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AUSSIES TAKE 49ER WORLDS
Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin from Australia sailed the race of their life in the Medal Race of the 49er World Championship to claim the title off Sorrento this afternoon.

Going into the Medal Race, worth double points, the two Aussies were positioned at the pin end of the start line with their two greatest rivals; defending world champs Stevie Morrison/Ben Rhodes (GBR) who were on equal points with the Aussies and Rodion Luka/George Leonchuk (UKR) just one point behind them.

Outteridge takes up the story: "Rodion tacked onto port just before the start and we forced him to tack back and they capsized. So that was one out of the way," he said.

The race was sailed in 15-18 knot gusty winds on choppy waters in front of host venue, Sorrento Couta Boat Sailing Club, thrilling onlookers both on and off the water.

Although Luka and Leonchuk got their skiff upright fairly quickly, they were at the point of no return, finishing the race in last place, their Championship dreams over. Despite their placing, the Athens silver medallists took home the bronze medal.

Getting away clean off the line, the Brits right on their tails, the two took off up the first work of the two-lap windward/leeward course, Outteridge/Austin rounding just three boat lengths ahead.

By the time they rounded the windward mark for the second time, the Aussies had increased their lead over the Brits, coming home well in front of the rest of the nine others in the Medal Race.

Morrison/Rhodes came home in third place behind brothers Jan Peter and Hannes Peckolt in the Medal Race, but it was enough to give the Brits second place overall.

Outteridge and Austin are the first Australians to win the 49er World's since three-time world champion Chris Nicholson, with various crews, won in 1999. Ironically, all three sailors live close to each other on the NSW Central and North Coast, a well-known breeding ground for elite skiff sailors.

Five other crews at the 49er Worlds qualified their nations for the Beijing Games. Those were; Andre Fonseca/Rodrigo Duarte (Brazil), Christoper Gundersen/Frode Bovim (Norway), Jonas Lindberg/Kalle Torlen (Sweden) who all made the Gold fleet, and AkiraIshibashi/Yukio Makino (Japan) and Pavle Kostov/Petar Cupac (Croatia). -- Di Pearson

www.sailmelbourne.com.au

LAST DAY IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN
With Paprec-Virbac 2 streaking towards Cape Horn, today should mark their final one in the Southern Ocean. Damian Foxall is projecting an early afternoon (GMT) rounding of the Horn as the race leader looks to leave the cold and stress of the South in its wake.

"We're nearing the end of a major part of the 'round the world'," Damian said today. "It's the Southern Ocean and this is the last day we're going to be down here, so we're making the most of it. It's nice and sunny outside and we're sailing straight at the mark so life is good."

Behind, Hugo Boss has stabilised its position, remaining just a shade over 1000 miles in arrears. The second place team has better wind now and is moving at good speed following a stretch yesterday when skipper Alex Thomson and Andrew Cape had to drop their mainsail to make a repair. Now back up at full speed, the chase is on for Hugo Boss.

"At this stage, we're probably going to need some help with the weather to catch up," Alex Thomson told special guest Jonathan McKee (Estrella Damm co-skipper) on the video conference today. Jonathan agreed, saying it was important for Hugo to stay as close as possible to keep the pressure on and be in a position 'to pounce'!

For Temenos II, the last 24 hours have been very good. Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret have been the fastest boat over that period, chalking up nearly 350 miles over that period and adding to their slim lead over Mutua Madrilena.

Day 60 - January 9, 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 - 1029
3. Temenos Ii - Dominique Wavre / Michele Paret- 2868
4. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso / Pachi Rivero - 3021
5. Educacion Sin Fronteras - Servane Escoffier / Albert Bargues - 3528

barcelonaworldrace.org

FUTURE FIBRES IS GROWING!
Industry leader Future Fibres is currently experiencing rapid and sustained growth in the composite rigging market. As a result, it is looking to fill a number of positions throughout the business. It requires a superyacht salesperson to service this rapidly expanding sector and maintain Future Fibres' current market leading position. Its service department is also looking to recruit a service manager and service administrator to help develop a global service infrastructure to support the growing customer base.

For full details on these and all other vacancies visit www.futurefibres.com

JOYON 12 DAYS AHEAD OF MACARTHUR
After some slower sailing due to lower wind speeds, Francis Joyon on his giant trimaran IDEC is now travelling north up the Atlantic Ocean, heading for the equator and home.

All going well, he will reach the equator sometime tomorrow, making it in about 48 days. It took Ellen MacArthur, current record holder over 60 days to reach this point, meaning that Joyon will be an incredible 12 days faster than MacArthur.

Francis Joyon's trimaran IDEC is a whopping 98ft trimaran IDEC, compared to Ellen MacArthur's mere 75ft B &Q when the British yachtswoman set the non-stop solo round-the-world record two years ago. -- Des Ryan in Sail-World.com, www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=40711

Event site (French only!) www.trimaran-idec.com

TOM SCHNACKENBERG SPEAKS!
From Alinghi.com, this rather bizarre commentary/interview. Hard to count the different angles on this one -- Editor

We've been reading a lot about the AC90, what would your role become if Alinghi is required by law to accept the GGYC challenge as it has been lodged?

TS: If that becomes the case, then my role would change rather, that is should ACM be consulted and be managing the defence.

The first thing I would have to do is to have a good think about the nature of the boat that is challenging, how the racing should be organised and what things would need to be put in place to ensure the racing is proper.

You'd be well qualified having had experience of unconventional challenges in the past – tell us about that?

TS: That's true, I was invited to Annapolis by Michael Fay back in 1987 and on the way there he opened a copy of the Deed of Gift and read out about five lines to me which basically set out the requirements for a challenge as they were in 1887 and have been ever since. Among those was the fact that the challenger would supply a certificate of the yacht including the name of the owner, the name of the yacht, the rig and the four key dimensions, being the waterline length, the waterline beam, the maximum beam and the draft. These dimensions couldn't be exceeded, presumably they could be made a little bit smaller, but the idea would be that these would be the dimensions of the yacht.

Can you give us the in-brief of the BMW Oracle Deed of Gift challenge?

TS: The length is 90ft, the beam at waterline is 90ft and the extreme beam is 90ft which suggests that the boat is plum sided at the extremes. The hull depth is 3ft and there is an extra mention of the draft with the boards down being 20ft. So to me, if you think of waterline length you imagine running your hand along from the bow of the boat, it goes under the water at a certain point and continues under the water until it comes up 90ft later and that's the waterline length.

Sounds like a bit of a barge to me?

TS: Well if you use the same process to determine the waterline beam, then you go down at one point and you continue under water until you come up at another point and that's 90ft away, so yes I suppose 'barge' would probably be the best single word to describe what we are talking about.

What are the perceived advantages from the GGYC/BOR's point of view in creating a challenge such as this?

TS: Perhaps, if they were thinking of opening up their design space and having smaller beams, the advantage would be that they are not limiting themselves, but I think in fairness to any Defender, they would want to stick to the boat that they have described.

I talked a little bit to Rolf Vrolijk about it, because the Dutch are renowned for designing barges and particularly barges with leeboards which can sail quite well. Even though he is excellent and inventive, it was obvious that he had no experience in barge design and neither does Dirk Kramers and so they are at a little bit of a handicap.

Presumably we would have to hurry up and learn how to do this. How long do you think BMW Oracle could have been working on their boat?

TS: It's hard to know, months obviously and possibly years. The challenge was lodged on 11 July 2007, but obviously they thought about it a long time before and so they have a big design edge and the Alinghi guys, I think, just hoped it would go away and depending on the court action, it could be a non-starter as there is a very tight timeframe. The 10 months notice would obviously be extended by the court action and the time it takes to do that, so that period will probably only start after the court order has been handed down. End.

www.alinghi.com/en/news/features/index.php?idIndex=227&idContent=14795

82-YEAR-OLD GORDON INGATE WINS PRINCE PHILIP CUP HEAT
Near 82 years of age has certainly not diminished the wonderful sailing skills of Gordon Ingate, a former America's Cup, Admiral's Cup, Olympic and Sydney Hobart Race skipper.

Today, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron member, won heat four of the prestigious Prince Philip Cup for International Dragon class yachts on Hobart's Derwent River to move into a close third place on the overall pointscore with three races to sail.

Results are provisional as one of three yachts called as OCS (on course side at start) has protested the race committee against its disqualification.

Despite outstanding results in international yachting, Gordon Ingate has yet to win a Prince Philip Cup, the national championship for the International Dragon class.

However, he is getting great support from two past Philip Cup winners - Tasmanians Nick Rogers as his mainsheet trimmer and tactician and Simon Burrows as his for'ard hand.

As a helmsman Rogers has won eight Prince Philip Cups and a world championship in the Dragon class, as well as five Sayonara Cup interstate match racing contests. Burrows crewed for the late Bruce Calvert in his Prince Philip Cup.

Provisionally, Riga (NSW) still heads the overall pointscore after four races with 23.4 point, followed by Kirribilli II (Tas) on 24.7, Whim 26.0 (NSW), Hotspur (Ken Stevenson, WA) 42.7, Aquila (Tas) 44.7 and Sassafrass (WA) 48.0 points. -- Peter Campbell

CORK WEEK
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," 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.

AINSLIE SEES CHOPPY WATERS FOR GREAT BRITAIN
The yachting venue for this summer's Olympic Games is a "sailor's nightmare" that could imperil the British team's chances of repeating the success of recent games, according to the double Olympic champion Ben Ainslie.

Ainslie, who was yesterday handed the opportunity to compete for a third consecutive gold medal after being among the first nine athletes selected for Team GB, has competed at the venue in Qingdao for the last two years and said conditions were far from ideal. Light winds, strong currents and persistent fog are likely to hamper racing at the venue, and there are genuine concerns in the British team that their competitive advantage could be negated there.

Ainslie's criticism of Qingdao was echoed by Stephen Park, the Olympic team leader of the Royal Yachting Association, who harbours genuine concerns that the venue will work against his athletes.

Sailing has become Britain's most successful Olympic sport, with five medals from 11 classes at both the Athens and Sydney games prompting optimism that the total will be exceeded in China. Concerns about conditions, however, have led Park to revise his target to three medals. Light winds and fog could lead to the number of races in each medal series being reduced from the standard 11 (or 16 for the 49ers), an eventuality that would open up the field of potential medallists considerably.

Ainslie, who won the Finn class in Athens, gold in the Laser in Sydney and a silver in the same boat at the Atlanta games, edged out his rival Ed Wright for the single Finn entry in Beijing a matter of months after his involvement in the America's Cup ended last year.

Ainslie has not ruled out competing in Weymouth in 2012 despite being contracted to compete for the Team Origin consortium in the America's Cup. "We'll have to see how the dates pan out before I can make a decision," he said yesterday. -- Paul Kelso in the Guardian, his full article at sport.guardian.co.uk/sailing/story/0,,2237370,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=7

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 Lucy Burn - Sailing Secretary at the Royal Southern Yacht Club In response to Rob Goddard's letter in issue 1405 9th January

We are running a Level Rating Series for ex-IRM boats here at the Southern! The dates coincide with the Club's monthly regatta programme:
May Regatta - 17th & 18th
June Regatta - 21st & 22nd
Level Rating Championships - 26th & 27th July
September Regatta - 20th & 21st

We are really keen on getting as many of the big boats out to play with the Southern offering fantastic Race Management and first class facilities on shore for a great social scene after racing. Look forward to seeing you there!

* From Neil Gladwell: I'm afraid that you, like many others, have picked up on the petition about UK tidal data copyright without knowing that one of the basic statements of the petition is wrong. I publish tide tables here in the UK, I have a licence from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) to do it and as of last year that licence cost me nothing at all. Its not true when Mr Bartholomew states Currently Her Majesty's Government is requiring payment by any who wish to use and publish this data. Sure I used to have to pay but it was a tiny amount, around 1p sterling for each copy of my main publication, and that was only because I wanted to use the data for commercial ends. I hope you have the chance to mention the petition isn't correct or amend your report.

NEW SPARKMAN & STEPHENS 6-METER FOR SALE
The Museum of Yachting of Newport, Rhode Island, is pleased to announce that as part of an exhibit on the history of S&S, the building of a new replica six-meter racing yacht CHEROKEE. The yacht is being built from plans provided by S&S and will be launched in time to compete in the 6-meter World Cup-also being held in Newport in 2009. Price is $160,000US.

The full listing can be seen by following the link:

www.yachtworld.com/boats/1823739/0

Please make inquiries to: Sparkman & Stephens, Inc.
Tel: +1-212-661-1240
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

THE LAST WORD
By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out. -- Richard Dawkins

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