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

MORE SEMANTIC DANCING
Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), the 33rd America's Cup defending yacht club, submitted further evidence to the New York Supreme Court today in support of a court order declaring the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) challenge invalid.

This submission, which Justice Cahn invited on the 23 January, demonstrates through expert testimony that a "keel yacht" cannot be categorised as a multi-hull, as implied in the ambiguous and contradictory GGYC challenge certificate.

The challenge certificate is a critical document required under the Deed of Gift that provides the Defender with an accurate description of the challenging vessel, while allowing at least 10 months to design and build the defending yacht.

In its certificate, the GGYC describes its challenging vessel as a "keel yacht", a term used in the sailing world to distinguish from multi-hulls, however the GGYC are saying that they propose to challenge in a multi-hull. Under the Deed of Gift, GGYC must race in the vessel described in its certificate. Any ambiguity or confusion means non-compliance with the Deed of Gift and therefore renders the certificate and challenge invalid.

"The level of scrutiny being applied to the GGYC certificate must be equal to the level applied to the requirements of a yacht club to become Challenger of Record as per the Deed of Gift," says Lucien Masmejan, lead counsel for SNG. He adds: "It was the GGYC's decision to bring and to keep this matter in court thus obliging the SNG, as trustee, to defend the integrity of the America's Cup through all available means."

Looking ahead to the 33rd America's Cup, SNG and Alinghi maintain their long standing goal of holding a multi-challenge event in 2011 in Valencia along with the 12 other entered challengers who subscribe to the rules and regulations presented in November 2007. End

For expert opinions and excerpts from SNG attorney, Barry Ostrager's Affirmation, see www.alinghi.com/multimedia/docs/2008/01/

For the full submission and affidavits from Nigel Irens, designer and fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and Goran Marstrom, founder of Marstrom, the company that builds the ISAF Tornado Class catamaran, Nicolas Grange, president of the Swiss Multi-hull Association and Jochen Schuemann, three-time Olympic Gold medalist and twice America's Cup winner:

www.alinghi.com/multimedia/docs/2008/01/monday_28_january_court_submission.pdf

www.alinghi.com/multimedia/docs/2008/01/monday_28_january_court_affidavits.pdf

* One of Sailing Anarchy's contributors is a lawyer who goes by the moniker Mr. Clean. He was present at Bertarelli's Key West press meeting, a portion of that meeting was videotaped, this portion was not and is a summary of Clean's questioning of Bertarelli.

Clean: "As a lawyer who has been involved in numerous disputes, I know that the first thing that parties to litigation usually try to do is to sit down in a room with an impartial mediator and try to hash things out. GGYC repeatedly requested mediation and submitted a list of mediators, yet you ignored them. Why?"

Ernesto: We had many discussions with them. Brad and Russell talked many times, and I spoke on the phone with Larry Ellison. We sent documents back and forth. We invited them to discussions on the AC90...

Clean: Okay, but none of that is mediation. Why did you ignore all requests for formal mediation, even nonbinding mediation?

Ernesto: Did you listen to my answer? You are clearly not listening to what I am saying.

Clean: You didn't actually answer my question

Ernesto: I will not answer if you do not listen

Clean: You first moved for summary judgment back in what, September? You saw GGYC's challenge in July. Why did your lawyers never raise this important "keel yacht" issue at any time until a few weeks ago?

Ernesto: The issue was the validity of the CNEV, not GGYC's challenge.

Clean: No, that's not true. GGYC's motion, which I've read, asked the judge to declare GGYC as the valid challenger. Your lawyers didn't raise any issue about the wording of the challenge, even though it was on the table.

Ernesto: Well, one thing at a time.

The video and more of that exchange at sailinganarchy.com

* The expert opinions offered by SNG / Alinghi:

Nigel Irens, fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and designer of the trimaran pictured in the GGYC's 'Petrocelli Affirmation', explains that: "contrary to Ms Petrocelli's contention, this vessel does not have any keels and, in any event, is not fairly categorised as a "keel yacht"." He adds: "In my 50 years of sailing experience, I have never once heard a multi-hull referred to as either a "keel yacht" or a "keelboat".

Jochen Schuemann, three-time Olympic Gold medalist and twice America's Cup winner testifies that: "that a multi-hull is not properly classified as a keel yacht, and that, indeed, a "multi-hull" is essentially the opposite of a "keelboat".

Goran Marstrom, founder of Marstrom, the company that builds the ISAF Tornado Class Catamaran, refutes Ms Petrocelli's suggestion that the Tornado is a keel yacht, stating unequivocally that: "We, at Marstrom, would not consider a Tornado Class catamaran a "keel yacht" or a "keelboat". It is categorised under ISAF rules as a multi-hull, not a "keel yacht".

Nicolas Grange, president of the Swiss Multi-hull Association, explains that the specification of only a single "beam at waterline" in GGYC's certificate is customary for a keel yacht. For a multi-hull vessel, by contrast, the beam measurement (i.e., breadth) is customarily stated separately for each hull, as well as for the ship as a whole; and a trimaran would be specified differently than a catamaran. He declares: "GGYC's specification of a single dimension for the entire vessel reinforces its description of the boat as having a single hull. However, the dimensions in the certificate (90x90feet) are strongly suggestive of a multi-hull, which creates inherent ambiguity and/or self-contradiction."

* Editor: The best analysis of the legalisms involved in this brawl are on our sister publication's website, by US lawyer Cory Friedman: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/

Another long article for those who enjoy getting deep in the weeds is by Richard Gladwell in Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=41319

FULL SEASON FOR J CLASS YACHTS
There has been considerable progress on the construction of the new J Class Yacht "Lionheart" due to complete in 2009. New pictures of the hull are now posted on the J Class website together with a full progress report. The new Endeavour II is also progressing towards completion later this year. The yachts "Velsheda" and "Ranger" are both lining up for a great season of racing, starting with the Antigua Classic Regatta, 17-22 April, and onwards to the Rolex Maxi regatta, Sardinia, September and Voiles de St Tropez, October.

www.jclassyachts.com

STARS AT MIAMI
With 70 boats registered, the Star class is split into two fleets for the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta (Rolex MOCR). Both fleets are stacked deeply with talent. Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams (NZL) caught the first right shift of the day and led the 35-boat blue fleet around the entire first race of the MOCR. Biscayne Bay dealt the 2006 World Champion and his crew a shifty northerly 7-8 knot breeze, a cloudless sky and flat water. Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria (SUI) had a firm lock on second throughout the race.

Marazzi/de Maria popped out in the lead in the second race and finished the day with a rock solid 2/1. Melleby/Pedersen defended their second place position against Pepper/Williams, who settled for third place in the second race. The first day was especially encouraging for Marazzi/deMaria and Melleby/Pedersen because Switzerland and Norway have not yet qualified for the qualified for the Olympics.

The yellow Star fleet started racing later in the day in the same shifty conditions. Many of the top boats in both fleets found themselves heading out to either layline during the top quarter of the beat and hoping for a favorable shift.

Xavier Rohart and Philippe Rambeau (FRA) had the most convincing victory of the day in their final race. They rounded the first weather mark two boat lengths ahead of Carl and Jim Buchan, but looked as if the hooked a ride on the TGV and extended their lead to over one minute and fifteen seconds he next time around the top mark. They were hooked up to the French Federation's new RIB by the time Hans Spitzhauer and Christian Nehammer (AUT) and Peter Bromby and Lee White (BER) crossed the finish line in second and third. It was difficult to make big gains and easy to suffer big losses in today's conditions. The Buchans ended up eleventh in the final race.

Consistency at the top of the blue fleet put Marazzi/de Maria and Pepper/Williams at the top of the combined preliminary score sheet for the day. Merriman/Sharp and Bromby/Williams, the top North Americans, are in third and fourth. -- Lynn Fitzpatrick

Top three results for all classes:

Laser, 24 boats -- 2 races
1. Maciej Grabowski, POL, 3
2. Kyle Rogachenko, USA, 5
3. Charlie Buckingham, USA, 10

Laser Radial, 39 boats -- 2 races
1. Anna Tunnicliffe, USA, 4
2. Paige Railey, USA, 5
3. Penny Clark, GBR, 8

Star, 70 boats - 2 races
1. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria, ITA, 3
2. Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams, NZL, 4
3. Elvind Melleby/Petter Morland Pedersen, NOR, 8

Yngling, 28 boats -- 2 races
1. Song Xia Qun/ Li Xiao Ni/Yu Yan Li, CHN, 10
2. Sarah Ayton/Sarah Webb/Pippa Wilson, GBR, 12
3. Sally Barkow/Debbie Capozzi, Carrie Howe, USA, 13

2.4mR, 25 boats -- 3 races
1. Damien Seguin, FRA, 7
2.,Stellan Berlin, SWE, 11
3. Carl Horrocks, USA, 11

SKUD-18, 10 boats -- 2 races
1. Nick Scandone/Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, USA, 2
2. John McRoberts/Stacie Louttit, CAN, 5
3. Scott Whitman/Julia Dorsett, Brick, N.J./Boca Raton, Fla., USA, 8

Sonar, 11 boats -- 2 races
1. Colin Harrison/ Russell Boaden/Graeme Martin, AUS, 4
2. Jens Kroker/Tobias Schuetz/Siegmund Mainka, GER, 4
3. Bruno Jourden/Herve Larhant/Nicolas Vimont Vicary, FRA, 6

www.rolexmiamiocr.org

AINSLIE TAKES THE LEAD, ONE RACE TO GO...
For the first time since the start of the Finn Gold Cup, the lead has changed hands.

After an intense race Ben Ainslie passed Dan Slater on the line to get ahead by one point before tomorrow's medal race. With Pieter Jan Postma climbing to 3rd and Jonas Hoegh-Christensen in 4th position after a 9th in today's race, the top 4 contenders are within 10 points going into tomorrow's Medal race. It will be a four man battle for the title.

Today's race was scheduled at 2.3O PM but Race 8 started 2 hours later. After a general recall, the course was postponed to wait for the wind to settle. One hour later, the racing committee decided to move the course further out to catch the breeze. The wind started to fill in and provided a nice race with the wind increasing up to 15 knots.

Sweden Daniel Birgmark sailed smartly to lead the fleet to the top mark. He stayed in control from start to finish and claimed the race. Ranked 7th in the World, Birgmark has known better days. "It was definitely worth the wait. It is good to finally sail well."

Guillaume Florent from France and Tim Goodbody(IRL) took second and 3rd place. Ben Ainslie, tenth at the top mark, gradually gained places. Turning 5th onto the run, under Oscar flag allowing for free pumping, Ainslie stayed close behind Slater waiting for a good opportunity. A few meters from the finish, Ainslie gybed to take a wave that propelled him ahead of Slater. 31st at the top mark, Pieter-Jan Postma made a huge recovery passing 25 boats to finish 6th in the race.

"It doesn't really matters who from Ben or I passed the other today" explained Dan Slater after racing, "tomorrow's medal race counting double is minimising the one point gap between us." This will not be the first time that the two sailors will be competing for the same title. "This is bringing some old memories of times when Ben and I where racing against each other in the Laser." The New Zealander acknowledges that tomorrow's will be a 4 men battle.

The medal race is scheduled to start directly after the final race for competitors placed higher than 11th. -- Corinne McKenzie

www.sailmelbourne.com.au

* I'm going to bed tonight hoping and praying that King Ben of the Finnasaurusus has the medal race of his life to win his 5th Gold Cup. It would be just an astounding effort by the greatest dinghy sailor on planet earth but I guess as with all these things, it comes down to a little bit of luck, a lot of consistency, a cool head and that little extra 10% that separates the likes of Ben from the rest of us (actually, in my case more like 85%). -- Magnus Wheatley in his blog: www.rule69blog.com

MARINA PREKO - THE NEW DESTINATION IN THE DALMATIAN ISLANDS, CROATIA
Right in the middle of the stunningly beautiful Dalmatian Coast, the new Marina Preko will be opening in March to provide the delights of an island, with quick and easy access to other anchorages in sheltered waters.

Marina Preko will offer secure berthing for 87 vessels up to 20m LOA and a small number of exclusive transient berths for superyachts up to 60m LOA. It is surrounded by modern facilities, in an attractive small town on the north-east facing coast of the island of Ugljan. Many additional facilities are provided within the cost of the mooring fees, including laundry facilities, Wi-fi access, water, electricity and refuse disposal.

More details can be found on the website:
www.marinapreko.com

FLYING THE IMPERIAL POONA BURGEE....
Reigning champion Andy Green secured the right to defend his title at the Series final in March as he swept to victory at the RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series 4 at Queen Mary Sailing Club this weekend (26-27 January).

A beautiful warm January weekend welcomed the teams from Britain, Poland, Finland, France and Turkey with perfect match race conditions.

The round robin was a keenly fought affair and ended with a three-way between Alistair Hall (GBR), Marek Stanczyk (POL) and Green (GBR), each with six wins and two losses apiece. Alexis Littoz-Baritel (FRA) was fourth in the round robin with five wins and three losses.

Hall and Littoz-Baritel had each won a race in their semi-final leaving a third match to decide who was to go into the next round, which the Frenchman won.

It was looking as if the other semi -final was going to need a third match as well. Green had won the first match but was trailing going down the last leg of the second. However, at the last minute he managed to get an overlap and rolled over the top of World number 29 Stanczyk to win.

In the final against Littoz-Baritel, Green won the first match before in the second he masterfully pushed Littoz-Baritel the wrong side of the committee boat at the start. With the Frenchman already a penalty down as well, it was game over and Green sailing with Mark Bulkeley, Sam Richmond and Connor Myant took the victory.

RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series 4 Results (Grade 3):
1. Andy Green (GBR), Mark Bulkeley, Sam Richmond, Connor Myant
2. Alexis Littoz-Baritel, Mathieu Moreaux, Antoine Carrae, Benjamin Tristan
3. Marek Stanczyk (POL), Dominik Niskiewicz, Rafal Sauicki, Zsignieu Gutkouski
4. Alistair Hall (GBR), Mark Lees, David Royse, Pete Davidson
5. Jon Eriksson (FIN) Jan Mattsson, Fenneth Nysten, Peter Anton
6. Andy Cornah (GBR), Sam Littlejohn, Jamie Marston, Charlie Wylie
7. Robert Inman (FIN), Pasi Petteri Palmu, Anders Jakas, Arthur Hallberg
8. Okun Soyer (TUR), Onursal Soyer, Cagatay Soyer, Ismail Inan
9. Robbie Allam (GBR), Jeremy Fowke, Adam Richards, Tom Odell

2007-08 RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series Dates:
Winter Challenge 5 (Grade 2) 8 - 10 February
Women's Winter Challenge (Grade 2) 22 - 24 February
Winter Challenge Final (Grade 2) 7 - 9 March 2008

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE'S LINE HONOURS IN 60TH BUNBURY RACE
Perth, Western Australia: Garth Curran's ageing Ingliss designed Walk on the Wild Side took line honours in the 60th Bunbury and return race, crossing the finishing line off Fremantle just after 5:00 am on Monday morning.

The grey hulled 60 footer had rounded the turning mark off Bunbury harbour at 10:50 pm on Sunday night, then popped up her spinnaker for a fast ride home, making the most of a fresh southerly breeze which at times was in the 25 to 30 knot range.

Second home, some two hours behind Curran's team was Ausmaid, the former Sydney, Hobart winner, now owned by Rockingham's Trevor Taylor, with Ross Swanson's Syrenka another hour and a half later.

Steve Ward, of Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club's race committee, said that he thought the handicap results would show it to have been a big boat race, with the forty five to sixty footers using their waterline length to establish a good lead on the beat down the Western Australian coast to the turning mark.

Graham Bishop, whose Crews Control has been having a good season, agreed with this assessment, "it was a hard slog getting to Bunbury, it wasn't bad, it was just on the nose," was his assessment of the situation.

His C&C 34 is one of the smallest boats in Division 1, but he enjoyed the ride home, "we had a magnificent sail back," he said, "it was champagne sailing, you couldn't wish for anything nicer."

Indeed it was a hard slog for the smallest boats, with Hamish Maddern's Olfrygt the last to turn for home, at 9.30 am on Monday, some four and a half hours after Walk on the Wild Side had finished. -- John Roberson

Line honours:

1. Walk on the Wild Side, Garth Curran, South of Perth Y.C.
2. Ausmaid, Trevor Taylor, Cruising Y.C of W.A.
3. Syrenka, Ross Swanson, South of Perth Y.C.
4. Finistere, Robert Thomas, Fremantle S.C.
5. Wild One, Tony Mitchell, South of Perth Y.C.

FEDOR KONYUKHOV SETS OUT ON ANTARCTICA CUP RACETRACK RECORD BID
One of the 9lb muzzle loader guns landed in 1893 to shore up Albany's defences against a perceived Russian invasion, finally had a Russian in its sights today when Fedor Konyukhov set out from this historic West Australian port to set a solo sailing record around Antarctica.

The 56 year old adventurer who sailed his Open 85ft monohull 'Trading Network Alye Parusa' half way round the world from Falmouth UK to take on yachting's last great frontier, crossed the line at 10hrs 21 minutes 40secs W.Australia Summer Time, to the signal from the gun and a cacophony of car horns and cheers from crowds lining the foreshore.

Conditions could not have been better with bright, warm sunshine and flat seas -- a far cry from what Konyukhov can expect once he is down within the 'Roaring Forty', 'Furious Fifty' and 'Screaming Sixty' latitudes that mark the the Antarctica Cup Racetrack.

Among the well wishers here to see Fedor off was Jon Sanders, the only other solo sailor to have ever circumnavigated around Antarctica before in southern latitudes. He completed the 14,000 mile circuit aboard the S&S 34, monohull 'Perie Banou' on the first stage of a remarkable double global circumnavigation back in 1981/2. His first circuit around the icy southern continent during which he suffered two horrific knockdowns, took Sanders almost three times Fedor's expected time of 60-65 days.

The Russian will be hampered for the next three days by very light southerly winds -- exactly the direction he needs to enter the Antarctica Cup Racetrack.

www.antarcticacup.com

FEATURED BROKERAGE
GP 42 Roma, 500,000 EUR, Lying Rome, Italy

In August of 2005 the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) introduced the GP42 Level Class. Farr Yacht Design played a key role in the development of the rule, providing comments and guidance from the preliminary proposal stage through to the issuance of interpretations to better define the rule after it was officially issued. Latini Marine immediately came to Farr Yacht Design to commission the first of this very promising and exciting class. Farr Yacht Design has had unparalleled success designing box rule boats and applied that knowledge and experience to the GP 42. Exceptional light wind performance will be a hallmark of these designs.

Brokerage through Farr Yacht Sales: www.farryachtsales.com

Complete listing details at www.farrdesign.com/brokerage/605_Roma.htm

THE LAST WORD
During the great storms of our lives we imitate those captains who jettison their weightiest cargo. -- Honore de Balzac

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/