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ROD DAVIS WINS NZ MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Rod Davis with his Emirates Team New Zealand crew of Tony Rae, Grant Loretz, Chris Ward and Richard Meecham have 'done the impossible' have beaten Dean Barker in the finals of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships on the Waitemata harbour today! It was nail - biting racing as Davis won the first, Barker the second, Barker the third, Davis the fourth as the final went down to the very last race in the best of 5 series.

The start was even and during the day the breeze had increased to over 20 knots. This increased breeze tested the crews and Davis's crew were up to the challenge. At the top mark Davis was around first but Barker was close behind, just a boat length in it. Davis had a good hoist and as the spinnaker set, the boat lurched towards the bottom mark. Barker and team did the same and were right on Davis' transom. The spectators watching around Westhaven marina and from the Members Bar deck at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron were leaning out over the rock wall and balcony to gain a better line of sight! The race was extremely close!

At the top mark for the second time Davis again rounded the top mark in front and kept just in front of Barker to win the race, win the regatta & win the New Zealand Match Racing Championships for the second time.

In the petit final Chris Dickson and his young crew won the first race against Laurie Jury. Jury then went onto to win the next two races in the strengthening breeze and secure third spot in the regatta. -- from ValenciaSailing, http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com

Final Placings

1. Rod Davis - ETNZ / RNZYS
2. Dean Barker - ETNZ / RNZYS
3. Laurie Jury - Kiwimatch
4. Chris Dickson - RNZYS
5. Adam Minoprio - Blackmatch / RNZYS
6. Michael Thorpe - RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme
7. Jonathan Rankine - RNZYS
8. David Wood - Killer Racing / RNZYS
9. Phil Robertson - RNZYS
10. Jess Smyth - Georgia Racing / RNZYS
11. Jan Dawson - RNZYS
12. Simon Dickey - Frontend Racing / RNZYS

www.rnzys.org.nz

COMPRESSION AND PRESSURE
Early Sunday morning, the leaders of the Barcelona World Race, entered the dreaded doldrums zone, an area characterised by light, fluky winds, thunderstorm and rain cells and confused, lumpy seas. Not surprisingly, the first placed boat in the fleet, Paprec-Virbac 2 was the first to slow down, and there has been a general compression of the fleet.

As a result, second placed PRB began to rapidly close distance with the leader. In fact, over the course of the day, PRB gained some 40 miles on the leaders, leaving Paprec-Virbac 2 clinging to a tenuous seven mile lead.

Further back. Delta Dore remedied one concern of co-skipper Sidney Gavignet as they gained miles to the west overnight, gybing on favourable windshifts in order to position themselves closer to the rest of the fleet. On Saturday, Gavignet said he wasn't entirely comfortable with how far to the east Delta Dore was positioned, but he was hesitant to make the call to gybe to the west.

In very general terms, it is usually slightly quicker to cross the doldrums further to the west. But to get there means sacrificing miles to the south in the trade winds. And a more westerly position can be slightly disadvantaged after coming out of the doldrums when the boats pick up the southeasterly trade winds.

Day 15 - November 25, 16:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader

1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 0.0
2. PRB - Vincent Riou / Sebastien Josse - 7.0
3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain / Jean Luc Nelias - 78.7
4. Delta Dore - Jeremie Beyou / Sidney Gavignet - 164.2
5. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson! / Andrew Cape - 166.8
6. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 214.2
7. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret - 231.1
8. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill / Jonathan Mckee - 303.6
9. Educacion Sin Fronteras Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 687.8

www.barcelonaworldrace.org

EARLS COURT: PUTTING THE 'SHOW' BACK INTO BOAT SHOW
From 1-9 December, the revamped Earls Court opens its doors to sailors, Christmas shoppers and show-goers visiting London. There's music and fashion shows, Riva, a spa for the footsore, the original special events Guinness bar, the Earls Court Boat Show Hall of Fame in Association with Yachting World, dozens of drams from the Whyte & Mackay family, acres of chandlery and boats! From a 'boat in a bag' to Gipsy Moth IV, a display of yachts on the pool and headline musical entertainment!

The all-new Whyte & Mackay Earls Court Boat Show: you can't beat boating in the heart of London!

www.earlscourtboatshow.com

22ND ATLANTIC RALLY FOR CRUISERS
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; The 22nd Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) started in spectacular style today as 235 yachts from 28 different nations sailed across the start line off Las Palmas de Canaria headed for their final destination, 2,700 nautical miles away in Rodney Bay, St Lucia.

With a large swell running after two days of strong northerlies, the wind abated and the sun came out just in time for a perfect start. The fresh NNW 20 knot breeze meant fewer spinnakers that usual were to be seen on the start line. Winds are expected to remain from the north with tradewind conditions likely to remain, offering the prospect of a fast passage on the rhumb line route to St.Lucia.

Mostly fine weather for the start, with only a short rain squall, meant a wonderful sight for the hundreds of spectators watching afloat and ashore.

Starting 20 minutes ahead of the main fleet, the 22 yachts competing in the RORC IRC Racing Divisions were all tight on the line and enjoying the excellent breeze. Sticking to the Island end of the start line, the two Beneteau 40.7's Combat and Coyote were neck and neck at the start - Combat just claiming the honour of first across. The well trained crew of Russian Swan 45 - Murka 2, were first up with their spinnaker, delighting spectators at the committee end, with a slick gybe hoist right on the line.

However, it is the mass of cruising yachts that creates the spectacle, and a few minutes before the scheduled 1300 start of the ARC 2007 Cruising Divisions, there were a forest of masts and sails surrounding the committee vessel - the Spanish Navy ship Atalaya. Oyster 72 Kealoha 8 looked impressive as they crossed the line first, narrowly edging out Swan 62 Berenice.

Not all of the 235 yachts managed to make the start, with six yachts remaining in Las Palmas due to a variety of mechanical or equipment problems. All six - Taima, Christiania, Philippides III, Cadans, Kasuje, and Perseverence - are hoping to leave tomorrow (26 November). VOR 60 Pindar has also returned to Las Palmas having broken their boom-vang four hours into their race - falling victim to the notorious wind acceleration zone off the south eastern side of the island of Gran Canaria.

www.worldcruising.com/arc

HULL & HUMBER DOES IT AGAIN - FIRST ACROSS THE START LINE IN DURBAN
Durban, South Africa: Leg 3 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race is officially underway, with Hull & Humber first over the start line in Durban at 13.00 local time (11.00 GMT). They were closely followed by Qingdao, just metres behind them, and Nova Scotia. At the other end of the start line Jamaica had the edge over Glasgow: Scotland with style Clipper and westernaustralia2011.com. Uniquely Singapore, Liverpool 08, Durban 2010 and Beyond followed, with New York crossing the start line four and a half minutes behind Hull & Humber.

This leg of Clipper 07-08 is set to be the most gruelling yet, as the crews battle with towering waves and strong winds. It is also likely to be one of the most thrilling, where the matched fleet of 68-foot ocean racing yachts reach speeds of up to 30 knots as they surf down the Southern Ocean rollers.

After a week of strong winds in Durban, the yachts had to cope with light airs today, with westernaustralia2011.com making the best of the conditions, moving from sixth at the start line to third around the first mark and holding that position behind the leading pair of Hull & Humber and Qingdao around the third mark. Their progress can now be followed with the six-hourly updates on the race viewer at www.clipperroundtheworld.com

The fleet is due to arrive on approximately 16 December in Fremantle, Western Australia.

TRANSATLANTIC MAXI YACHT ROLEX CUP
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands: All of the participants in the first edition of the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup are now moored in the Marina de Santa Cruz in Tenerife ready for tomorrow's start. Racing, which will take place under IRC handicap, will take the seven competing yachts from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the largest of the Canary Islands, to Simpson Bay on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten for a total of approximately 2,600 nautical miles.

The fleet boasts some impressive figures with Peter Harrison's 115 foot Farr Sojana, for example, weighing in at over 96 tons (96,600 kilos). This does include her racing kit of 15 sails - including almost 3000 square feet of mainsail for the 144 foot main mast - and 14 crew. She has been known to reach a top racing speed of around 24 knots. Even the smallest yacht in this maxi fleet, Anders Johnson's Blue Pearl, is over 70 foot long, has a race crew of 10 and is carrying 12 sails for this Atlantic crossing.

While some of the pure racing vessels will be stripped down to a bare minimum for this race, which has a time limit of 15.00 local time (UTC -4) on 14th December, others, such as Gerhard Reuther's Zefiro, will be more comfortable equipped.

This does not mean that Zefiro will not be going for the Rolex Trophy however: "There are some really fast boats here, the Wallys, being racing boats really, should have an edge. But again, it depends on the weather, you never know, there's always hope! We have a fast boat, it's a Doug Peterson design and he's known to be a very good designer and we have every chance."

One of the Wally's in question is Morten Bergsen's Nariida and skipper Knut Frostad, a veteran Volvo Ocean Race sailor, has very clear objectives: "There are two things we want to achieve, the first is to be the first boat to the finish and for this I think Sojana will be the hardest boat to beat, and we want to win on corrected time, on the rating I think it's going to be harder with Dark Shadow and maybe Blue Pearl but some of these boats I've never raced against so it's difficult to say."

The Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2007 is scheduled to start Monday, 26th November at 13.00 UTC. Full details of the event, including live tracking, are available at www.yccs.it .

TRANSAT ECOVER BTOB : START SET FOR 29TH NOVEMBER
Following discussions with the fifteen representatives of the IMOCA monohulls, the Race Management of the Transat ECOVER BtoB has fixed the start off the Salvador de Bahia Yacht Club late morning on 29th November. This 4,200 mile course bound for the Foret-Fouesnant in North West France will have no course marks after the bay and should take around a dozen days to complete.

Given the delay of the finishers in the Transat Jacques Vabre and the fact that several Imoca monohulls will have to make repairs, the Transat ECOVER BtoB will finally set off late morning on Thursday 29th November in front of the Salvador de Bahia Yacht Club. It should be noted that the start line will remain open until the following day, in order to enable the solo sailors who aren't quite ready, to participate in the race nonetheless. The fifteen solo sailors will only have to respect a single mark at the exit from the bay of Tous les Saints, in order to avoid a sandbank: the 4,200 mile course between Salvador de Bahia and La Foret-Fouesnant is then free, the Azores archipelago able to be negotiated without any passage constraints amidst the islands. Like the Vendee Globe there will be no routing permitted and the frontrunners should take between twelve (15 knot averages) and sixteen days (11 knot averages) according to the weather conditions reigning over the Atlantic.

The greatest repair work to be carried out is on Cervin en R (Yannick Bestaven) and Aviva (Dee Caffari), both of whom have ripped part of their carbon masts. Thanks to the support of the shore crews from the other boats, the racers have five days to calmly prepare their boat and rest prior to this transatlantic. The race looks likely to have a difficult final section with the change in weather conditions over the North Atlantic over the last few days.

A week from the start, the forecasts indicate a fifteen knot NE'ly air flow to accompany the fleet out of the bay of Tous les Saints, followed by a rapid E'ly rotation once the monohulls have gained northing. -- translation from Kate Jennings

Participants in the Transat ECOVER BtoB:

*Akena Verandas: Arnaud Boissieres (Groupe Finot 1998)
*Aviva: Dee Caffari (Groupe Finot 1998)
*Brit Air: Armel Le Cleac'h (Groupe Finot 2007)
*Cervin enR: Yannick Bestaven (Groupe Finot 1996)
*Cheminees Poujoulat: Bernard Stamm (Farr 2003)
*Ecover 3: Mike Golding (Owen Clarke 2007)
*Foncia: Michel Desjoyeaux (Farr 2007)
*Generali: Yann Elies (Groupe Finot 2007)
*Gitana Eighty: Loick Peyron (Farr 2007)
*Great America III: Rich Wilson (Nivelt 1999)
*Groupe Bel: Kito de Pavant (VPLP-Verdier 2007)
*Maisonneuve: Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Lavranos 2005)
*Spirit of Canada: Derek Hatfield (Owen Clarke 2006)
*Roxy: Samantha Davies (Groupe Finot 2000)
*Safran: Marc Guillemot (VPLP-Verdier 2007)

www.transatbtob.com

HOW TO BE A WINNING SKIPPER
Do you ever wonder why the teams that win regattas also look good when doing so? It is most likely that they have spent a lot of time practicing...and skippers and owners have dressed their teams in team gear. So don't you think that it's time you and your team look AND sail like winners? Come to Camet.com and see our line of sailing gear and start winning!

www.camet.com

300 TEAMS FOR IMPERIA WINTER REGATTA
Imperia, Italy: A fleet of about 300 teams (coming from at least 15 different countries) is expected to take part in the 18th Imperia Winter Regatta scheduled from 2 to 9 December 2007. The event organized by Yacht Club Imperia (Yacht Club Imperia http://www.ycim.it ) will be opened to Laser, 420, 470, L'Equipe and RS:X.

The Organizing Commitee has already registered entries from Austria, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Lituania, Monaco, Sweden, Switzerland and UK, while entries from Israel, Netherland, Poland, Souhtafrica and Turkey are expected to take part in the event.

In 2007 edition the race area wille be the same as in the past but boats and sailors will be based in the ancient harbour of Oneglia, in the easterly part of Imperia town as in Porto Maurizio the new marina is under construction.

Lasers and RS:X wil race from 2 to 5 December while 470, 420 and L'Equipe classes will race fro 6 to 9 December.

The IWR is an ISAF Grade 3 event. -- Laura Jelmini

All info (live race, results and photo during the event) are posted on: i-w-r.com

BERMUDA SAFETY-AT-SEA SEMINAR OFFERED FEBRUARY 2ND & 3RD
A Cruising World/US Sailing Safety at Sea Seminar will be conducted in Bermuda February 2nd & 3rd. Skippers and crew of all vessels that venture offshore are invited. The first day's course will earn the participant an US Sailing course certificate. The full two-day course provides certification of attendance at an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) approved personal survival course required for world class racing events.

The seminar content is particularly focused on participants in the 2008 Newport Bermuda Race. A minimum of thirty percent (30%) of all Newport Bermuda crew members, including at least two (2) of the captain, navigator, port and starboard watch captains shall have attended a sanctioned Safety-at-Sea Seminar within three years prior to the start of the race. For Double-Handed Division yachts, both crewmembers shall meet this requirement.

Register by downloading the form and return the completed form to the RBYC.
Registration and information is also at www.ussailing.org/safety/Seminars/index_new.asp

A second Safety-at-Sea Seminar for Newport Bermuda racers will be offered March 8-9, 2008 in Newport RI.

BOATBUILDING VACANCIES IN THAILAND
New projects mean Composite Marine International has shop floor and management positions open. Business units that require staff include the performance dinghy, catamaran and one design section, the series production and the custom division.

Specialising in the production of performance composite sail and power craft , C.M.I. is a dynamic, modern company combining overseas and local workforce in their new 6,000m2 factory.

C.M.I. is the independently managed marine subsidiary of Cobra Inter, a large composites company with over 4,000 staff and excellent facilities.

For job descriptions see www.cobrainter.com ( click Cobra photo, company, career, CMI recruitment ).

KATIE CLEMSON
International yachtswoman, artist, musician and rower Katie Clemson, died in London 23rd November, following a seven year battle with cancer.

Originally from West Wyalong, NSW, Australia, Katie travelled to London in 1972 to study art, and very soon became involved in the world of sailing. She twice completed the double handed round Britain and Ireland race, once with friend Pippa Sawyer, then a second time with her husband Alex Allan, sailing the smallest boat in the fleet.

In her many travels to all corners of the world, Katie's guitar was never far from her hand, and she could get a sing-song going in no time, most famously at the British prime minister's residence, 10 Downing Street, at a farewell party for Alex, who had worked there with John Major.

Her artistic speciality were lino-cuts, and she produced series of prints based on many of her adventures, including a "Round Britain" suite featuring the stopovers of that race. More recently she did a series on the boatsheds of Pittwater, north of Sydney.

Her final exhibition runs until 2nd December at the Bankside Gallery in London.

Having lived in Canberra and Fremantle between 1998 and 2004 she and Alex returned to London and lived in a Thames side artist's apartment over recent years. Her energy and enthusiasm will be missed by all who knew her.

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 Paul Henderson: Clarification: All ISAF votes at Council are recorded. To find out how a delegate votes all that has to be done is for a Member National Authority to ask. The only exception to this is if 3 Council Members ask for a secret vote. There were no such requests in Estoril so all votes are open and recorded.

The most interesting observation is to see how many MNA's are now saying that their delegates were instructed to vote in the best interest of their specific country winning medals not in the best interest of our beloved sport.

Surprise! Surprise!

Holier than thou pontifications are quite hollow methinks.

FEATURED BROKERAGE
2002 IMX, 135,552 Euros, Lying Malta

This is a seriously fast yacht that has proved to be very competitive in her class. She was built with the full racing package and has a full sail wardrobe. Most of her sails are in as new condition. The current knowledgeable owner has maintained the boat in pristine condition and with an asking price less than half new replacement cost she looks good value for money.

Brokerage through YachtsAndCruisers.com: www.yachtsandcruisers.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
www.yachtsandcruisers.com/boat/Imx/23435/

THE LAST WORD
Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. -- Erma Bombeck