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WILLIAMS WINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia: Ian William's Team Pindar of Great Britain has won the ISAF Match Racing World Championships at the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terrneganu, Malaysia. Williams clinched the World Championship by virtue of his win over Shosholoza's Paolo Cian in a nail biting semi-final that went to the final race and a score of 3-2. He and his crew of Bill Hardesty, Simon Shaw, Mark Nichols and Mark Williams became the first British Team to win the coveted title.

Williams kept his hopes alive by beating Denmark's Jesper Radich by a 3-0 score which set up the battle for the World Championship between Williams and Cian in the Semi-finals. In the other quarter finals, Peter Gilmour continued on his winning ways having a tough time against New Zealand's Adam Minoprio in a match that ended 3-2 in Gilmours favour and then Swede's Bjorn Hansen by a 3-0 score moving Gilmour into the finals for the first time in two years.

The win by Williams of Team Pindar also decided the podium places in the World Championship with Mathieu Richard clinching second place and Cian finishing third.

* The Malaysian kettle drums thundered Sunday as Team Pindar - Skipper Ian Williams, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams, Mark Nicholls and Simon Shaw paraded from the dock to the awards podium after winning the final match of the Monsoon Cup in Terengganu, Malaysia by defeating immediate past World Champion, Dato' Peter Gilmour of PST.

Team Pindar was awarded the Monsoon Cup and their purse of MYR250,000 ($100,000) by the Prime Minister of Malaysia in front of thousands of spectators and media cameras. Peter Gilmour's team including Yashuhiro Yaji, Christian Scherrer, Kazuhiko Sofuku and Rod Dawson claimed second prize and Bjorn Hansen's Team Apport.Net with Magnus Woxen, Karl Kjerstadius, Martin Stromberg and Gustav Tempelman marched up on stage to received the third place prize from the Minister of Terengganu.

Overall Standings
1. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar
2. Dato' Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST
3. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.Net
4. Paolo Cian (ITA) Shosholoza
5. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
6. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team
7. Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing
8. Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing
9. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
10. Sebastien Col (FRA) Areva Challenge
11. Katie Spithill (AUS) Team Acuity
12. Tiffany Koo (MAS) UK Halsey Gapurna Team

www.worldmatchracingtour.com

DOLDRUMS ABOUND!
"Sunday at the equator": the story behind the Transat Ecover-BtoB is a simple one on this the fourth day of racing! Up front, the two leaders are making over 14 knots on a NNE'ly heading with the tradewinds on their beam, just a few miles ahead of six other solo sailors: Foncia snatched control of the fleet from Generali mid radio session with the Race HQ at the Paris Boat Show today...

"Michel is overtaking me! He's going a fraction quicker, but he is under genoa whilst I'm still under staysail: I'm going to have to manoeuvre... and step up the pace a level. Here we have glorious sunshine but conditions are strange for the upcoming doldrums: there is a windless zone emerging upwind of us. I'm going to follow the 'professor' in any case, probably to around 27 degrees West. He's going fast and he's giving it his all..." indicated Yann Elies at 1400 UTC. Michel Desjoyeaux seemed to have everything in hand: "I've taken off my foulies and there's not much more I can do today. Just a bit of tidying up: sponging the bilges and doing a Sunday spring clean... I made the most of Generali being under a cloud to overtake him. We're living heeled over, it's hot and wet and we're getting used to the noise... The doldrums? I'll adjust my course at the last minute!"

It was a slightly different scenario for Loick Peyron (Gitana Eghty): "I'm really looking forward to getting hit by a depression! That will mean that we're approaching the finish... It's a bit tedious at the moment and still as hot as ever. We've already covered 900 miles in the past three days: it's not bad! In my opinion, the lead group will remain bunched together to pass the doldrums... But it looks far from simple...: there are some little circles on the grib files, which means that there's no wind..."

The fifteen sailors are gradually plugging along towards the change in hemisphere this Sunday, the leaders crossing the equator at around 28-29 degrees West in the middle of the night. Meantime the first chasing pack (Roxy, Maisonneuve, Akena Vérandas) will cross into the North about eight hours later and Dee Caffari (Aviva), delayed by her express return to Bahia, should reach the same hemisphere at the end of Monday. There is still a long, long way to go before the finish though and Dee's confidence has been boosted by a successful spell under her repaired gennaker...

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

BARCELONA WORLD RACE
The weather pattern in the South Atlantic isn't doing the bulk of the Barcelona World Race fleet any favours, as it is distinctly advantaging the leaders in the fleet. PRB and Paprec-Virbac 2 have added over 40 miles to their lead over third placed Veolia Environnement over the last 24 hours and nearly twice that over most of the rest of the fleet as well.

The danger for the chasing pack is that the first two boat will hit the Roaring Forties with such a big lead that they roar off one or two full weather systems ahead, making it difficult for the others to stay in touch.

"We don't expect to be able to do too much about it in the short term," said Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson today. "They're going to get south first and extend away, but at some point there will be a concertina effect where we'll get closer again."

Thomson admitted that earlier in his career being in this kind of position would have driven him mad, but he says with more experience, he's become more patient.

Patience was the word of the day on board Mutua Madrileña as well, as Javier Sanso and Pachi Rivero found themselves nearly becalmed for several hours early this morning. The boat is up to speed again this afternoon, but Sanso says the conditions they are sailing in favour the newer boats.

Day 22 - December 2, 16:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader

1. Prb - Vincent Riou / Sebastien Josse - 0.0
2. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 36
3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain / Jean Luc Nelias - 259
4. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson / Andrew Cape - 384
5. Delta Dore - Jeremie Beyou / Sidney Gavignet - 427
6. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret- 506
7. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 574
8. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill / Jonathan Mckee - 705
9. Educacion Sin Fronteras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 1009

www.barcelonaworldrace.org

SOJANA CLOSES IN ON NARIIDA
Porto Cervo,Italy: After six days of navigation a battle for the lead is heating up in the Transatlantic Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup which sees seven maxi yachts crossing the Atlantic westward from Tenerife to St Maarten.The race started on 26th November and the leading yachts have now covered approximately half of the 2650 nautical mile trip.

Morten Bergsen's Nariida (NOR), which has led the fleet for the duration of the race, is now facing a strong challenge from Peter Harrison's Sojana. The two leading yachts are following different courses with Nariida sticking to the northerly route that she has followed from the start while Sojana chose to head further south sometime yesterday and at 10.30 UTC was approaching 23N 40W while Nariida was nearing 27N 42W. The two are so close in fact, that it is becoming difficult to tell exactly which is leading but their positions at 11.00 UTC translated to Nariida, a Wally 105, being approximately 1278 nautical miles away from the finish line while Sojana, a Farr 115, must cover another 1292 nm. Both were travelling at approximately 15 knots and Nariida reported blue skies, sunshine and around 18 to 20 knots of wind from 090 degrees.

Nariida and Sojana are followed by Andre Auberton's Dark Shadow (MON), Blue Pearl (GBR), Bernd Kortum's Julie Marie (GER) and Will Apold's Valkyrie (CAN). Gerhard Ruether's Zefiro (GER), in seventh place, had an encounter with an unidentified object, possibly a net, during the course of Thursday night, which slowed the boat considerably before the crew were able to disentangle themselves by heaving to and drifting backwards until free.

Most of the crews are settling into the fairly stable trade wind conditions and although Valkrie has reported passing several boats competing in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, most encounters are with the Atlantic's marine life: Julie Marie was accompanied for 30 minutes yesterday by two whales while the crew of Valkyrie will be lunching on some of the flying fish which landed on their deck this morning.

The fleet can expect winds to remain at approximately 15 to 18 knots over the next 24 hours as they move round to become south - south easterly this afternoon and southerly by midday tomorrow.

www.yccs.it

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

* A star studded opening ceremony on Press and Preview day, with Prince's Trust Ambassadors Gabby and Kenny Logan, currently competing in BBC 1's Strictly Come Dancing, joined by Rod Stewart's wife model Penny Lancaster.

Alongside them on stage were Guests of Honour including the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton - granddaughter of legendary Arctic Explorer Earnest Shackleton and three girls known as 'Blondes in a Boat' the Team Mirabaud Sailors who are our next Olympic hopefuls.

Sarah Webb MBE - Olympic Gold Medallist
Sarah Ayton MBE- Olympic Gold Medallist
Pippa Wilson - former Junior World champion

* Sail.tv has highlights of the W&M Earls Court Boat Show:

Day 1
www.sail.tv/player?cid=549&scid=7&source=boatshow

Day 2
www.sail.tv/player?cid=548&scid=7&source=boatshow

ARC YACHT IN DEEP SEA RESCUE
For the second time in two days, a yacht participating in the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers - ARC 2007 - en route from Gran Canaria to St.Lucia, has been involved in a rescue at sea. Following yesterday's rescue of migrants from the open ocean, today it was the turn of British yacht GiGi - a Swan 48, owned and sailed by Philip Wright (from Etton, UK) to rescue fellow sailors.

At approximately 12:30UTC today (Saturday 1 December) at position 18.59N 32.25W, GiGi picked up a Mayday call from yacht Barbary Duck (not participating in the ARC), advising that the crew were in a liferaft. GiGi, competing in the RORC IRC Racing Division, immediately stopped racing to alter course and assist the crew of the British Westerly Corsair, approximately half a nautical mile from them (over 600 nautical miles northwest of the CapeVerdes, heading southwest towards St.Lucia, some 1650 nm away).

Once on station, the two crew members on Barbary Duck, double-handers John and Francis Weller, were safely brought on board. The smaller Westerly, whose crew had already been in contact with MRCC Falmouth, had suffered broken deck chain-plates and was in danger of dismasting. Without a functioning engine, the crew took the precaution of abandoning their yacht, which has been left afloat, but with navigation lights burning.

GiGi has now resumed racing and is on course once more for St.Lucia with her two unexpected but welcomed guests onboard.

In other ARC news, yacht Kaiso (GBR), a Sovereign 400 skippered by Sean Fuller, has diverted to the Cape Verde Islands to carry out repairs, and three of the 235 starters still remain in Gran Canaria with technical problems. Most other ARC yachts continue to experience a typical crossing with good trade winds conditions on the 2,700nm route. Since the start on 25 November, winds have been consistently around 20 knots from the north-east, with scattered rain showers - ideal trade wind conditions.

www.worldcruising.com/arc

THE DEVELOPMENT CANOE
Excerpts from an article in Sail-World.com:

The next International Canoe World Championships will be held at the McCrae YC in Australia. The event will take place straight after the Christmas festivities. Starting on the 27 December with the Australian Nationals, the Worlds get underway on the 1 January and there will be nine races finishing on the 6 January, then the New York Canoe Club Challenge Cup on the 7th.

At the Worlds there will be a significant number of development canoes as well as the standard International Canoes and the Asymmetric version. At the latest count twelve development canoes have entered the event, out of 38 overall entries - 22 IC and four AC.

Something of a turn-around for the class when you consider that there were 26 AC at the last worlds in 2005 held in the UK. The AC is most popular in the UK, with the standard IC still most popular elsewhere. The USA has been the driving force in the DC cause with some notable work also now being done in the UK. Of the eleven expected USA entries seven are DC versions.

On the water, the new boats are lively and quick and very enjoyable to sail. They retain the sparkling upwind speed that has been the hallmark of ICs.

Downwind, sailing fairly aggressive angles often results in better VMG, so the runs become far more strategic and tactical.

Instead of sailing runs as if one were racing a Laser, one now sails more like a 505 or 470 where one looks for opportunities to get into 'wave passing mode.'

There have been several pretty interesting approaches to the re-opened design space. Moth sailors and designers Andy Patterson and Phil Stevenson have drawn on their Moth experience to build what musty be considered very Moth-like 'Tin Tear Drop' and '21st Century Hollow Log,'

GBR sailors are not ignoring the DC movement despite the popularity of the AC version in the UK. Prolific dinghy designer Phil Morrison has produced a DC for Phil Robins and it will be interesting to see how the reletivly conservative Morrison design compares with the latest American thinking. -- Steve Clark, full article (including a big section on the history of the class) at www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=39587

THE CATAMARAN EXPERTS
Now that more Catamarans are being built than ever before, Synergy Yachting has a unique place in the yachting industry. With over 20 years of Catamaran experience between the management alone, they have a wealth of in-depth knowledge to offer. With no allegiance to any manufacturer or broker we can offer an unbiased, honest and resourceful opinion of any yacht project. We have represented owners during the build or refit through to crew selection, training and placement of the yacht in charter. Synergy really are the only yachting company to focus purely on large Catamarans and to appraise them all equally. No sales pitch here, just experience. Contact us today - we love to talk boats.

www.synergyyachting.com or email Tom Ashwell This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

ABOUT THAT CUP...
A nightmare scenario surfaced yesterday. According to the Valencian newspaper Las Provincias, the CNEV is seriously considering appealing. This doesn't come as a surprise, since Manuel Chirivella, the CNEV's president, had publicly stated he was studying that option. What comes as a shock is the reason behind this move, at least according to the newspaper. Chirivella wants to use the appeal as an arm to force Alinghi to reconsider its stance regarding Valencia.

CNEV might hardly have any chances in succeeding in its appeal, but just the fact the America's Cup could be stopped during 2 to 3 years is undoubtedly a threat. Neither the 33rd nor the 34th edition of the event could take place in the foreseeable future. It's an irony to see the very same people (Zulueta, Chirivella and Pombo) that were the cause of the current situation and the staunchest Alinghi allies to try to turn themselves against Alinghi, in order to supposedly help the city of Valencia.

Maybe the King of Spain should repeat his now-famous sentence, addressed to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez three weeks ago: "Why don't you shut up?". -- Pierre Orphanidis in valenciasailing.blogspot.com

* The Binda Group, 100-year old Italian company in the watch, jewel and accessory categories announced its entrance into the world of sailing thanks to the Breil Milano sponsorship of Team Shosholoza, South-African challenger to the upcoming 33rd edition of the America's Cup.

By virtue of this agreement Breil Milano will be Team Sponsor, Official Timekeeper and Official Supplier of Team Shosholoza. In this role, the Breil Milano logo will be displayed on the Shosholoza boom, tender, support craft and dry-land facilities used by the team.

The Breil Milano for Team Shosholoza collection of watches, jewels and eyewear will be on sale to the public from Spring 2008 and will be inspired by the lively colours and graphics that make this South African team stand out. -- www.teamshosholoza.com

* It is time to say the unsayable. With its interminable Acts and labyrinthine politics the America's Cup has become a crashing bore. It's that self-important dinner party guest who drones on endlessly about himself and his money, hogging the conversation while everyone else's eye glaze over.

The America's Cup is of transient interest as a sporting event. It always has been. Even in that heady day when Peter Blake won the Cup and it seemed like the whole world was talking about his historic victory, when we used a cover picture of him hoisting the Auld Mug triumphantly to the skies, our issue sales went down.

Is it any different now that there is so much more virtual space to fill? Actually, no. According to that handy internet lie detector Hitwise, only 6,000 people in the UK visited the AC website during the Louis Vuitton Cup - that's not 6,000 a day, or even a week; that's 6,000 people in a month. -- Elaine Bunting, www.yachtingworld.com/yw/blog/20071016101116blog_elaine_bunting.html

FEATURED BROKERAGE
Contessa 32, 26,395 GBP, Lying Chichester Harbour, UK

Ideal for fast cruising or racing, whose formidable reputation for seaworthiness has been tried and tested by some of the most rugged of long-distance sailors. This boat competed at a club level in the 1993 Fastnet race. This is a fair example of the model with the concentration being on Sailing, as such some work is required to tidy the interior and bring her up to date. 1 previous owner, little if any use in the past 3 years.

Brokerage through YachtsAndCruisers.com: www.yachtsandcruisers.com

Complete listing details and seller contact information at
www.yachtsandcruisers.com/boat/Contessa/19665/

THE LAST WORD
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs. -- Joseph Addison

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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