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JUST 2500 MILES TO GO
In the heart of the Atlantic Ocean far off the islands of Cape Verde, Francis Joyon is getting ready to enter the strongest trade winds, which are blowing from the north-east and the shores of Morocco. Last night was a quiet one with no major incidents except a violent squall shaking IDEC about in the middle of the night. After spending 48 very difficult hours getting out of the Doldrums, then having to deal with the starboard shroud fixation, Francis Joyon finally managed to take it a bit easier and get some rest, which was certainly something he required. With the trade wind strengthening, it is now the sea state, which is more "aggressive" in the words of Francis Joyon, which will make the trimaran's headway tougher, with some violent slamming into the swell, which is becoming increasingly high. Then, there is the additional stress, knowing that his weakened mast is going to be put under more strain. There is no way for the moment he can carry out the "strapping operation" around the damaged part at the start of this 52nd day at sea. There are now just over 2500 nautical miles to cover.

"The wind was steadier during the night," explained Francis, "And I managed to keep her going at an average of 16 or 17 knots, while getting a little rest. I'm still upwind and the boat is banging around. With the strengthening trade wind, the seas are going to get rougher and I still need to find the right compromise to avoid increasing the risk of dismasting." Francis thus reduced the amount of canvas hoisted this morning. "I'm on a bearing of 345, while the direct route is 30, he explained. IDEC is going the longer way around, but this enables the trimaran to sail more comfortably and with some good speeds, as she was making more than 18 knots this morning.

The shaft holding the starboard shroud in place was blocked with the meagre means Francis had at his disposal on board IDEC. Following talks with the boat's designers, Nigel Irens and Benoit Cabaret, on the one hand and the sailmakers, Samuel and Dominique Marsaudon on the other hand, one final attempt to secure the part is still possible. The idea is to wrap a belt around the mast, which would be strapped around the shroud fixation, limiting the strain on the spindle. It is therefore planned once again to go back up the 32-metre mast. But certainly not in the conditions he is experiencing today. Francis will have to wait for calmer seas and for the boat to be making steadier progress before he tackles this operation to secure the fixation.

*Editor: At press time, Joyon had sailed for 51 days, 15 hours. Ellen MacArthur's record: 71 days, 14 hours. Joyon has 19 days 22 hours to travel 2444 miles to beat the record.

www.trimaran-idec.com

GORDON INGATE, 82, OLDEST AUSTRALIAN YACHTING CHAMPION
Gordon Ingate, nearing 82 years of age, today became the oldest skipper ever to become an Australian yachting champion when he was declared winner of the 2008 Prince Philip Cup for the International Dragon one-design class.

The victory, on Hobart's Derwent River, climaxes a remarkable career in sailing spanning some 70 years, including 52 years sailing in the Dragons, a former Olympic class.

Ingate, a member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, has represented Australia in the Admiral's Cup, the America's Cup, the Olympic Games, World Championships in Dragons and International 5.5 metre class yachts and skippered his ocean racing yacht Caprice of Huon to a luckless second overall in the 1972 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The Royal Yacht of Tasmania declared Whim, helmed by Ingate and crewed by Tasmanians Nick Rogers and Simon Burrows, as the Prince Philip Cup champions after being forced to abandon today's seventh and final race because of galeforce north-westerly winds sweeping the Derwent.

Ingate is understood to be the oldest yachtsman ever to win an Australian national yachting championship in any class, let alone the Dragon class.

Despite 52 years of competing in the Dragon class, this is the first Prince Philip Cup win for Ingate although he tied for first with fellow Sydney yachtsman Bill Fesq in 1956, being relegated to second place on a countback of placings.

However, it was the ninth Prince Philip Cup win for Nick Rogers, also a former Dragon class world champion, and the second for Simon Burrows. -- Peter Campbell

The top 10 placegetters in the 2008 Prince Philip Cup, announced this afternoon at The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, were:

1. Whim (Gordon Ingate, NSW) 19.7 points
2. Riga (Ian McCrossin/Martin Burke, NSW) 24.7
3. Kirribilli II (Andrew Crisp, Tas) 24.7
4. Leander (Hugh Wardrop, Tas) 37.7
5. Hotspur (Ken Stevenson, WA) 46.7
6. Sassafrass (Sandy Anderson, WA) 46.7
7. Aquila (Jock Young, Tas) 48.4
8. Mystere (Wayne Wagg, Tas) 56.4
9. Amazing Grace (Tony Mooney/Charles Stanton, Tas) 69.0
10. Gilt Dragon II (Ian Malley, WA) 76

CAMPER AND NICHOLSONS MARINAS AT DUSSELDORF BOAT SHOW
The latest superyacht marina, the exclusive Grand Harbour, in Vittoriosa, Malta is a fine example of the high quality services and standards expected by Camper & Nicholsons clients and the recently acquired Port Louis in Grenada is set to be the next top location in the Caribbean, now already well underway in development. In addition C & N are developing world class marinas in Cesme in Turkey and CalaPonte, in Polignano south east Italy.

All four marinas have excellent support infrastructure, together with many local waterbased activities, cultural interest to explore and local traditions and cuisine to sample.

To find out more about Camper & Nicholsons' exciting new headquarters in Malta and superyacht marinas in Grenada, Turkey and Italy, staff will be on hand at Dusseldorf Boat Show on stand number 14B 04.

www.cnmarinas.com

RAYMARINE YOUNG SAILOR OF THE YEAR
Twelve year old Laurence Greenough was awarded the prestigious title of Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year by sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Laurence follows in the footsteps of past winners Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie OBE, and world class yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur.

Laurence, from Plymouth, who is a pupil at Devonport High School for Boys, wins the award for his courage and determination to overcome adversity.

Laurence lost a leg in a boating accident in May 2006 but was back sailing just two months later in an unmodified boat. His commitment to helping others and encouraging potential young sailors is extraordinary for someone of his age. A member of the Plymouth Youth Sailing Club, Laurence took part in the Topper Travellers in the South West Zone in 2007 and also competed in the NSSA National Regatta where he finished 15th Topper out of 76.

* The Raymarine/YJA Yachtsman of the Year will be announced at an awards ceremony at midday on Tuesday 15 January 2008 at The Painted Hall, the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

MAYDAY... CALL THE PUB!
A British yachtsman thousands of miles from home and seriously injured during a solo transatlantic voyage managed to summon help from an unlikely but familiar source: his local pub.

Alan Thompson, 61, an experienced sailor, broke his pelvis while sailing 600 miles northeast of Bermuda on Saturday.

He was in severe pain and hardly able to move but he managed to use his satellite phone to call the Bull's Head in Fishbourne, West Sussex.

Roger Pocock, 62, the licensee and a friend of Mr Thompson, immediately alerted Falmouth coastguards, who located the yacht and organised a rescue operation by the US coastguard.

Within hours two coastguards were airlifted aboard the 37ft yacht Padolu to help her owner to abandon the vessel and climb aboard an oil tanker that had responded to a mayday alert.

The yachtsman, from Chichester, in West Sussex, had just bought the Hunter Legend yacht from a Florida dealer and set off to sail her back to Britain alone. He had crossed the Atlantic on two previous occasions, but with a crew and 20 years ago.

A spokesman for Falmouth Coastguard said: "This gentleman had just spent quite a lot of money in Florida and bought this boat. He was in a terrific amount of pain.

"We told him he would have to come off and it would be the last he would see of the boat, which isn't insured. Now he's back on his way to the USA and I'm afraid the yacht has been abandoned."

The boat will either sink or the prevailing winds and current will take her back to America. If she hits the Gulf Stream she could even end up somewhere off the British Isles, the Coastguard said. -- Ben Quinn in the Times Online: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3182199.ece

NEW ERICSSON VOLVO 70 SHIPPED TO LANZAROTI
In a project managed by Peters & May, the new Volvo Ocean Race boat left Kista in early December by truck bound for Frihamnen in Stockholm, and then loaded onto a cargo ship to Ericsson's training base in Lanzarote, arriving in late December.

The transportation of the 21.5 metre boat, with her 6 metre width weighing at around 6 tons, through central Stockholm required considerable planning.

Peters & May has been Ericsson's shipping partner for past Volvo events, able to offer not just the expert marine logistics required for this race, but also complex recovery programmes when things go wrong.

www.petersandmay.com

FIRST TWO AROUND THE HORN
The two leading boats in the Barcelona World Race are back in the Atlantic Ocean after rounding the famed Cape Horn this week. Both are now in the final quarter of this marathon race around the world, although with over 6000 miles left to run, the race is far from being over. And for those still in the Southern Ocean, gale force conditions mean the week is ending with very difficult conditions in the Furious Fifties.

Paprec-Virbac 2 was the first around Cape Horn, early on Thursday morning. The race leader left the fabled Cape to port at 06:20 GMT, with skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Damian Foxall clearly happy to have left the Southern Ocean behind.

For Hugo Boss, the Horn passage came overnight (GMT) on Saturday night as they crossed the Cape Horn scoring gate at 01:13 GMT, just over 800 miles behind Paprec-Virbac 2.

"It's a great relief to be around Cape Horn," Andrew Cape said on Sunday afternoon. "We got quite close yesterday and the sun had just gone down, it was twilight, and it was really nice. But it is just a relief to be out of the southern ocean. It is a big landmark and an achievement and I'm glad it's out the way. It's the best rounding of Cape Horn I've ever had - perfect conditions really."

For the three race boats still in the Southern Ocean, the words of Capey will certainly ring true. The week has ended with a deep low pressure system passing over them. Conditions are fierce, with winds at times gusting over 50 knots and towering seas.

www.barcelonaworldrace.org

RS:X WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Racing at the RS:X World Championships got underway Saturday at Takapuna Boating Club on Auckland's North Shore.

After a postponement due to light winds, racing started and two races were sailed in both the men's and women's fleets in a NNE breeze of around six to eight knots. With just two races to count the points table is tight at the top.

There is a three way tie on the leader board for the men's title after day one. Tom Ashley NZL, Shahar Zubari ISR & Ivan Pastor Lafuente ESP are all on four points. Both Ashley and Zubari had one win and a third place in today's races, while Lafuente was second in both his races.

The men were first to race with the 120 competitors split into yellow and blue groups. During the first three days of racing the blue and yellow groups will be re-shuffled daily based on overall standings from the previous day.

The women took to the course mid afternoon and sailed two races coming ashore around 5:30pm in the evening.

Alessandra Sensini ITA had an outstanding start winning both her races on day one. Barbara Kendall NZL shares second place with Charline Piccon FRA both scoring a win and a second in the two races sailed today. -- Jodie Bakewell-White

For full results visit www.rsxclass.com/worlds2008.html

MONDAY 9:30 AM IN NEW YORK CITY
Throughout this 6-month legal battle there has been a considerable number of press releases, declarations or interviews that turned out to be erroneous or false. In hindsight it is easy to judge them and disregard them but still they provided useful information when they appeared. Take for example Ernesto Bertarelli's statement some months ago that he couldn't lose the court case because he had the best lawyers in the world. I personally would have never made such a statement (of course I'm not Bertarelli) but at that precise moment it was indeed extremely useful to reproduce it because it reflected the state of mind Alinghi's owner (and probably the whole Alinghi camp) had.

As far as Monday, January 14, is concerned, all eyes will be turned to the NY Supreme Court. Starting 9:30 am (3:30pm European time), Justice Cahn will hear the arguments of both sides in order to issue the settlement order. Undoubtedly, the thorniest issue is the date of the America's Cup match. BMW Oracle wants it to take place on the 1st, 3rd and 5th (if needed) of October 2008 while Alinghi would rather race in July 2009. Hopefully we will have some indication at least on Monday evening.

Still, we might be in for further delays. According to Gerardo Pombo, president of the Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV), unless Justice Cahn orders the two teams to race 18 months from now, Alinghi will file an appeal against the settlement order. Pombo made that statement during a private conversation in a group of several people. Whether this turns out to be true will be known shortly but it wouldn't come as a surprise. -- Pierre Orphanidis in Valencia Sailing, valenciasailing.blogspot.com

HEADING FOR KEY WEST
Racing sailors from 18 different nations are on their way to the southernmost point in the continental U.S. Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica will welcome a record 60 foreign boats and US entries from 35 different states.

The weeklong competition will feature world class competitors and top regional programs competing in 16 different classes on four separate courses.

"The global reputation of Acura Key West continues to grow as evidenced by the record number of foreign entries," longtime event director Peter Craig said. "One would be hard pressed to find a year where there was more talent, with this 21st edition featuring an impressive list of champions from the America's Cup, Olympic and Volvo Ocean Race arenas."

A quick glance at the scratch sheet tells that story - among the tacticians are Cayard, Barker, Butterworth, Bekking, Isler ,Hutchinson and Warden-Owen to name but a few.

The debut of new designs is always a much anticipated component of the Key West extravaganza. The list of new boats this year includes Dan Meyer's Judel/Vrolijk 66-footer Numbers, John Brim's R/P 55 Rima 2, a pair of new J/122s, the Mark Mills designed Sllim 37 and 2-time Boat of the Week winner Irvine Laidlaw's latest Highland Fling, a swing keel Wally 80.

Teams will unite to compete in the 11th annual International Team Competition for the Nautica Watches trophy. This "side competition" with a focus on national pride will feature eleven 3-boat teams from the Farr 40, Melges 32 and Melges 24 classes. Team Switzerland is back to defend their 2007 title with Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi and Franco Rossini's Blu Moon joined by Claudio Recchi's Let's Roll.

www.Premiere-Racing.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 Bernie Case, Australia. Ex Americas Cup Crew member: Why not settle the "CUP" fiasco simply. Conduct the next "Amerikas" Cup or whatever name might be deemed appropriate, at the same venue & time originally programmed for the next Americas Cup. The event to be contested by agreement between the challengers, all of whom must be from a country which has a border by the sea & regularly conducts regattas as stipulated by the deed of gift. To simplify matters, the event to be contested by yachts built to the same design as the last event to keep costs down, save time & get things back to being on an "even keel". That way Alinghi gets its wish to keep the "AMERICAS CUP' for ever & the remainder of the interested syndicates can get on with sailing competitively for the 'AMERIKAS CUP' or WORLD CUP or whatever & get back to basics of competitive sailing at the highest level. Personally I would like to see the syndicates as true national teams composed of sailors of crews composed of natonals from the particular country they represent as originally envisaged.. The most disadvantaged personnel would simply be the lawyers!!!.

* From George Morris (yachtsman and Nimrod pilot): We have to be careful when we condemn people who take on 'silly' challenges. A very high percentage of those who try to climb Mt Everest die in the attempt and no one has seriously suggested that the practice is stopped. I gather mountaineers now just walk past the dying and leave them - there being supposedly no way they can be rescued. A single hander on a Tornado is pushing the boundaries but many forty and fifty foot cats finish up in the same situation and the most expensive rescue of all time was probably Tony Bullimore in a yacht that was pretty well found. And don't weep for the SAR services - we LOVE live incidents,

* From Adrian Morgan: How many angels can be impaled on the head of a pin, writes Kimball Livingston in his Sail magazine blog. None is the answer. They'd have to be dancing on the point of the pin... a point of detail that neatly matches the legal sophistry going on amongst the warring AC parties.

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