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LOCAL HEROES QUALIFY FOR QUARTERS
Hamilton, Bermuda: Bermudians Glenn Astwood and Blythe Walker joined four others in advancing to the Quarterfinal Round of the $100,000 King Edward VII Gold Cup match race regatta in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Today all three groups completed their initial rounds robin racing, with the top two from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.

Afterwards, the first three flights of the Repechage Round were completed. The second-chance round features the third- and fourth-place finishers from the three groups, and the top two advance to the quarterfinals.

Walker, last year's third-place finisher, won Group A with a 5-1 record. In the quarterfinals he will meet the second-place finisher from the repechage. Walker thrilled the locals when he defeated America's Cup-winning skipper Ed Baird of the U.S. in his last race of the round robin.

Astwood placed second in Group C with a 5-1 record. He lost a tiebreaker for the group win to Italy's Paolo Cian because Cian beat him head-to-head in Flight 2.

Astwood, the reigning Bermuda National Match Race champion, will face Frenchman Mathieu Richard in the quarterfinals. Richard placed second overall last year, and advanced to the quarters by finishing second in Group B with a 4-2 record. Astwood will have the home crowd advantage tomorrow.

"He's in a no-win situation," Astwood said of Richard. "If he loses, he loses. And if he wins he'll have 60,000 people chasing him off the island."

The Astwood-Richard match is in the bottom half of the ladder, which also features a match between a pair of America's Cup helmsman - Baird and Cian. Baird led Alinghi to victory in the 32nd America's Cup Match and Cian helmed South Africa's Team Shosholoza in the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The other quarterfinalist is Johnie Berntsson of Sweden. Berntsson won a three-way tiebreak to claim Group B with a 4-2 record. Berntsson in the quarters will face off against the winner of the repechage.

In the repechage, two Swedes are trying to write incredible comeback stories. Sweden's Björn Hansen and Magnus Holmberg are both in the mix, along with Finland's Staffan Lindberg and Brian Angel of the U.S.

Racing was conducted in a challenging southerly wind that shifted through 90 degrees at times with the strength ranging between 2 and 7 knots at the windward mark and up to 12 knots at the leeward mark.

Final Group A Standings
(After 7 of 7 flights)
1. Blythe Walker (BER), 5-1
2. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 5-1
3. Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth.pt Team, 4-2
4. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 4-2
5. Scott Dickson (NZL) Dickson Racing Team, 2-4
6. Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Monnin, 1-5
7. Peter Wibroe (DEN), 0-6

Final Group B Standings
(After 7 of 7 flights)
1. Johnie Berntsson (SWE), 4-2
2. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba SailingTeam, 4-2
3. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, 4-2
4. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 3-3
5. Jon Eriksson (FIN), 3-3
6. Sally Barkow (USA) Team 7 Sailing, 2-4
7. Chris Van Tol (USA), 1-5

Final Group C Standings
(After 7 of 7 flights)
1. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza, 5-1
2. Glenn Astwood (BDA), 5-1
3. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 4-2
4. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race Team, 3-3
5. Daniel Glomb (BRA), 3-3
6. David Tabb (GBR), 1-5
7. Robbie Allam (GBR), 0-6

Repechage Round Standings
(After 3 of 5 flights)
1. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 3-0
2. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race Team, 2-1
T. Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, 2-1
T. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Team Alandia, 2-1
5. Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth.pt Team, 0-3
T. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 0-3

Quarterfinal Matches
Blythe Walker (BER) vs. Repechage No. 2
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) vs. Repechage No. 1
Paolo Cian (ITA) vs. Ed Baird (USA)
Mathieu Richard (FRA) vs. Glenn Astwood (BER)

www.bermudagoldcup.com

SEVEN CHALLENGERS TAKE UMBRAGE AT CUP PROTOCOL
Just two weeks after the finish of the 32nd America's Cup, seven of the Challengers signed a letter expressing their views of the Protocol which had been signed between the Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve, and their Challenger of Record Club Nautico Espanol de Vela.

Known as Exhibit 2, and referred to in the submissions lodged recently by Mascalzone Latino and BMW Oracle Racing, the signatories to the letter - Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, Mascalzone Latino, United Internet Team Germany, Areva Challenge, Victory Challenge and BMW Oracle Racing had just come off the back of one of the greatest America's Cups ever, an event that really just needed the gas tank to be filled again and left to again for the next two years.

Instead they found themselves stuck in a very difficult position. Enter and sail in a competition that was very heavily weighted in terms of the Defender; or drop out of the America's Cup game.

Between them the seven teams had a total of 17 America's Cup campaigns. Desafio Espanol had just one and its club CNEV, had been in existence just a few days, had never competed in an America's Cup and indeed had never organised a yacht race.

Against this backdrop, the ire of the seven Challengers is understandable. They have since all had to make a choice, and only two have entered.

With usual salutations and introductions stripped away, the basics of the letter addressed to the Presidents of Club Nautico Espanol de Vela and Desafio Espanol is as follows;

In our collective role as past Challengers and prospective Challengers, our opinion is that this Protocol is the worst text in the history of the America's Cup and more fundamentally, it lacks precisely the mutual consent items which are required...

... You are well aware that serious questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the newly created and purely instrumental entity called 'Club Nautico Espanol' to advance a Challenge under the provisions of the Deed of Gift. In the sincerest hope that the America's Cup competition will not have to endure the turmoil associated with litigating that issue, but wilt rather move forward with the balanced and fair procedures and protocols that have historically characterized this competition, we ask you to dissolve 'Club Nautico Espanol' and withdraw your Challenge within the month of July 2007.

The full text of the letter (and all excerpts above) from Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=38164

COOL, CALM, CONTROLLED PERFORMANCE
As owner-skipper, I've got to be in control. Nothing says 'amateur' more than a red-faced skipper screaming at a bewildered crew. I've got some great guys, we train hard, learn from our mistakes and earn our bullets. If I say 'Port rounding, gybe set, blast reacher' I know that's what will happen. No dramas. My performance needs to be reliable, surefooted, no slips. That's why I'm wearing Dubarry's new Fastnet boots. And the long-lasting performance leathers and tough Cordura uppers mean I get real value for my money. The new Fastnet boot by Dubarry: take control.

www.dubarry.com

TRANSAT 6.50
As of Thursday evening, Yves le Blevec (Actual) should be close to the obligatory passage imposed by the Transat 6.50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia organization. The competitors have to cross a zone between Santo Antao island (North West of Cape Verde) and Maio small island (South East of the archipelago). At this passage, Le Blevec will have spent a little bit more than 5 days to sail over 1,000 nautical miles, between Madeira and Cape Verde. That is a performance, when we remember that during the first 24 hours, there was almost no wind.

Behind Blevec, it is almost the "survivors" race. One after the other, the first leg favourites suffer - most of the time because of riggings breakdown.

Isabelle Joschke (Degremont-Synergie) will stop at Cap Verde, perhaps for good.

Apparently, Samuel Manuard (Sitting Bull) also has a serious problem. The (ex?) favourite is now 135 nautical miles away from the leader.

Nicolas Brennan (Rafiki) grabs the 3rd position instead of Fabien Desprees (Soitec). But he is still 52 nautical miles away from Yves. Adrien Hardy (Brossard), constrained to come back to the direct route after his Mauritanian escape, is now running like a hare after Yves.

The unfortunate first leg's skipperas, Peter Laureyssens (Ecover) and Alex Pella (Generalitat Valenciana) are turning the tables and come back in the leading squad. They have reached the 5th and 10th position.

Of course, the wide move in the direction of Cape Verde funnel also concerns the sailors that picked the East option… The first is the astonishing Stephane le Diraison. First series boat in Madeira, the Cultisol-Institut Curie's skipper wants a piece of the leaders pie.

There is now more than 600 nautical miles between the head of the fleet and those that are stuck in Canaries (Seb Gladu - Clichy sous bois Clichy sur l'eau).

The over 20 knots wind with gusts has caused many damages: broken spinnaker poles, torn out rudder heads or folded masts... The last victim is the Italian Andrea Carraci (Speedy Bonsai) who dismasted. Andrea is fine and heads for Mindelo (Cape Verde). He did a makeshift repair to set up a kind of a rigging with a piece of his mast, his storm jib and his storm trysail.

www.transat650.org

ANOTHER WIN FOR GERMAN TORNADO SAILORS
After a long week of waiting for the breeze, German Tornado sailors Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz claimed the German National Championship at last week's 2007 Audi Chiemsee Champions Week in Germany. Polgar and Spalteholz won three races in the four-race series, comfortably placing themselves 12 points ahead of second place. Competing with Ullman Sails, the pair added their national title to a successful year including victory at Kiel Week in June. Whether in light or heavy breeze, the top competitors continue to choose the 'Fastest Sails on the Planet.'

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

RYA NATIONAL MATCH RACING SERIES
Portland Harbour will play host to some fierce competition this weekend as the battle for the RYA National Match Racing Championships crown comes to a head at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.

After a series of qualifying rounds, which kicked off this year with the BUSA Championships in March and culminated with the RYA Nationals Women's Match Racing Championships last week, 11 teams will contest the overall National title.

Skandia Team GBR's Yngling World champion Pippa Wilson is set to join skipper Mary Rook's crew at the three-day Finals event, which starts on Friday 12 October, while Lucy Macgregor, who won the Women's crown at WPNSA last weekend, heads up the other female team in the National finals.

Volvo RYA Keelboat National Squad man Nick Cherry will be looking to defend the National title he claimed 12 months ago but Cherry is guaranteed to have his work cut-out by two-time event winner Mark Campbell-James, currently ranked 22nd in the ISAF world match racing rankings.

Fresh from RYA Team GBR World Team Racing duty in Spain, Andy Cornah and Andy Bryson, who won a World silver medal as part of the GBR2 team, will be in the mood for showing off their match racing talents.

Meanwhile buoyed by claiming the famous scalp of double Olympic champion and Britain's 2009 America's Cup Team Origin skipper, Ben Ainslie, in one of the qualifiers' round robin flights, 22-year-old Matt Greenfield will also be full of confidence.

No fewer than 13 members of the newly-unveiled 2007-08 Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme squad are poised to take part in the Finals whether as skippers or crew.

Racing is set to get underway at WPNSA by 10am on Friday 12 October before the Finals come to their conclusion on Sunday 14 October.

www.rya.org.uk

BALTIC SPRINT CUP JULY 19TH TO AUGUST 1ST 2008
The success continues! Sharper competition, a new racing division, more variety, more boats, new ports, a "guest" regatta in the Gulf of Gdańsk and another Festival of the Sea - all part of the Baltic Sprint Cup 2008. Since 2005 the BALTIC SPRINT CUP completed 3 editions, 2400 nm nautical miles, visited 14 ports in 9 countries with 103 yachts, and has earned its place as an established offshore sailing event in the Baltic Sea.

And this is the Baltic Sprint Cup 2008: 710 nautical miles in 2 weeks, 5 countries, 6 legs including two Round-the-Buoys-Races, 6 social events with the Grand Final Show Down at Rønne (Bornholm) on 1st August. All are welcome to join in celebrating the Baltic traditions of trade, seamanship and fairplay. The fleet starts at Travemunde Week on 19th July via Karlskrona (start on 21st), Klaipeda (27th), Gdynia (29th), Gdansk (30th) to Ronne. From 30ft and above. Racing (under IRC) and cruising classes (under ORC Club). Notice of Race publication date 31st October 2007.

www.balticsprintcup.com

CHINA CUP
The inaugural China Cup is a race for IRC and One Design yachts to be held from 19 and 21 October between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Organised by the China Yachting and Sailboarding Association and the Government of Shenzhen, this event promises to be very international, with over 100 boats and crews from all over the world expected to compete. Racing will include coastal courses (between Hong Kong and Shenzhen) and 3-buoy races.

The organisation also plans to invest 200-300 million Yuan over the next three years to develop the Chinese sailing industry and sailing training initiatives in order to encourage people to take up sailing.

Having sold a fleet of eleven First 40.7s to China in January this year specifically for this event, Beneteau is closely associated with the race, which is intended to promote sailing and offshore racing in the country.

Crews from Dubai, France, Japan, Brazil and Australia will fight it out aboard these First 40.7s, whilst local boats will compete under IRC rules.

www.chncup.com

INDUSTRY NEWS
* A North Carolina businessman has bought the assets of the bankrupt Pacific Seacraft Corp, which was based in Fullerton, California. Stephen Brodie told The Log the assets include tooling, moulds and six unfinished hulls. Brodie intends to move them thousands of miles east to North Carolina.

Brodie said he would set up new production facilities for Pacific Seacraft boats. Six boats were in the process of being built when the company had been bankrupt. "We have just finalised a deal this morning on a temporary facility in part of a vacant textile mill in North Carolina, where we will be able to finish some of the partially completed hulls I bought at the auction," Brodie said. "We are talking to former Pacific Seacraft dealers and hope to maintain the same network the former owners had in the past." -- IBI News, www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20070911165208ibinews.html

Brands include Pacific Seacraft, Ericson and Crealock

* UK yacht transporter Peters & May has hired two new members of staff to further develop its presence at strategic local offices in the Mediterranean. Effective immediately, Jan Rydgren-Knudsen is to serve as director of logistics, while David Gomez will serve as Mediterranean regional managing director.

Rydgren-Knudsen joins the company from Norway's Wilh Wilhelmsen Group, where he held several senior positions at head office as well as overseas, in particular Asia.

As Mediterranean regional managing director, David Gomez will oversee the company's activities throughout the region. His responsibilities include two offices in Spain - Palma and Valencia - as well as the French office in La Ciotat. Gomez previously served as planning and marketing manager for all Balearic ports and managing director for Transcoma Baleares. -- http://www.petersandmay.com

* KPMG has issued creditors' letters following the administration of B A Peters Plc.

It appears the company went down owing some 1.5m GBP, but that Barclays will get its money back.

The joint administrators say the company operated from six sites in the UK and also had a Spanish subsidiary, Peters Spain SL, which operates from five sites in Spain.

The last accounts filed for 2005, the year of the Fairline break up, showed the company had a turnover of 88.9m GBP, a gross profit of 11.6m GBP and an operating profit of 1.9m GBP.

KPMG says the directors of the company blame over capacity by boat manufacturers, leading to reduced margins, lower residual values and a highly competitive retail market.

No mention is made of the Fairline loss, but the directors appear to blame the termination of the Sealine agreement (by Sealine) as another contributory factor, leaving the business with no high volume motor boat brand or dealer network. Finally, the directors say the company had an inherently high cost structure which had been supported by high margins, but which were not supportable on considerably reduced margins.

KPMG says no offers were received for the business as whole, but it has completed five separate sales of the majority of the assets. -- www.boatingbusiness.com/archive/2007/october/news/b_a_peters_plc_goes_down_for_2.2m

* Stuart Johnstone is taking the helm of operations at ClearPoint High Definition Weather, the world's most comprehensive and easy-to-use ultra high-resolution weather information service. As such, Johnstone will be responsible for all aspects of marketing and technical operations for the innovative start-up service designed to fundamentally change the way consumers engage with marine and a host of other applications related to advanced weather decision-making.

Johnstone is an experienced start-up and turn-around professional with more than 28 years experience managing businesses in technology and consumer industries. As Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of boats.com, he built the leading marine marketplace in the boating industry which was later sold to Trader Publications. Johnstone was Co-Founder and CEO of Vosaic LLC (sold to VTEL/Forgent), a pioneer in the Internet streaming industry and partner with the University of Illinois/NCS. Johnstone was a founding member of J/Boats in 1977 at the age of nineteen, which became the leading high-performance sailboat brand worldwide with over 15,000 boats sold in 50+ countries. He also co-founded J/World, the premier high-performance sailing school for adults.

* Lewmar, the U.K.-based international marine equipment manufacturer, announced today the appointment of Alan Lan as China & Hong Kong Sales Manager.

Lan, 28, has been involved within the IT industry for the past 5 years, most recently with ASUS Computer Australia. He will be working with the Lewmar and Navtec Australasia team. Carl Crafoord, managing director of Lewmar Australasia Pty Ltd., Sydney, announced the appointment today.

Lan will be based in Shen Zhen, China, the city adjacent to Hong Kong. This new operation will house inventory, spares and service personnel and is geographically poised to service the China and Hong Kong Power and Sailboat industry.

* Navico has secured an agreement to supply the new B&G H3000 instrument system package for Dufour 'Performance' and Grand Soleil yachts.

The supply agreement with ISB Group, parent company to the Dufour and Grand Soleil brands, was secured by the Navico teams in France and Italy together with the Navico boat builder team.

The H3000 instrument system will be available as an option for all Dufour 'Performance' and Grand Soleil racing models. - International Boat Industry, www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20070908160527ibinews.html

* The Whyte & Mackay Earls Court Boat Show announced a media partnership with IPC Marine Media that will see the show publicising the event across 6 of their key titles.

The agreement will see ticket promotions, advertising and previews run in Yachting Monthly, Yachting World, Classic Boat, Practical Boat Owner, Motor Boats Monthly and Motor Boat and Yachting and on www.ybw.com in the run up to the December event.

Last week the Whyte & Mackay Earls Court Boat Show appointed the Telegraph Media Group as the Official National Newspaper Partner of the Christmas event and announced further details of its marketing campaign which will see a continuation of the PR campaign running alongside a multi-media advertising campaign and a Whyte & Mackay watersports promotion. -- www.earlscourtboatshow.com

FEATURED BROKERAGE
Hanse 300, 51,500 Euros. Lying Turkey.

This boat has not been much used since delivered new in april 2003, owners only used it in holidays. Has been covered up when left, and appears like new. Owners selling to buy a bigger model of Hanse.

Brokerage through YachtsAndCruisers.com: www.yachtsandcruisers.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at www.yachtsandcruisers.com/boat/Hanse_Yachts/15680/

THE LAST WORD
Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory. -- Robert Benchley

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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