the ensemble of the fleet follows her. The Transat 6.50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia 2007 looks like the Figaro - Tour de Bretagne. The overtiredness should start to be painful for the skippers; they have to be mindful of the changing weather conditions, to avoid collisions with the other skippers, the fishing lines and others baskets along the rocky Spanish coasts.

And what about Xavier Haize (Fidelia Assistance) then? Xavier is in 44th position at scratch ranking which means at 35th position at proto ranking. Might as well say that he did not get the jackpot with his South option: he is the one that sailed the most miles but following the direct route was one more time the race's first leg doctrine.

If we have no surprises considering the protos; the surprise comes from the series boats with Francisco Lobato (BPI) who is only ranked 57th (17th at Series ranking). Astonishing as he was considered the favourite, he followed a quite direct route. What happened?

Top ten at press time:
1. Isabelle Joschke, Degremont - synergie, Proto, 735.29 to Madeira
2. Samuel Manuard, Sitting Bull , Proto, 17.89 nm to leader
3. Yves le Blevec, Actual, Proto, 20.07
4. Peter Laureyssens, Ecover, Proto, 28.6
5. Deshayes Ronan, Pco Technologies, Proto, 30.81
6. Alex Pella, Generalitat Valenciana, Proto,35.45
7. Olivier Cusin, Energies Autour du Monde, Proto, 36.26
8. Andraz Mihelin, Adria Mobil Too, Proto, 36.6
9. Adrien Hardy, Brossard, Proto, 39.15
10. Matthieu Cassanas, Ville de Dalaruc les Bains, Proto, 42.66

www.transat650.org

AN INVESTMENT IN PERFORMANCE TODAY
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YANNICK BESTAVEN WILL BE AT THE HELM OF PARLIER'S OLD BOAT
Skipper Yannick Bestaven and the Cervin EnR Group, which specialises in renewable energy forms, have officially signed up today to compete in the Vendee Globe 2008 on board Yves Parlier's legendary monohull.

Parlier's former "Aquitaine Innovations" has been through a lot. The 60-footer with a prestigious past, one of the most innovative boats of her generation, had been languishing in Normandy for four years. However, the Winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Route du Rhum and the Europe race was still raring to go. She was to be put back in service thanks to the stubbornness of two men, Yves Parlier, her godfather, and Yannick Bestaven her new skipper, a yachtsman, who first came to prominence in ocean racing by winning the Transat 6.50 in 2001.

The first observation round, the Transat Jacques Vabre that Yannick Bestaven will be entering with Ronan Guerin and the single-handed return voyage from Bahia - Port la Foret racing against fifteen or so other IMOCA 60-foot boats, will enable him not only to qualify for the Vendee Globe, but will also give him a chance to measure his boat against his rivals, test her, analyse her reactions, discover her strengths and her weaknesses. "Cervin EnR" is not yet fine-tuned. She will be worked on during a major refit in the winter, the results of which will be seen in May 2008 during the single-handed Transat. Between now and the start of the Vendee Globe, the boat will have taken part in 4 transatlantic races: the Transat Jacques Vabre and the return voyage, the English Transat and the Quebec-Saint-Malo crewed race.

www.vendeeglobe.org

AUSTRALIA IV - GOING TO LANDFILL?
Following on from the story of where Australia IV disappeared off the face of the sailing world to, I received an email from Captain Marty Rijkuris from Asian Yachting Ventures. Apparently both Australia IV and Australia III were sitting in a remote corner of Japan when they were sold to a Malaysian businessman by a rather dodgy yacht broker (hmm) who forgot to mention that to transport them to Tokyo for onward shipping would cost in the region of $300,000.

Now the boats are threatened with becoming landfill after the site that they're sitting on was sold to unscrupulous property developers who are threatening to make them worm food unless a white knight rides in and rescues them...

Sounds like a job for the B-Team...the billionaires!

Step up Koch, Ellison, Bertarelli, Bertelli etc...otherwise a slice of America's Cup history could be lost forever. -- Magnus Wheatley in rule69blog.com

JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE SHARP END
From the bow, it's been a good race, amazing for a scratch crew in a Force 7. Leading, bang on the layline, five boatlengths to the mark, bear away set. Quick check: heavy runner's on deck, gear's on, pole's up, halyard' inside the Code 4! You've got about 10 seconds to sort it on a slick wet, bouncing foredeck heeled to 25 degrees. Wearing any other boots, you'd think twice. Not with Dubarry Fastnet boots. With new high-grip soles developed from F1 tyre technology, you can be sure there'll be no slips. The new Dubarry Fastnet boot: surefooted performance.

www.dubarry.com

* And the winner of our Fastnet Quiz's grand prize, a pair of Dubarry Fastnet Boots is George Chapman from the Isle of Wight. Congrats, we'll contact you about your shoe size and then forward your address details to Dubarry.

ACI MATCH RACE CUP
The second day's start of the ACI Match Race Cup was delayed to the afternoon due to the weak wind. The second round robin started around 2 pm when the north-western wind finally aroused reaching 13 knots. After five flights Australian Torvar Mirsky achieved victory in only two flights while Italian Paolo Cian achieved three victories. Currently, they are both standing at the lead with nine points. They are followed by Bjorn Hansen, Eugeny Neugodnikov, Damien Iehl and Phillipe Presti with six points. Only two amongst them will join Mirsky and Cian in the semifinals. Unfortunately Croatian crew with Dario Kliba continued with losses ending up with just one point. The remaining two flights of the second round robin are planned for Friday around noon.

www.aci-matchrace.com

JOYON PREPARES FOR ANOTHER SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION
Francis Joyon will tackle the round the world solo sailing record, this autumn, with the max-trimaran IDEC stripped of any source of polluting energy. The Morbihanais navigator has strong feelings about ecology and will rely on solar panels, a wind generator and a fuel cell to provide him with the electricity he needs.

When conceiving the new IDEC, with naval architects Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, Joyon had one primary desire, to push the notion of "simplicity" to the extreme in everything, from the operation of the helm to the layout of the living area. Now, in ridding the boat of a diesel engine, he has not only made it simpler still, he has also saved a considerable amount of weight, which should further enhance performance. 140 odd kilos of diesel engine, will be replaced by about 25 kilos, for the combined weights of solar panels, wind generator and fuel cell. On top of that, there will be no fuel, or fuel tanks on board, another significant weight saving.

Joyon commented "The same wind that propels the boat will help with the comfort level." Some comfort; this unusual man will be venturing into the Southern Ocean without a heater. -- Marian Martin, BYM News, www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=15569

www.trimaran-idec.com

PLANS ADVANCED FOR IRISH VOLVO BOAT
Ireland will be the seventh entry into the 2008/9 Volvo Ocean race when it's Green Team officially declares a new Reichel Pugh-design for the 39,000-mile race from Alicante in little over a year.

Within 13 months of the start of the race, a trio of Galway businessmen - aka the Green Team: Enda O'Coineen, John Killeen and Eamon Conneelly - have advanced plans for a campaign aimed not only at bringing the Volvo fleet to these shores but the overall trophy home as well.

The revelation that a 5 million Euro Irish "Volvo 70" yacht is on the drawing board of Californian designers Reichel Pugh is a prelude to the Green Team's entry to the world's toughest offshore challenge. It is also a further endorsement - if it were needed - that the team means business.

In spite of all this activity, Green Team CEO Jamie Boag remains tight-lipped on plans, except to say that until funding is in place to compete in the race, there will be no entry. So far this process is "advanced, but still ongoing".

Behind the scenes, however, he has put together the necessary hardware for an Irish entry, he maintains, that will be "truly competitive".

Insiders say construction of the 70-footer will need to be a priority project in order to be ready in time. A boatyard is on stand-by in Sydney. --David O'Brien in the Irish Times, his full article (subscription required) at www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2007/0921/1190319649823.html

Team site: www.greenteam.ie

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

THE QUEST FOR THE BIG FIVE-OH
Live from the container/workshop/accomm. in once-again-windy Walvis Bay, Namibia)...

The Sailrocket sits outside with its innards hanging out as it is getting a complete refit including new control and data logging systems. The central wing flap is now on a fuse which will automatically deploy on a 'sheet-dump' to a negative angle which will prevent the wing going into a negative lift mode and crashing back into the boat. This will enable us to turn the beast off if other aspects go wrong. It's a 'parachute'. She's taken alot of head scratching but it is nearly ready.

The fixed skeg is now fitted to make the boat track and real estate on the back of the boat is pretty scarce. It's getting very busy back there. The rigging has been changed from vectran to good ol' wire (PBO is thin on the ground around these parts) to lower windage and more importantly stretch.

Hand steering has been fitted for the fast parts of the run but the foot steering will remain to free up my hands for the run-up/down stages

All aspects and angles of the 'moveables' are now monitored. From my perspective she will be a radically different bus but from the outside she will look the same.

We have money to last down here until November (thanks to support of existing sponsors and friends) and will see what we come up with.

It was brilliant to watch the worlds fastest sailors tearing up 'speed-spot' during Walvis Bay Speed Week. Dunkerbeck, Maynard, Albeau, White all punching out 40+ knot runs one after the other over and over as the Walvis 'wind-tunnel' tore the arms off mere mortals. Dunkerbeck pulled off a 43+ knot run in 30 knots with a TWA of around 100-105 degrees(of course I have a video). That sort of power was surprising... even for a 108 kilo guy with 10 kilos of lead strapped to his back. I have no doubt that if these guys get their day in the French Trench this winter that they could be on the money for the big five-oh. It was a real pleasure to sit in a quite corner of The Raft bar overlooking the course and listen to Finian Maynard talk of those magic days where he saw a new horizon. Inspiring to hear it from someone who has actually been there. It's quite a personal pursuit actually.

Sailrocket generated alot of interest as they all tried to get their heads around what lay in front of them.

Those guys and girls have gone but... Mike Ellison from the WSSRC will remain for another month as will Marcus Schwentner who does the timing. They are on standby for some kiting attempts down south in Luderitz (where the new world kiteboarding record was raised a few days ago). So if the Rocket's fuse finally strikes dry powder then things could happen very quickly on many fronts.

That is what we are working towards. One way or another it's going to end in Walvis Bay. We've all come a long way. -- Paul Larsen

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 Adrian Morgan: Chris Law screwed up his chances of a Soling gold medal in 1984 by chasing Peter de Savary's America's Cup dreams and Ben Ainslie seems to be going the same way with his Finn chances, if he chases the (equally) ridiculous dream of a British America's Cup victory. There's money in the latter, little or nothing in the former. But Gold medallists are remembered and honoured far longer than the drivers of America's Cup boats. Dennis Conner was an Olympian before he became an America's Cup icon. Be brave. Go Olympic, Ben. Boring slog, with no money (probably no wind either), but better for the soul.

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THE LAST WORD
A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice. -- Thomas Paine

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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