Brought to you by YachtsandCruisers.com, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

DELAYING THE INEVITABLE
A New York State judge Monday said he would allow another 10 days for the Swiss Alinghi team to argue against it, but he still planned to sign an order Jan..23 that would make the Swiss meet an American team in 90-foot catamarans or trimarans for what would be the wildest America's Cup on record.

Judge Herman Cahn of the New York State Supreme Court had been expected to sign the order Monday, which would have force Alinghi to meet the Oracle Team from San Francisco in October. But Alinghi's lawyers argued that they should get a chance to argue their motions that the Oracle suit is unfounded and that the American challenge should be tossed out.

The Swiss told Cahn that they would appeal his order when he signed it, something that many observers believe is another stalling tactic to buy the Swiss more time to deign, build and test their own 90-footmultihull.

That theory was strengthened when it was learned that Alinghi had bought two high-speed 40-foot catamarans that race on a European circuit. The Swiss also bought the shore facility that the Chinese team used in last summer's America's Cup and were setting it up as a multihull training base.

Courtroom observers said much of Monday's hearing was taken up by arguments between Alinghi's lawyers and the judge over whether he should sign the order next week. At one point, the judge said he would not overturn his earlier decision against Alinghi, although he would give the Swiss a chance to voice objections. -- Eric Sharp in the Detroit Free Press, www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/

* From Alinghi:
Today Justice Cahn decided against issuing a settlement order until after he has examined the arguments raised by Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) with regard to the validity of the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) challenge. He scheduled a further hearing for the 23rd January.

Counsel for Societe Nautique de Geneve, Lucien Masmejan, commented on the days proceedings: "We are very pleased with the result of today's court hearing. Justice Cahn has acknowledged that our arguments with regard to the invalidity of the GGYC certificate need to be examined in full and have substance. We believe that the further proceedings contemplated by Justice Cahn will bring clarity to the validity of the GGYC challenge."

* From the Golden Gate Yacht Club:
The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today it is pleased the court order giving effect to the November 27 decision in its favor is expected to be made soon.

Justice Herman Cahn of the New York State Supreme Court today heard further arguments on the order and scheduled a hearing for January 23. GGYC expects the Court will sign the order either then or shortly afterwards.

"We were very pleased with today," Tom Ehman, the club's spokesman said. "Justice Cahn clearly has a thorough understanding of the issues. We are confident the Court's decision of November 27 will be enforced in the order leading to a Deed of Gift regatta in October, 2008."

WORRIES, TROUBLES AND AN EPIC FINAL SPRINT TO COME
More damage has slowed down the giant trimaran, IDEC's progress during the night. This time it was the staysail stay that paid the price of the repeated slamming into the swell. "The sail went flying everywhere," explained Francis, "There was incident after incident, with a broken block, which caused a hole in the deck... I had to get the tool box back out and put some resin on it, repair the deck and recuperate my sail..." 27, 28 knots of wind coming straight at us in some tricky seas really shook up IDEC throughout the night. At daybreak, the wind shifted more clearly towards the east. More than ever in record mode, Francis hoisted some more canvas and soon as the wind eased off slightly, let out a reef and hoisted his staysail instead of his stormsail. "I still can't really play around with the staysail, admitted Francis, as the furler drum is broken.. I didn't get much rest as the boat was being banged around so much".

Obsessed by the fragility of his mast, Francis remains focussed on his trajectory and the timing required to hop on to the weather systems coming up ahead. This 53rd day of sailing should offer him a little respite with some cleaner seas and a more favourable wind angle. Less than 36 hours ahead of his bows, he can see the Azores high coming up. IDEC will leave this to starboard, in order to reach the south south westerly flow, requiring a gybe. Francis will by then have taken advantage of the calm close to the centre of the high-pressure area to go back up the mast once again; "I'll make the most of it to check out the movement of the spindle, which holds the shroud in place," he explained. "I think I'll jam it in place by hammering it. Then, I'll wrap a bandage around the mast. I have already put up a halyard to add support to the starboard shroud."

Having done everything within his power, Francis will then be on the home run, the final sprint that with the 40-45 knot winds that are forecast looks like being an epic end to the voyage.

www.trimaran-idec.com

GOETZ GOES ON THE ROAD
Goetz Custom Boats, one of the world's preeminent builders of composite yachts, will be available to provide shore services at Acura Key West Race Week. GCB will be flying the flag at the West Marine lot on Caroline Street, and will have composite technicians on-site for any repair needs. If your service needs extend beyond Race Week, Goetz has now converted its old facility into a full service repair and refit service center, providing IRC optimizations, a full canvas shop, and a machine shop to clients from around the world. For more information on their services, visit www.goetzboats.com , or stop by their trailer at KWRW.

FROM THE THANK GOD FOR ANDREW PINDAR DEPARTMENT...
* Pindar, the leading print and electronic media company and prolific sponsor of international sailing campaigns, today announced it will continue it's sponsorship of British match racing sensation, Ian Williams. Williams re-wrote the record books in 2007, becoming the first Briton ever to win the World Match Racing Tour, sealing his place in history as the most successful British match racer to date.

Competing against some of the world's best sailors, Williams will begin the defense of his title at the Brazil Sailing Cup in Vitoria, Brazil, in March. From there, the 2008 World Match Racing Tour will travel to nine further events worldwide, culminating with the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia towards the end of the year.

Andrew Pindar, Chairman of the Pindar Group commented: "All of us at Pindar were elated when we heard that Ian had won the World Match Racing Tour. He is a fantastic ambassador for Pindar, showing grit, determination and skill to win one of sailings top awards. With this in mind it is with great pleasure that we are able to announce our continued sponsorship of Ian and Team Pindar for the 2008 Tour."

* US SAILING - national governing body for the sport - announced today that it has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with AlphaGraphics - a leading print, graphics and marketing communications network - to be the first-ever title sponsor of the US Sailing Team. The new partnership takes immediate effect and runs through 2012. The US Sailing Team, which annually recognizes the top three athletes in the classes selected for the next Olympic and Paralympic Games, will now be known as "US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics."

The sponsorship agreement includes direct financial support for the Team as well as visual communications and marketing support for individual Team members from U.S. AlphaGraphics locations. The partnership also envisions leveraging the power of the AlphaGraphics franchise network to raise additional funds for the Team.

AlphaGraphics, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a visual communications franchisor. The company is owned by Pindar Group, a leading print and electronic media company, which over the years has become known for its support of sailing through its sponsorship of several world-class sailors and sailing teams.

THIRD PODIUM POSITION FOR LIVERPOOL 08
Batam, Indonesia: Just days after the city of Liverpool marked the start of its year as European Capital of Culture 2008 there are celebrations on the other side of the world as Liverpool 08 clinched second place in Race 5 of the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race.

In a scorching race from Fremantle to Singapore - both in terms of extremely close racing and the heat the crews have had to deal with - Liverpool 08 scored their third podium position of the campaign. This second place will help them maintain the pressure on the overall race leaders in what is rapidly turning into an incredibly tight contest.

New York maintained their narrow lead over Liverpool 08 to cross the finish line off Singapore at 2112 local time (1412 GMT). Liverpool 08 finished four hours and ten minutes later at 1822 GMT (0122 Tuesday 15 January local time).

The lead in the 2430-mile race, which started in Fremantle on New Year's Day, changed numerous times as the skippers and crews of the ten internationally-backed yachts battled it out on arguably the most tactically challenging of the 14 individual contests that make up Clipper 07-08 Race. Several of the yachts have been within sight of each other during the race in which they have weaved their way through islands, dodged floating hazards and fishing nets.

The marina on Batam, one of the Riau Islands of Indonesia, is where the whole Clipper fleet will muster ahead of the coordinated arrival in Singapore on Saturday 19 January.

The fleet's arrival in Singapore will be part of the opening ceremony for the new Marina at Keppel Bay.

www.clipperroundtheworld.com

GWM RACING APPOINTED AS ON-WATER MANAGEMENT FOR THE SUPERYACHT CUP
Peter Wykeham-Martin and John Grandy of GWM Racing Limited have been appointed to run the on-water aspects of The Superyacht Cup events planned for 2008. The calendar includes The Superyacht Cup Transatlantic Challenge starting in Antigua in April, The Superyacht Cup Palma in June and The Superyacht Cup Antigua in December.

GWM Racing specialises in the preparation and execution of international yachting events and will advise and assist on all aspects of on-water management of the regattas, including the format of the racing, notice of race, sailing instructions, ratings and handicapping, tracking and associated website systems, and race management and results.

John Grandy is an ISAF appointed International Race Officer and Peter Wykeham-Martin is a qualified IRC measurer; working together as GWM Racing they have decades of experience in professional regatta management, balancing the needs of participants, sponsors and organisers.

Patrick Whetter, SYC Event Director: "The feedback we have received from some owners and captains has suggested we should introduce an IRC class as well as the cruising class, and GWM will be invaluable in introducing this new element. We appreciate that owners are putting a great deal of commitment into attending our events, and we want to ensure that we can satisfy the requirements of all the very different types of boat in all our destinations".

The Notice of Race for the next event, The Superyacht Cup Transatlantic Challenge, will be published by the end of January and will be followed by the NOR for Palma 2008.

All details of the events and contact details are on the website: www.thesuperyachtcup.com , GWM Racing: www.gwmracing.com

SYC Transatlantic Challenge - April 8th 2008, SYC Palma- June 11-14th 2008, SYC Antigua - December 10-13th 2008

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

AUSTRALIA DAY START FOR ANTARCTICA CUP RECORD
Albany, West Australia: Russian adventure sailor Fedor Konyukhov will set out on his solo record attempt around Antarctica on January 26 - Australia Day.

The 56 year old sailed his 86ft monohull 'Trading Network Alye Parusa' into Albany, Western Australia, the starting point for the Antarctica Cup Race Track, last Saturday, after a shake-down voyage half way round the world from Falmouth UK. Fedor and his team will now spend the next 2 weeks preparing the yacht for the 14,000 mile record attempt.

Konyukhov plans to cross the Antarctica Cup Ocean Race Start and Finish line off Wooding Point on the King George Sound coastline at 1030hrs on Saturday 26th January. This will provide a spectacular grandstand view for spectators as 'Trading Network Alye Parusa' heads south towards the entry gate of the Antarctica Cup Racetrack some 600 miles south of Albany. From there Fedor will sail 14,000 nautical miles east-about around Antarctica, which he hopes to complete in late March.

www.antarcticacup.com

NEW MAN AT THE HELM OF THE ISAF SECRETARIAT
There is a new face at the helm of the International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) Secretariat, after Jerome Pels (NED) took over as ISAF Secretary General on 1 January 2008.

Jerome has steadily worked his way through the ranks at the ISAF Secretariat, since joining as Competition Officer in 1997. In the ten years since then he has been involved in all of ISAF's major events, being promoted to Events Manager, then Director of Sailing in January 2002 and Deputy Secretary General in May 2006. He has been appointed as one of ISAF's Technical Delegates, responsible for the overall running of the sailing competition, at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.

Jerome has had a lifelong involvement in the sport, coming from a family of sailors in Gouda, the Netherlands. Since starting sailing aged 6, he has been involved in practically every aspect of the sport, from racing to media, administration, coaching and competition management. Jerome replaces Arve Sundheim (NOR), who retires after almost 12 years in the role of ISAF Secretary General.

After sailing in the Optimist, Laser Radial and Europe classes, he turned to coaching as a sideline to support his education whilst studying Law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. During this time he became involved with some of the leading young names in Dutch sailing, and, after qualifying as a lawyer, joined the Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond (KNWV) in 1989 as Head Coach for the Netherlands Olympic Yachting Team. After initially agreeing to take over the post for one month, he stayed on to coach the team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona where the Netherlands won a bronze medal in the Lechner event. Following the Barcelona Games, he became High Performance Director for the KNWV, eventually leading the Dutch sailing team to its best Olympic medal tally since the 1936 Games, winning silver in the Europe and bronze in the Finn at Savannah in 1996. It was in Savannah that he met the then ISAF Secretary General, Arve Sundheim.

A couple of days after taking over his new position as Secretary General, Jerome Pels took the opportunity to address some of the key issues facing ISAF at the start of 2008. Amongst the areas he addressed were sailing at the Olympic Games, challenges ISAF faces and his key goals as he takes on his new role.

Interview at www.sailing.org

2008 ORC INTERNATIONAL RULE VPP
Milan, Italy: The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of its new Velocity Prediction Program (VPP), the computational core the new ORC International and ORC Club rating systems. This Designer's Version of the rule can be downloaded directly from the ORC website, and will enable sailors and designers to process data through the VPP to analyze the effects of design changes to ratings.

Already 50 designers representing 18 countries from around the world have taken advantage of the opportunity to download, test, and comment on the beta version of the Windows-based software. Orders have come from Argentina, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.

The ORC VPP Designer's version uses the same software used by Rating officers to issue certificates, but also gives a complete set of hydro and aerodynamic data, as defined by the ORC rules but also as conventionally calculated. It is accompanied by an IMS management agent that can perform the following operations: read the IMS measurements of yachts in their usual OFF and DAT formats, calculate the hydrostatic and measurement data, predict their speeds in seven wind speeds by 14 sailing conditions, and produce selected handicaps for calculating race results.

A screen shots preview and subscription information is available on the ORC website at www.orc.org

NAVIMO UK BECOMES AN RNLI AMBASSADOR
Navimo UK is the first supplier of marine safety equipment to support the Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity as part of the RNLI's Ambassador Scheme.

The RNLI's Ambassador Scheme was set-up to develop strategic partnerships with the marine industry; with the objective of promoting the 24-hour marine search and rescue charity's Offshore membership for recreational sea users.

As an RNLI Ambassador Navimo UK will be offering a year's complimentary RNLI membership to everyone who buys a Plastimo liferaft from a Navimo supplier. In addition, Navimo will also be offering a reduction in Plastimo liferaft service and maintenance costs, providing the liferaft owner remains an RNLI member for three years or more.

The RNLI's membership is designed for recreational sea users, from kayakers, windsurfers and jet skiers to sailors, power and motor boaters. It provides a range of benefits, including: a CD-ROM containing interactive educational programmes on safety at sea, the opportunity for an RNLI SEA Check, the RYA's Diesel Engine Maintenance DVD and complimentary copies of the RNLI's Offshore and Lifeboat magazines. During 2008 the RNLI will be rolling out a series of additional member benefits from Navimo.

The RNLI charity is reliant upon the public for its income. Every donation or legacy, whether large or small, is priceless to the lifesaving charity. Running costs in 2006 were around 122M GBP and, as a registered charity, the organisation continues to rely on voluntary contributions and legacies for income, and receives no UK Government funding.

www.rnli.org.uk

RATIFIED!
The WSSR Council announces the ratification of a new World Record:

Record: Outright Singlehanded 24 Hour World Record
Yacht: "Sodebo" 105 ft Trimaran
Name: Thomas Coville FRA
Dates: 5th to 6th January 2008
Start position: 49 degrees 05.73'S; 23 degrees 05.35'E on 5/01/08
Finish position: 48 degrees 50.52'S; 38 degrees 50.19'E on 6/01/08
Distance sailed: 619.3nm
Average speed: 25.8 knots

Comments: Previous record: 2006 "Brossard"60ft Tri, Yvan Bourgnon, SUI, 610.45nm, 25.76kts

John Reed
Secretary to the WSSR Council

FEATURED BROKERAGE
Mag France, 686,000, Lying England

She is the perfect boat for single handed or short handed record attempt and ocean passage

Brokerage through YachtsAndCruisers.com: www.yachtsandcruisers.com

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

THE LAST WORD
Once you get the right image the details aren't that important. -- Abbie Hoffman

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.

Scuttlebutt Europe is available via email:
To subscribe visit scuttlebutteurope.com

Editorial and letter submissions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/content/view/7/6/