Brought to you by YachtsandCruisers.com with the support of OC Events, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

AC90 RULE IS BORN
Today AC Management, as scheduled, published the AC90 Rule marking an exciting milestone in the path to the 33rd America's Cup. This rule has been crafted over the past six weeks through a design consultation process with all entered challengers, the Defender, and headed by Tom Schnackenberg as the class rule and competition regulations consultant for ACM.

Designers from all six entered teams have met regularly since the design process began on 15 September. Tom Schnackenberg comments on the sessions: "The process has been an invigorating one with the challengers helping enormously in making improvements to the rule. It is amazing how inventive people are in this environment, bouncing ideas off each other, these past six weeks have been a very enjoyable experience."

The AC90 Rule, in brief, will be 90ft overall maximum length, 6.5m in draft whilst racing and will have a displacement of 23tons. This last parameter was defined by the challengers on their request. Tom adds some insight: "In writing the AC90 Rule we have used the experience gained in forming Version 5 of the America's Cup Class rule. We have tried to keep it simple because of the short timeframe, while also taking care not to ignore the lessons of the last 18 years of the ACC. The rule is a box rule rather than a rating rule and differs greatly to Version 5 in that the yacht will be big, fast and much more demanding."

Juan Kouyoumdjian, principal designer for British challenger, TeamOrigin, comments on the result of the design sessions: "To sit in a series of meetings chaired by Tom Schnackenberg and write a class rule for something as significant as the boat to be used for the America's Cup has been an honour for me personally and a really inspiring experience. The profile of designers, engineers and naval architects representing the challengers and the Defender is, as always, really special. This has been an efficient and productive process and the boat itself will be spectacular: challenging to design, to sail and to race."

John Cutler, technical director for Desafio Espanol, adds his take on the result: "We are happy with the process. It has been a lot of hard work for all the teams, the challengers and the Defender, and there have been a lot of changes. The boat will be exciting to sail, a challenge to design and also a challenge for the crew to master. It will provide exciting racing."

As far as the next steps towards the 33rd America's Cup are concerned, Tom Schnackenberg will continue the dialogue with the challengers and the Defender to finalise the Competition Regulations for a 2009 event.

You can read the AC90 Rule in full:
www.americascup.com/multimedia/docs/2007/10/071031-ac90_rule_final.pdf

19 FOREIGN OR MIXED CREWS FOR THE TJV
There will be 60 boats at the starting line at Le Havre heading to Bahia (Brazil), respectively, on Saturday, Nov. 3 for the monohulls (IMOCA and Class 40) and Sunday, Nov. 4 for the multihulls (ORMA and Open 50 multi). Among them 19 foreign or mixed crews (French + other nationalities), representing one-third of the fleet The majority of them are English, followed by Swiss, Belgian, German, American, Canadian, Spanish, Chilean, South African and a New Zealander. All of them picked up monohulls, be it an IMOCA or Class 40, to compete in this race. Tonight, the IMOCA Fleet:

The IMOCA fleet (Open 60) lines up 7 foreign crews (after the late withdrawal of Pindar 60 due to dimasting on her trip to Le Havre) of the 17 entries of the class. Most of the IMOCA skippers participating in the Transat Jacques Vabre this year will be sharpening their skills for the next Vendee Globe (2008) whether on brand-new boats: Ecover ( Golding / Dubois), Groupe Bel (de Pavant / Col), Generali (Elies / Audigane), Foncia (Desjoyeaux / Le Borgne), Gitana Eighty (Peyron / Levaillant), Safran (Guillemot / Caudrelier), Brit Air (Le Cleac'h / Troussel) or optimizing their existing boats before their new formula Ones are being delivered: Aviva (Caffari / King), Artemis (Malbon / Tourell), VM Materiaux( Le Cam / Morvan), Cheminees Poujoulat (Stamm / Cariou).

Berthing next to these brand-new ladies, their older sisters - by one generation - are being expected to set the pace. In the spotlight is "King Jean" (Jean Le Cam) on VM Materiaux (launched in 2004) and Bernard Stamm (CH) on Cheminees Poujoulat (2003). Artemis (2003 -Malbon / Tourell) will have to play tactics and weather to keep up the pace. As for Maisonneuve (2005 - Dejeanty / Levaillant) she unfortunately never performed. How well the Spanish boat Pakea Bizkaia (2005 - Basurko / Gandarias) will do is an unknown. (Editor: the DailySail has a superb article rating the 60s... they put Pakea last..., see thedailysail.com )

The oldest boats: even though skippered by proven talent, they should not create surprises. Launched between 1998 and 2000, their power can no longer match the rest of the fleet. Aviva (Caffari / King) Roxy (Davis / Gregoire), Akena Verandas (Boissieres / Chomette), Cervin EnR (Bestaven / Guerin), and Great America III skippered by Rich Wilson (US) and Mike Birch (CA). The latter will celebrate his 75th birthday before the start.

With three days to go before the start for the monohulls, the weather forecast is becoming more and more reliable. We take a look here at the initial phase of the race, which looks like being a quick one.

On Saturday, the anticyclone will be centred over the British Isles, leading to a northerly flow between 8 and 14 knots. "According to its precise position at the start for the monohulls, there may either be a bit of a westerly hint or an easterly touch, explained Sylvain Mondon, the Meteo France weather expert and router for Gitana 11 and Safran. In any case, as time goes by, it will veer slightly to the right. The multihulls are likely to set sail downwind from the outset, with a north-easterly blowing at around fifteen knots."

A thundering start that could well enable the multihulls to catch up the fleet of monohulls. We can look forward to a traffic jam on Monday evening off the coast of Spain. "After that, things start to get a bit more complicated, continued Sylvain. A deep low is forming over the Azores. It will stop the trade wind from blowing in the south, but also right across to Africa. It will be a bit like the Doldrums in the Canaries. It's a wide area at least 300 miles across, with inside it winds blowing at less than seven knots. They could easily start to slow down as they reach the latitude of Lisbon, or in other words on Tuesday for the trimarans, and mid-week for the others."

www.jacques-vabre.com

NEW CARBON WHEELS FOR ARTEMIS OPEN 60
In preparation for the Transat Jacques Vabre on Saturday and looking for a performance edge, the Artemis Ocean Racing team have chosen Carbonautica carbon fibre steering wheels. Carbonautica carbon wheels are fitted to many of the world's leading yachts, from production boats to custom racers. Beautiful as well as immensely strong, Carbonautica wheels are of monocoque construction and fully CE certified. Proteus Marine Industries will be exhibiting their Carbonautica wheels on stand 03.420 at Mets or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.carbonautica.com

JULES SALTER SIGNED TO ERICSSON VOR TEAM
Ericsson Racing Team has signed Britain's Jules Salter as navigator to its internationally crewed entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

With Salter now signed, the leading positions onboard Ericsson's international crew are in place. The skipper, Torben Grael from Brazil, was appointed last week, and the two watch captains Stu Bannatyne and Brad Jackson, both from New Zealand, have been with the team since the start of the campaign.

Jules was the navigator of GBR Challenge in the America's Cup 2003 and also took a key role in their weather programme. He has excellent technical knowledge of yachting, including race meteorology, instrument systems and racing software. In the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 he navigated second-placed Pirates of the Caribbean, skippered by Paul Cayard.

Ericsson Racing Team will participate with two boats in the next Volvo Ocean Race - one with an international crew and the other with an all Nordic crew. Both boats are being constructed by Ireland's Killian Bushe near Ericsson's headquarters in Kista, Stockholm. Having two competitive crews in the next race will allow Ericsson Racing Team to train efficiently ahead of the start of the race in Alicante, Spain on 4 October 2008.

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in ports in Asia. Spanning some 39,000 nautical miles, stopping at around 11 ports and taking nine months to complete. -- Lizzie (Green) Ward

www.volvooceanrace.org

BARCELONA WORLD RACE VILLAGE OPENS TODAY
The Barcelona World Race Village, located in the Barcelona Port Vell, at the Moll de la Fusta, will have its official opening on Thursday, November 1st. At 11:00 hours, there will be a ceremony to mark the occasion, including the Mayor of Barcelona, Sr. Jordi Hereu and the President of the IMOCA class, Mr. Luc Talbourdet, among other honoured guests and dignitaries.This will also mark the opening of the 'Navegant per la Ciencia (Sailing through Science)' exhibition, an educational experience open to the public that explains the cutting-edge technology used on the boats, the incredible challenge of sailing across some of the most perilous parts of the planet and the strategy required to come up with a winning race plan.

The ninth and final boat in the Barcelona World Race fleet is due to arrive overnight Wednesday night. Hugo Boss, with skipper Alex Thomson and co-skipper Andrew Cape should pull up alongside the docks alongside the Race Village just in time to make the official opening ceremony... good timing guys!

* A tricky beginning - Barcelona to Gibraltar
Although the Barcelona World Race is a 25 000 nautical mile marathon, the first Mediterranean stage will appear more like a sprint, as the nine competing boats battle to find favourable winds and a privileged position approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.

This first section of the race is just a shade over 500 nautical miles, but for all that, it is of critical importance. Although the race can't be won here, it can certainly be lost. Each of the teams will be determined to avoid any kind of equipment failure that could hamper them the rest of the way.

In November, the weather in this part of the Mediterranean can be very capricious, serving up everything from gentle, summer-like breezes, to destructive winter storms. If the conditions are benign, the key will be to avoid areas of calm. On the other hand, if a winter storm is served up, preserving the boat in the short, steep waves that inhabit the Mediterranean will be the top priority.

Approaching the Strait of Gibraltar itself, a keen weather eye is important. If Easterlies are on the cards, the passage to the Atlantic should be a nice downwind run. Strong Westerlies however will see an upwind beat through the busy shipping channel, with a heavy Atlantic swell to make things interesting. Upon entering the Atlantic Ocean, the teams will make a bee-line for the Canary Islands.

www.barcelonaworldrace.com

HELPING THEM WIN RACES
They wonder what I'm doing half the time, glued to my screen and nudging the Skipper - checking Facebook, they reckon. That's OK, they've got to talk about something on the rail, they know what I'm doing. I'm looking at tides, predicting vectors, checking forecasts, calculating laylines - putting us in the right place at the right time. Helping them win races. That's the plan, anyway. I spend so long with my face in a screen that I need to know my feet will stay where I put them. Dubarry's new Fastnet boots: the way to go.

www.dubarry.com

STUDENT YACHTING WORLD CUP
La Rochelle, France: The regatta which has now become a three horse race between Switzerland, Portugal and Ireland, saw the Portuguese have a disapointing morning with a set of bad results during the day races. However with a 3rd in tonights race they still drop back to third overall.

The Swiss with their unrivaled downwind speed achieved two firsts but were pushed over the start in the second race. This will undoubtedly become one of their discards and leaves them in first place 4 points clear of the Irish team. Indeed the Cork squad will have their work cut out to hawl in the Swiss in the remaining 7 races.

Examples include tonight's night race where CIT were 2nd to the windward mark, 15 boat lenghts ahead of the Swiss. The Swiss chose the right of the course while the the rest of the fleet went left. This paid off as they were 2 lenghts clear at the bottom. After a close fight to the finish which saw the Portuguese fall to third, the Swiss held on to take the win.

With three days left, Switzerland have now become the primary concern for the Irish team.

www.sywoc.org

THE ISAF ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The ISAF Annual Conference begins in Estoril, Portugal on 1 November with 11 days of intensive discussions, debates and decisions on the key issues in the sailing world.

Representatives from sailing nations around the world will meet in Estoril from the 1-11 November for the 2007 ISAF Annual Conference. Each year the Conference brings together the ISAF Committees and Commissions, as well as other leading figures from the sailing world, in ISAF's principal key decision making process. There are well over 200 submissions to be debated this year, with the hot topic set to be the selection of the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

In ISAF's Centenary year, the Conference provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate 100 years of the International Sailing Federation (previously known as the International Yacht Racing Union). Principal amongst the celebratory events will be the launch of the ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame on 5 November and the presentation of the 2007 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards on 6 November.

The main discussions in Estoril will focus on the 221 Submissions. A Submission is a proposal to either change an existing policy or introduce a new policy in the sport. The Submissions are debated by the relevant ISAF Committee/s, but ultimately it is the ISAF Council who has the final say in the ISAF decision-making process. Throughout the week the different Commissions, Sub-Committees and Committees meet, passing their recommendations up the hierarchical tree, which concludes with the ISAF Council meeting on 8-10 November.

You can view all of the submissions along with the agendas and supporting papers for the 2007 ISAF Annual Conference online at www.sailing.org/meetings

sailing.org

THE LONG KNIVES WILL BE COMING OUT...
Here's a brilliant synopsis from a very prominent member of the Rule69blog community (who shall remain nameless) who brought the fate of the 470 to my attention. Cheers, enjoy:

With the ISAF conference approaching fast, the speculation around the disciplines for 2012 Olympic Classes is hotting up: ISAF have just published the voting procedure hidden away in an appendix to their latest executive meeting minutes on their website and the 470 class should start to panic right now. Here's the deal:

The men's vote goes first as it may effect the choice of the ladies disciplines of which more later: The proposed men's choice is 6 from the following 7: Board, 1 person dinghy, 1 person dinghy heavy, 2 person dinghy, 2 person Skiff, Keelboat, Multihull open

With the Board, Laser, 49er and probably the Multihull looking safe, the only real candidates for the chop are the Finn, 470 or the Star. - Logic says the Finn or the Star but they always have a big time political following with the ISAF big hitters (Fat blokes need an Olympic boat to sail) so I think the 470 is in play. And if it's in play for the men, it's in peril for the women where the proposed choice is 4 from the following 6: Board, 1 person Dinghy, 2 person Dinghy, 2 person Skiff, Keelboat (Fleet Racing), Keelboat (Match Racing)

Now if we accept that the board, 1 person dinghy and 2 person skiff are givens,that leaves a shoot out between the 470 and one of the Keelboat disciplines (probably match racing).

In the unlikely event that the Star has already been chopped then the ladies Keelboat will also probably go, but if the Star stays we can expect the ladies Keelboat to stay, leaving the ladies 470 hanging out to dry.....

www.rule69blog.com

CORK WEEK ONLINE ENTRY
Drawing on years of experience, both as a competitor at and organiser of events, Dave Meagher, Chairman of the Cork Week Race Committee, has designed an on-line entry system for next year's event, which takes place from July 12th to 18th 2008. "Effectively, all you need is your Sail Number and a credit card and you're on your way to competing at the world's friendliest Regatta," says Meagher. The on-line system automatically picks up boat details from the IRC Database.

For those entering before February 29th 2008 , the Organising Committee have decided to maintain the 2006 Entry Fee. "Many of our competitors have been coming to Cork Week for many years and we see this as a way of recognising their loyalty to the event," Dave continued, "as a Committee, we are always looking for ways to facilitate our visitors and as an added bonus this year, we have decided to offer FREE entry to the 100th on-line entrant. "

Check out www.corkweek.ie for on-line entry and we also invite you to register to the Cork Week 2008 Newsletter in order to receive future updates.

BALTIC SPRINT CUP 2008
To foster the pan-Baltic relations by sailing an offshore race had been the original idea back in 2005. Meanwhile the Baltic Sprint Cup has come of age with its now fourth edition to start on 19 July 2008. At the 48th international boat show in Hamburg, Wednesday (31 October) saw the publication of the Notice of Race which immediately attracted the first well-known entries. The starting gun for the first of the four legs in all across 710 nautical miles will be fired on the first day of the 118th Travemuende Week. The course will be leading the fleet to the Swedish town of Karlskrona, then onto the Sea Festival in Klaipeda, Lithuania. The next leg goes to Gdynia and Gdansk in Poland, where two round-the-buoy races are scheduled, before the fleet sets sail for the finish off Ronne on the Danish island of Bornholm on 1 August.

"The interest in this up-coming Baltic Sprint Cup is enormous, considering that we have still nine months to go to the start," say race director Alan Green and event manager Henning Rocholl from organizer SAIL & RACE. They have received as many as 28 pre-entries so far, of which three completed the entry form as soon as it was handed out at the boat show. They were Tilmar Hansen from Kiel with his Outsider, Volker Andreae from Hamburg with Inschallah VI and Christopher Wuttke with Guts 'n Glory (Bueckeburg).

A new feature of the Baltic Sprint Cup 2008 will be the two in-port races on 27 July on the Gulf of Gdansk. Together, they will count as much as any of the other legs. The Polish subsidiary of the main sponsor of the race, the DnB NORD Polska S.A. bank, which has recently merged with the Polish BiSE Bank, will be staging the "DnB NORD Offshore Days" in the course of the event.

The fleet will then set off to the final leg ending on the Danish holiday island Bornholm. Here, the final showdown in Ronne will greet all participants after more than 700 nautical miles with a DnB NORD prize-giving party, and honour the overall race winner with a porcelain trophy donated by the bank.

The fourth Baltic Sprint Cup for yachts from a minimum length of 30 feet (9.14 metres) and a minimum crew size of four will be sailed in two divisions. Depending on number of entries, these will be split up into various classes of different rating ranges. The worst result of a single leg may be discarded. The racing division will for the first time be rated according to IRC. The cruiser-racers will again sail under ORC Club rating. "Most of the international offshore classics like the Rolex Fastnet Race or the just finished Rolex Middle Sea Race in Malta are meanwhile being rated on IRC," explained Alan Green and Henning Rocholl their decision, which is fully supported by Volker Andreae. "IRC has by now been tried and tested, and it is considered to be a fair handicap system for boats of different designs and sizes," says the owner and skipper of the 2006 overall winner Inschallah VI. "We very much believe that IRC balances the different performance potential of modern yachts with a canting keel or water ballast and typical monohulls pretty fair." -- Andreas King

www.balticsprintcup.com

FEATURED BROKERAGE
TP-52 "Fidessa fastwave II" now available. This is a 2005 JV boat, rebuilt in late 2006/7 and now effectively a new boat. IRC conversion done, including removeable bowsprit and partial IRC interior. Deck systems upgraded and boat ruggedised for offshore use, including additional forward bulkhead. Good sail inventory and adaptable transportation cradle.

Results in 2007 include; 1st overall Garmin Big Boat Series, 2 x 1st in Class RORC, 2nd LB Cup. 350,000 GBP, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.

THE LAST WORD
When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you. -- Lao-Tzu

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 Artemis 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.

Scuttlebutt Europe is available via email:
To subscribe visit scuttlebutteurope.com

Editorial and letter submissions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/content/view/7/6/