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LIGHT WINDS AND CLOSE RACING FOR CLIPPER RACE 5 RESTART
Fremantle, Western Australia The start of Race 5 from Fremantle, Western Australia to Singapore took place at 1400 local time (0500 GMT) on New Year's Day, with Durban 2010 and Beyond, Glasgow: Scotland with style and Uniquely Singapore the first three boats to cross the line as the cannon fired. Huge crowds turned out to see the event and were entertained with some close tactical light wind racing in Fremantle's Inner Harbour.

The local sea breeze known as the Fremantle 'Doctor' failed to blow as predicted, and although Durban 2010 and Beyond made steady progress towards the first of three marks in the harbour, they were hampered by patches of wind shadow. Following them round the first mark was the home-port team, westernaustralia2011.com, who with tactical positioning moved into second place.

The light winds played havoc with the whole fleet as they concertina-ed at the far end of the harbour and positions changed as each mark was rounded.

The pressure will be on for the team from Singapore, as they race the 2,360 miles to their home port. One of the teams with the biggest crew changeover during the two-week stopover in Fremantle, Uniquely Singapore skipper Mark Preedy indicated that he was planning on taking things easy. "We have twelve new crew onboard which will make it tricky at first," explained Mark this morning. "Hopefully we can build their confidence early and have a successful race into our home port.

The boats are due to arrive in Singapore on 19 January after a short stopover in Batam, Indonesia to ensure the fleet arrives together for the grand opening of the Keppel Caribbean Marina where they will be hosted for the duration of the Singapore stopover.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

A BIT LIKE PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE
Continuing their push south in the Pacific Ocean, Paprec-Virbac 2 is still in the iceberg zone. Following their encounter with ice yesterday, today the team will need to get further north as they approach the ice gate at 52-degrees South latitude, some 300 miles away. The gate will force them north, out of an area where icebergs were reported just last week. But for now, the leading boat is still deep in the south.

"The danger increases at night but having said that we've been sailing in fog yesterday and today as well.so the radar watch is pretty important," said Damian Foxall. "We did see the last iceberg on the radar, which is good I suppose but it is a bit like Russian Roulette. It's certainly not nice to be down here. I've seen icebergs before and I don't need to seem them again, but there really isn't any other option."

Damian says they did look at other routing options that would have seen them sailing further north in safer waters, but their optimal route is the one they've elected to sail, and it has taken them below 54-degrees South. At the same time, their main opposition, Hugo Boss, is well to the north, about 750 miles behind.

* With 135 miles covered in the last 24 hours and an average speed barely exceeding 5 knots, one thing for sure is that Michele and Dominique have been able to get a leisurely look at the marvellous spectacle before them. Contacted late this morning, still around fifty miles from arriving in Wellington, the French sailor didn't linger on the particularly calm conditions, but rather on the beauty of the landscape.

"We haven't really had any wind, at most today we've had just fifteen or so knots as we rounded the headland. Once into the channel the wind fell below 5 knots. The landscape is so beautiful that it's preventing us from getting frustrated. The coastline of South Island is superb and wild; you get the feeling that not a soul lives there other than the birds. It really makes you want to return there someday. In moments like these you realise how privileged you are.

For the time being we haven't yet seen any trace of civilisation, which makes you feel like you're in a transition phase. Reality will hit when we see the tugs come out to meet us. Our arrival is scheduled between 0300 and 0600 hours in the morning, local time.

We know we're expected as a veritable commando operation has been mounted on zone. That gives us confidence. We know everything will be undertaken in order that we can head back out into the race as quickly as possible."

More powerful than the desire for a hot shower or a good meal is the impatience for the diagnosis of the damage, which the two co-skippers have to overcome.

"We're dying to be able to get the boat out of the water and find out whether or not we can head back out into the race. We'll likely take a decision tomorrow in view of the damage we observe under the boat. In the meantime we're avoiding thinking about it too much. One thing for sure is that we're very, very keen to continue and we're crossing our fingers that we can do just that."

Answer tomorrow... -- Kate Jennings

* We have been back on the road again now for 24 hours and it feels good. Wellington is already a distant memory although every time we open the food bag and see fresh food we are reminded! No longer can we hear the creak, creak of the rudders, no longer are we stressed because at any moment one will pop into the air and cause a big wipeout.

The boat no longer smells of diesel, nor is the cabin contaminated with carbon monoxide twice a day and we have a working generator again. Hugo Boss is back at 100 per cent and it's a great feeling.

When we arrived in Wellington it was howling, we took on a tow from a rib but 180 horsepower was not enough and the police very kindly came to the rescue. Getting the boat into the marina was a real struggle and once parked the work began day and night for 48 hours. A big thankyou to everyone who lent a hand, Dave the sailmaker, all the guys from Hakes Marine who have just built Ecover and Aviva and David Minors who flew down to solve some of instrumentation problems. The biggest thankyou goes to my team Harry, Scott and Clifford, who gave up Christmas with their families to get us back on the road. Thanks guys.

It was a little light leaving Wellington but soon we got some breeze and now are reaching in 20 knots of wind at the boats optimum wind angle averaging nearly 20 knots. Ahead the situation is complicated, normally we would head southeast down to 50 south and then hightail it east to cape horn but there is a weather system that would give us strong easterlies blocking our path so soon we will sail east or slightly north of east to get to the north of it. It is a longer distance but should be faster than going south. It will be interesting to see how the leader deals with this situation or maybe he will get in front of it. Time will tell. -- Alex Thomson

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/sailing/article3117451.ece

* Roland Jourdain and Jean-Luc Nelias moored up Veolia Environnement in the port of Fremantle, Australia in the middle of the night at 0315 French time. They have spent nearly 2 weeks at sea under jury rig doing the 1,600 miles that separated them and the Australian coast, following their dismasting which took place on the 17th December. They are just in time to celebrate midnight supper in the middle of the Australian summer...

They were given a tow by an Australian fishing vessel on Sunday morning for the last 200 miles of the Australian coastline, Roland made the most of his last hours at sea by drawing up his overall assesment of the Barcelona World Race. Since the dismasting of Veolia Environnement which took place on the 17th December, their competition ended, but the adventure began.

Fremantle was finally chosen as their welcome port, and everything was put in place to organise a good arrival for the red monohull in Australia, thanks to the help of two contacts well known by Roland and Jean-Luc: Philippe Peche, already on site and Herve Jan, who also lives in Australia. Together, the two men coordinated all the logistics of the tow and mooring of the boat and liased directly with the shore team.

Veolia Environnement finally took its place in the port of Fremantle around 0315 this morning French time. A first for Jean-Luc who has never been to Australia before whereas Bilou had already visited 18 years ago when he took part in the 89-90 Whitbread.

With their Australian visas in their pockets, Roland and Jean-Luc haven't wasted any time and started work on the boat straight away, in particular by removing the boom which helped act as part of their jury rig so the boat can fit in the cargo for its return journey home in January.

Day 52 - January 1, 14:00 GMT - Position report with distance to leader

1. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean Pierre Dick / Damian Foxall - 0
2. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson / Andrew Cape - 753
3. Temenos 2 - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret- 1833
4. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 2184
5. Educacion Sin Fronteras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 2821

www.barcelonaworldrace.org

COLLINS STEWART LONDON BOAT SHOW
London's largest annual event, the Collins Stewart London Boat Show, will take place at ExCeL - the heart of London's entertainment district - from 11-20 January 2008. Now in its 54th year the Show promises to offer something for all, and will welcome some 140,000 people, encouraging visitors to take to the waters.

Visitors to the Show have a plethora of exciting features to explore and enjoy such as Start Boating, Deck Games, an interactive Watersports Zone, Anchor Watch, Classic Boats and the Guinness Bar. There will also be a chance to climb aboard the HMS Exeter, the very first Royal Naval Destroyer to the Show.

www.londonboatshow.com

AMERICA'S CUP OF WOE
There will an America's Cup soon, but it will not be a race anyone other than the Swiss holders wants to see. And it will be one in which all challengers are excluded bar Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle from San Francisco - and the boats used will be giant multihulls.

This seems the inevitable consequence of the dispute which began in July between Ellison's team and the Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, who has steadfastly refused to negotiate an open-to-all series in the wake of losing his case in the New York Supreme Court on Nov 27.

So instead of Ellison's new designers, Reichel-Pugh, creating an AC90 class monohull, Russell Coutts will rely on the French axis of designers Marc van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prevost, aided by Groupama skipper Franck Cammas, to give him a multihulled duelling weapon. The Swiss response is likely to feature strong input from designer Seb Schmidt.

The only good thing to be said about this two-team match is that the winner ought to set out their vision for the next cup. Ellison's team have already promised a conventional cup in Valencia in 2011. -- Tim Jeffery in The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk

RORC CREW MATCH
Date - Friday 18th January 2008 At 1900
Venue - Royal Ocean Racing Club, 20 St James's Place, London, SW1A 1NN
Ticket Only - For more information and how to apply for tickets please read full story

Whether you are RORC members or not you will be most welcome to join us at the RORC Crew Match:

- An evening for owners/skippers to meet and recruit potential crew for the season ahead
- An opportunity for crew to make contact with owners and/or skippers
- Swap experiences and compare skills with other sailors
- Crew should bring along a copy of their sailing CV to hand out including contact details
- Owners and skippers should have information on their yachts and requirements
- This event is designed for private yacht owners and not for commercial projects
- There will be a small administration charge made to crew who wish to attend

If you are interested in attending please contact Bronwen Rice at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

GROUPAMA 3'S TURN?
Just a few hours from New Year and for the second time since the start of their stand-by initiated on 6th December 2007, Franck Cammas and his nine man crew have passed onto Code Orange. A change of colour, which is synonymous with a possible departure on the Jules Verne Trophy within the next four days.

Very carefully scanning a favourable weather window for Groupama 3 to set off on its first Round the World, the skipper of the maxi-trimaran and its weather cell (Franck Proffit, Yves Parlier and Sylvain Mondon) have gone for a departure on Thursday 3rd January.

Sylvain Mondon, forecaster for safety at sea at Meteo France and shore expert for Groupama 3, reveals this latest opportunity to us:

"The gap which is currently presenting itself is a good window since in theory it provides a very fine course time as far as the equator. However it also promises a tricky exit from the Bay of Biscay. The idea of the departure configuration is to end up ahead of a depression, which is dropping down into the Bay and then round to the North of it. In this way, Groupama 3 will benefit from downwind conditions of around twenty knots of E to SE'ly over the first few hours of racing, followed by 30 to 35 knots of NW'ly.

This depression will be associated with big to very big seas, with forecasts of 4 to 5 metre troughs in the Bay of Biscay. Over the coming days, our work will consist of monitoring the evolution of the depression's trajectory, as well as that of a ridge of high pressure, which is currently stretching out from the Azores High off Madeira."

If the weather conditions currently being observed on the start zone remain, Groupama 3 may well leave it's home port of Lorient, SW Brittany on Wednesday 2nd January towards the end of the afternoon bound for the line, situated off Ushant.

A new countdown has begun then for the Groupama team.... But a code yellow has yet to follow (departure - 48h) then a code green (departure - 24h) prior to casting off for real!

www.cammas-groupama.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 1st 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,"

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.

THE FIRST SIGNS OF THE FORTIES
For the past two days, Thomas Coville has found fresh wind again and, what is more a good W'ly wind which is progressively shifting round to the NE, propelling the red and white trimaran along at over 20 knots towards the Cape of Good Hope. Installed abeam of Sodeb'O's course, the Saint Helena High will force the skipper from La Trinite, Brittany to make a detour of some 800 miles. A high price to pay, which the skipper estimates to be around two and a half days.

The near future is more favourable albeit harsh: "Ahead of me lie 36 hours sailing close to a steady wind with head seas. I'm making headway on one float in a wall of fog at 20/25 knots. It's like skiing when you go downhill into the fog. In a few days, I'll bend my course towards South Africa, though it'll still be vigorous. The Indian Ocean should be less complicated than the weather pattern that we've been tackling for the past few days". Indeed, the depression which accompanies Thomas today, should meet up with another system of strong W'ly winds, which will push Sodeb'O along on a good point of sail across the Southern Seas. -- Kate Jennings

Position Of The Trimaran Sodeb'o - Tuesday 01 January 2008 at 1530 UTC
Latitude: 36 27.69' South
Longitude: 12 56.63' West
Instantaneous speed: 13.70 knots
Instantaneous heading: 159
True wind aboard: Force 7 - East
Average speed: 21.3 knots
Average speed over 24 hours: 19.95 knots
Distance over 24 hours: 478.70 miles
Speed since the start: 15 knots
Total distance: 24,089 miles
Distance remaining: 18,718.10 miles
Difference between Ellen MacArthur's record: lead of 346 miles, or 1 day, 37mn, 51s
Deficit in relation to Francis Joyon's current time: around 3 days

www.sodebo-voile.com

STEVE CLARK WINS IC PRE WORLDS
Steve Clark of the USA was the winner of the International Canoe Pre Worlds event in his Development Canoe with junior Australian Alex Kalin the first IC home.

The final day was sailed in 25 knots plus, with just five starters - Tobias, Steve C, John Robson, Phil Stevenson - it was 30 plus in gusts and a little tricky sailing upwind with the swell.

Although many chose not to race, a lot of boats were still caught in the front, with a lot being towed in.

For the Worlds event it looks like three of the four AC's will race as AC's with one joining the Worlds fleet as an IC.

IC Pre Worlds - Final top ten positions

1. Steve Clark, USA, 7pts
2. Phil Stevenson, AUS, 15
3. David Clark, USA, 24
4. Alex Kalin, AUS, 32
5. Hayden Virtue, AUS, 45
6. Jonathan Emonson, AUS, 74
7. Mikey Radziejowski, POL, 76
8. Kevin Knott, AUS, 79
9. Oliver Moore, USA, 85
10. John Robson, GBR, 90

Sail-world.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=40428

Event site: www.icworlds.org

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 David Rule: In response to John Jameson's letter in Scuttlebutt Europe #1398, I suggest he reads the Berrimilla Logs in www.berrimilla.com

I would also recommend these logs to anyone else who hasn't read them.

Hopefully Mr. Jameson would reassess his comments after reading these tales of seamanship and sustained good humour under extremely trying conditions.

* From Michael van Stom: I am writing in response to John Jameson's letter in regards to Berrimiila's retirement in the Hobart race.

The first night out the yachts experienced strong Northerly breezes and a good sized following sea. I would think that a wrapped kite in those conditions would be very hard to untangle especially at night. They displayed prudent seamanship by deciding to opt out and head for the nearest safe harbour.

Bear in mind that the owners of this vessel sailed around the world (doublehanded) two years ago, to compete in the 2006 Fastnet and the 2006 Hobart race.

I hope this answers any queries that may remain.

FEATURED BROKERAGE
Mag France, 686,000, Lying England

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Complete listing details and seller contact information at www.yachtsandcruisers.com/boat/Mag_France/26978/

THE LAST WORD
Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it is only time we have. -- Art Buchwald

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