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AND THEY'RE OFF
The Barcelona World Race is underway, with a clean start on Sunday afternoon, under bright, sunny skies on a warm autumn day. In fact, conditions couldn't have been better for the start, with the wind building to a Southerly of near 10 knots, just ahead of the 12:00 (GMT) start time.

An enormous spectator fleet of over 650 boats was on hand to celebrate the fleet of nine boats starting the Barcelona World Race, with many tens of thousands more crowded along the shoreline to pay tribute to the 18 skippers as they embark on their three-month race around the planet.

At exactly 13:00 local time, famed offshore sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, fired off the starting gun, setting the fleet on its way. The southwesterly breeze made for a downwind start,

Crossing the starting line first was Educacion sin Fronteras, with local sailor Albert Bargues and his co-skipper Servanne Escoffier, at 26, the youngest sailor in the race. Nearly immediately following the start, PRB roared off into the spectator fleet, flying along at 12 to 14 knots under spinnaker through the crowded waters.

By the first mark PRB had grabbed an early lead over Hugo Boss and Paprec-Virbac 2. And Delta Dore and Estrella Damm were very close behind.

The starting line gateOn the return pass through the starting line, just 48-minutes later, it was PRB extending to lead by 6:38 over Delta Dore. But Estrella Damm, Mutua Madrilena, Veolia Environnement, and Paprec-Virbac 2 were all close behind. Then, Temenos II and Hugo Boss, which had lost significant ground with a troubled tack. Educacion sin Fronteras rounded out the fleet, some six minutes behind Boss.

The fleet had two more marks to leave to starboard before one final waypoint remained just off the port of Sitges, which is to be left to port. After passing that 'Estrella Damm buoy' the Barcelona World Race competitors will be free to find their best route to Gibraltar! .

Tacking towards shore en route to Sitges, at 16:15 local time, PRB still holds the lead, with Veolia Environnement, Estrella Damm, Hugo Boss, and Delta Dore all giving chase close behind. The forecast is for lighter winds on Monday, so putting miles under the keel now is critical.

http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org

* Elaine Bunting waxes poetic about the organisation: ...And then there's the race centre, a three-storey construction that is like a genuine VIP club. This is the first ever taste of America's Cup style come to ocean racing. Normally, everyone's housed in a windy marquee. There might be a grotty bar and the PR and press area is a dimly lit place strung with Cat 5 cables, everyone fighting over a handful of sparking power outlets and hunched over sheet-covered trestle tables like a caveful of troglodytes.

Here, it's like Virgin Upper Class. It is fashionably tricked like a boutique hotel with three bars and balconies overlooking the fleet. Everything is available in several languages and looks 100% professional. For example, the skippers' press conference today was in French and German with simultaneous translation into English. It walks and talks like a modern, smart, high value global event, not some sporting poor relation.

If were a sponsor I'd be purring...Here in Barcelona, flanked by this class of organisation, it starts to look like something that can be spoken of in the same breath as Formula 1.

Well done to Mark Turner and his team for turning the vision into reality. It will be hard for the IMOCA class to go back now. -- Elaine's blog has plenty more at http://www.ybw.com/yw/blog/elaine_bunting.html

ORC INTRODUCES "ORC INTERNATIONAL" - A NEW VPP-BASED RULE
Estoril, Portugal: At the conclusion of its 38th Annual General Meeting, the Offshore Racing Congress is pleased to announce the formation of a new VPP-based rating rule known as ORC International. This new rule will be ready for use starting in January 2008 and will replace the existing use of the International Measurement System for rating purposes.

"ORC International will be simpler, easier to handle, more accurate and will be better at evaluating performance of different kinds of yachts," said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. "Our goal is to maintain and expand our immense database of yacht data and use the current measurement procedures of the International Measurement System (IMS) to continue to provide accurate definitions and measurements."

ORC International will use the IMS platform of multiple modules from measurement to scoring. However, the software for the most important part - the Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) - has been completely rewritten, with major functions reviewed and recent submissions and research results implemented to produce a more powerful and flexible software package.

Major technical factors that have been given extra attention and adjustment include:

- A new Aero model with a different evaluation of sail forces with heel angle
- Implementation of Code 0 sails
- A new Residuary Resistance curve (part of the total resistance of the boat)
- A new Righting Moment evaluation
- A new formulation for effective draft of wings and bulb keels

This new rule represents the culmination of work performed throughout this year by the ORC Technical Committee, chaired by Alessandro Nazareth. Other ITC members who have positively contributed include Fietje Judel, who unfortunately retired from the ITC, and Axel Monhaupt who for two decades has been the Chief Engineer of the VPP formulations and algorithms, plus of course former Chairman Manolo Ruiz de Elvira and Andy Claughton who unfortunately were not able to be present in Estoril for the finalization of the new Rule, but have had a major contribution in its preparatory stages.

Fietje Judel, co-designer with Rolf Volijk of several generations of successful racers and also very active in the administration of the Rule with DSV and ORC thinks the use of the new rule will produce better ratings for the newer boats in the existing fleet as well as make the competition better on the water. "With the change of the name it was clearly required to modernise the old IMS and follow the trend to "sexy" boats," he said. "Therefore ITC did concentrate their work in achieving this goal. I believe that in the future no one will blame the ORC rules for creating slow, tender and heavy boats. Light displacement and stiff boats with a lot of sail area will be treated considerably better than in the past. They will not achieve a guarantee for winning like sometimes happens with so-called "Low Tech" rules, but a well-campaigned light and stiff boat will now be able to win trophies. So the balance between the typical series production cruiser-racer and the more exciting racing boat has been moved a bit towards the racing yacht, but that does not mean that the "normal" boat has no chance any longer. They can still win, but it will not be as easy as before."

ORC Chief Measurer Nicola Sironi further explained the effect of the new rule on the existing fleet: "All boats will be faster, on average between 4 and 6 sec/mile GPH. The most favoured are the J-Boats traditionally too penalized by IMS, the 'Open' classes, the GP classes, the TP 52's, and all those following the contemporary trend towards more sail area and less weight for a given length who will get a GPH very close to the 2007 IMS value. The most penalised at the other end of the test run are the old Holland-designed Polaris 33, and [the 40-year old S&S-designed] "Sunstone", together with several other old boats traditionally showing to be over-competitive in large IMS fleets. The worst result is approximately 10 sec/mile faster compared to 2007 numbers."

With rating certificates issued by ORC in use all over the world, ORC International will therefore have a significant immediate distribution as a global rating rule, a feature sought by many IMS owners. German X-332 owner Juergen Klinghardt says "It does not make any sense to offer different rating rules for one at the same regatta since this will split the fleet. Hopefully, times will come back where only one common rating rule will be used throughout the whole world. The new ORC International rule just issued by the Offshore Racing Congress seems to be a good basis for such an approach."

ORC will continue to offer ORC Club as an inexpensive and simplified rule, having the same VPP processor as ORC International, but with simpler measurement procedures and automated web based forms already operational. The ORC's new rules, new certificates, and additional services and products such as Stability Certificates, Performance Packages, Sail Plans, and the like will be available on the ORC website in early 2008, and the ORC Offshore World and European Championships 2008 will be raced under the ORC International rule.

For more information and Frequently Asked Questions on the ORC International Rule, visit the ORC website at http://www.orc.org

THE FEATHERWEIGHT BLOCK THAT'S ALL MUSCLE
Lewmar's new, lightweight 2G Racing Blocks are 30-50% stronger than the previous generation. As an example, Lewmar's single 60mm block used to have a safe working load (SWL) of 800kg. The 60mm 2G has a SWL of 1200kg, plus weight reduction of 4g. All in all, the 2G offers the best strength-to-weight ratio within racing limits.

Find out more about the 2G series at Booth #01.361 at METS or on http://www.lewmar.com

CHANGES TO IRC RULES FOR 2008
Most of the changes to IRC Rules for 2008 are related to detail 'administrative' issues which at a day to day level will have little or no immediate effect. There are however some more substantive changes as outlined below.

1. The addition of 'appendages' follows the loss of a boat during 2007 and has no practical effect.

2. Rules 9.6 and 19.6 related to certificate validity are now explicitly linked.

3. Rule 17.7 now gives precedence to IRC Rules over one design class rules and is explicitly linked to Rule 27.4.2 which has been edited to clarify that it addresses crew limitations only.

4. Rules 19.1 and 19.2 are modified to clarify the process for rating reviews.

5. New Rule 20.4 permits a protest committee to decide whether or not a boat whose certificate has been invalidated under Rule 19.6 should be penalised.

6. The minimum values of MUW, MTW and MHW used in the calculation of mainsail area given by Rule 26.5.4 are reduced to produce greater equity for boats with smaller roach mainsails.

7. In response to developments in headsail design, Headsail three-quarter width (HTW) is introduced and Rule 26.7 amended to incorporate HTW into the calculation of headsail area.

8. Rule 27.3.4 is deleted as redundant being effectively repeated by Rule 14.1.

9. The amendment to IRC Rule 28.2 formalises current practice. 'RORC STIX' and 'RORC Design Category' will in future be referred to as 'IRC STIX' and 'IRC Design Category'.

10. IRC 2007 Notice 1 is incorporated into IRC Rules by the introduction of a definition of Battens and amendment of the definition of spinnakers.

11. The definition of y is amended, without substantive effect, to correct historic errors

http://rorcrating.com

KEY WEST AND MIAMI COUNTDOWNS CONTINUE - ARE YOU READY?
The clock is ticking but there's still time to prepare. Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica begins in 70 days. The 2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix is 40 days after that. Come for the ideal conditions, professional race management, world class competition, and shore side fun that only Key West and South Beach can deliver. Don't forget: the second PHRF National Championship takes place in Key West and the Acura Miami Grand Prix offers racing for a second IRC class, with a preliminary lower handicap limit of 1.085.

Entries, details, notices of race and online entry: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com

TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE: GROUPAMA COULD FINISH BY TUESDAY
Monday, Groupama 2 (Orma) should pass under the 1000 miles to race before crossing the line in Bahia, Brazil. In comparison, after 7 days at sea, Ecover (Imoca) will still have 2.000 miles to sail as will Crèpe Whaou! (Class 50). Pakea Bizkaia (Imoca) and Telecom Italia (Class 40) will be 2 600 miles away from the line. Dzenergy.com (Class 50) is 2900 miles out, the same for Pindar 40 (Class 40). There are a wide range of interpretations that could be made out of theses numbers. Boat and sail designs are at stake (as regards the evolution of the boats) as well as tactics and weather patterns.

It took 2 perfect gybes to Mike Golding and Bruno Dubois (Ecover 3) to take the lead off Safran in the Imoca class after 7 days at sea as they crossed 50 meters in front of Groupe Bel in the night. Groupe Bel still hot on her heels - only 3.3 miles behind at 4:00 p.m

But the game is far from being over as the next 48 hours are to be crucial for each boat to hold her place in the ranking. The 7th boat in the leading pack is 66 miles away from the leader after 2000 miles of racing which means the two skippers on Ecover are keeping a close eye on their competitor's tactics. Safran and Gitana Eighty are on the same route as Ecover 3 only 13 and 19 miles away whilst Foncia and Cheminees Poujoulat sailing along the coast still represent a threat as they approach the Cape Verde Islands. VM Materiaux racked up one place since this morning and is now in 5th.

Unexpectedly Sidaction which passed to the west of Madeira (with the wind supposed to be blocked by the islands) in the Class 40 made a nice 20 mile gain over Telecom Italia and was ranked 2nd at 12:00. The Italian leader's averages are dropping as they are approaching the Canary Islands. They sail on the Rhumb line passing west of the Islands where they hope to avoid the calms but as they are trapped in shifting winds they looked with worry at the decisions their hunters are making.

Current top five by class:

Open 60
1. Ecover III, Mike Golding / Bruno Dubois, 2305.5 nm to finish
2. Groupe Bel, Kito de Pavant /Sebastien Col, 5.8 nm to leader
3. Safran, Marc Guillemot / Charles Caudrelier, 19.3
4. VM Materiauxe, Jean Cam / Gildas Morvan, 27.5
5. Gitana Eighty, Loick Peyron /Jean Baptiste Levaillant, 28.7

ORMA
1. Groupama, Franck Cammas / Steve Ravussin, 1250.1 nm to finish
2. Banque Populaire, Pascal Bidegorry / Yvan Ravussin, 256.9 nm to leader
3. Gitana 11, Lionel Lemonchois / Yann Guichard, 291.8
4. Sopra, Antoine Koch / Gregory Gendron, 514.0
5. Brossard, Yvan Bourgnon / Jacques Vincent, 568.6

Class 50
1. Crepes Whaou !, Franck Yves Escoffier / Karine Fauconnier, 2274.1 nm to finish
2. Laiterie De Saint Malon, Victorien Erussard / Frederic Dahirel, 289.8 nm to leader
3. Croisieres Anne Caseneuve, Anne Caseneuve / Houdet Djamina, 327.7
4. Negoceane, Roger Langevin / Alexis Langevin, 528.6
5. NIM Interim Management, Lalou Roucayrol / Pierre Van Den Broek, 569.8

Class 40
1. Telecom Italia, Giovanni Soldini / Pietro D'Ali, 2822.8 nm to finish
2. Sidaction, Arnaud Aubry / Antoine Carpentier, 28.9 nm to leader
3. Chocolats Monbana, Damien Grimont / Erwan Le Roux, 55.2
4. Atao Audio System, Dominic Vittet / Thierry Chabagny, 58.8
5. Vecteur Plus - Groupe Moniteur, Bruno Jourdren / Nicolas Pichelin, 59.6

http://www.jacques-vabre.com/fr/s01_home/s01p01_home.php

SHOSHOLOZA ANNOUNCES NEW DESIGNER
Team Shosholoza has appointed a new naval architect to lead the design and build in South Africa of a radical new 90 foot "giant" campaign yacht for the next America's Cup.

Shosholoza managing director Captain Salvatore Sarno said well-known Cape Town based naval architect, Alex Simonis of Simonis Voogd Design, has signed with the team for the second South African America's Cup challenge. He will head a largely South African team of designers and hopes to utilise specialists from the previous challenge.

Simonis' appointment co-incides with the announcement by America's Cup Management of a new event format, new racing schedule and rules for a new bigger, faster and more demanding 90 foot yacht, the AC90, for the next Cup which will be held in Valencia, Spain in 2009.

Shosholoza's new 90 footer will be designed and built in Cape Town. A boat yard will be set up in January next year (2008)and building will start in March. The completion date is set for September.

The yacht will be launched in Cape Town in October 2008 with sea trials starting in Table Bay immediately after. The yacht will be re-launched in February 2009 in Valencia, Spain, ahead of the start of racing in April 2009.

Simonis is best known for his 90 footer "Nicorette" which won line honours in the 2004 Sydney-Hobart race three weeks after her launching. His first "Nicorette", an 80 footer, won the 2000 Sydney-Hobart on line honours and handicap. The Simonis 70 footer "Broomstick" was the first IMS rated maxi to be launched world-wide and won the trans-Atlantic Cape to Rio race in record time only five weeks after launching. -- Di Meek

http://www.sachallenge.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.

http://www.dubarry.com

ECOVER TITLE PARTNER FOR TRANSAT B TO B
Excellent news for the organisers of the Transat B to B: ECOVER to become the main title partner for the race, which will now called the Transat Ecover B to B. A sponsorship agreement was signed on Thursday afternoon between the organisers of the transatlantic race and Ecover - who will now join forces with the institutional partners of Finistere, the Breton Region and the Foret Fouesnant of North West France.

"ECOVER has become increasingly involved in sailing through their flagship sponsorship of Mike Golding, as well as more recently our support of Peter Laureyssens. The recent opening of our ecological factory in Boulogne-sur-Mer demonstrates our commitment to the French market and our sponsorship of this event serves to further underline this." comments Mick Bremans, Managing Director, Ecover.

17 boats are registered but only 15 will take the start of the race (currently set at 25th November 2007). The dismasting of Artemis just a few days ago during the Transat Jacques Vabre and that of Pindar on the approach to Le Havre - 25th October 2007 have unfortunately forced them to withdraw from the competition.

Engaged
*Akena Verandas: Arnaud Boissieres (Groupe Finot 1998)
*Cervin enR: Yannick Bestaven (Groupe Finot 1996)
*Aviva: Dee Caffari (Groupe Finot 1998)
*Brit Air: Armel Le Cleac'h (Groupe Finot 2007)
*Cheminees Poujoulat: Bernard Stamm (Farr 2003)
*Ecover: Mike Golding (Owen Clarke 2007)
*Foncia: Michel Desjoyeaux (Farr 2007)
*Generali: Yann Elies (Groupe Finot 2007)
*Great America III: Rich Wilson (Nivelt 1999)
*Groupe Bel: Kito de Pavant (VPLP-Verdier 2007)
*Roxy: Samantha Davies (Groupe Finot 2000)
*Safran: Marc Guillemot (VPLP-Verdier 2007)
*Gitana Eighty: Loick Peyron
*Groupe Maisonneuve: JP Dejeanty
*Spirit of Canada: Derek Hatfield

Not participating
*Artemis: Jonny Malbon (Owen Clarke 2003)
*Pindar: Brian Thompson (Kouyoumdjian 2007)

http://www.transatbtob.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 John Harwood-Bee, Re: ISAF Choice of events 2012 Olympics:

Well that makes good sense then... Have a committee to review classes and make recommendations... have them make some inexplicable decisions... totally ignore them... make your own completely irrational choices and drop the one class of vessel ( multihull) that is rapidly growing in popularity both in racing and cruising...

What planet are some of these people on? Why so many men's events? It would have been much easier to have dropped one of the men's classes and had an 'open' multihull event. Oh well I suppose it will be back to boredom, lack of TV coverage and eventually the dropping of sailing altogether, especially if, as is being forecast, the sailing in China next year is becalmed. Couple this with the latest AC nonsense released yesterday (sailing the old boats in the ACTS series, what is that about?) and one must question what will be next. It does beg the question 'are any of these people actually in touch with the REAL sailing fraternity'?

* From Anthony Richard: Re John Sweeney's reply to Mr Foley's letter.

Well done John. I know my Ker 11.3 (Minnie the Moocher - GBR1105L) is competitive in IRC and I will be making sure that we include the St Thomas Rolex Regatta in our Caribbean programme in 2008. See you at the end of March!

THE LAST WORD
I never heard of anyone who was really literate or who ever really loved books who wanted to suppress any of them. Censors only read a book with great difficulty, moving their lips as they puzzle out each syllable, when someone tells them that the book is unfit to read. -- Robertson Davies

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.

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