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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1563 - 16 JULY

Brought to you by Boats.com Europe ( http://www.boats.com ) and Yachtworld.com Europe ( http://www.yachtworld.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 editor@scuttlebutteurope.com

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC IN LESS THAN SIX DAYS In a pea-souper fog, Thomas Coville and his 32 m maxi trimaran Sodeb'O crossed the finish line this morning at 09 hours 17 minutes and 40 seconds. With a time of 5 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds, a time which is yet to be approved by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC), Thomas Coville and Sodeb'O are the new holders of the solo North Atlantic crossing record.

The previous record, held by Francis Joyon since 2005, was 6 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 37 seconds.

Coville was joined by 4 crew members and his wife aboard Sodeb'O after crossing the finish line and he is now in Brest, France, where a press conference is scheduled for Wednesday.

http://www.sodebo-voile.com

BREST 2008: THE MERGING OF CENTURIES The ocean currents have swept right across the event with the arrival of Thomas Coville and his brand new Atlantic record, and the departure of the beautiful training ship from Rio de Janeiro bound for Liverpool. From Adriatic waters, Croatia has been the country in the spotlight today and its village was officially opened this morning by the President of this young republic, which has been warmly welcomed to Brest 2008.

The oldest boat of the fleet at Brest 2008 is the 1868 Anna Rogde, a Norwegian schooner from Harstad and with the arrival of the 32 metre maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O, launched in Sydney, Australia in June 2006, comes a merging of centuries. The town of Brest and event organizers Pen Duick have introduced a brand new element to these maritime celebrations by inviting sailboats from modern day ocean racing to join the fleet of traditional boats. They are all here, Imoca 60 footers, Figaros, 50 footers, and Maxis. Thomas Coville and his 32 m maxi trimaran Sodeb'O had promised to attend Brest 2008 and now it's a done deal with the added bonus of pocketing an Atlantic record en route.

Pierre Bojic, General Manager of Pen Duick, is here of course to welcome home the hero of the day: "The arrival of Thomas today is particularly moving, because it reminds me of 14th July 1981. It was Marc Pajot who arrived in Brest after having beaten this famous "Atlantic record" in 9 days 10 hours 6 minutes and 34 seconds, and he arrived in Brest on the day of the French national holiday, which I thought was quite symbolic! After the triumphant arrival of Francis Joyon on January 20th from his fantastic solo round the world record and now Thomas Coville's arrival today, in the heart of the Maritime Festival, a new era of ocean racing is opening in Brest, thanks to these fabulous, oceangoing giant multihulls. We'll see them here again for the Brest Ultime Challenge in December 2011."

http://www.brest2008.fr

FRESH BREEZE AND BUMPY SEAS AT ACCBANK CORK WEEK Day two at ACC Bank Cork Week dawned with a solid south-westerly breeze gusting to more than 20 knots at times for the 410 entries gathered at Crosshaven. Boat-handling skills were tested across the variety of courses though the fleet did not escape without gear failure and ripped sailcloth.

The Super Zero and Zero classes were at full pelt, blast-reaching on the trapezoid course in stark contrast to the more leisurely, light airs conditions of Monday's Harbour Race to Cobh. Day Two's racing saw Dan Myers' Numbers emerge as the new class stalking-horse with two wins that brings him into second overall in the Super Zeroes, now within three points of Niklas Zennstrom's RAN.

RAN's navigator, America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Steve Hayles, commented: "We knew it would be a tough day for us, the bigger boats have more stability upwind and that's a big advantage in the upper wind range," he said. "The TP52s tend to slow each other down fighting for supremacy whilst the bigger boats don't get involved."

On the opposite end of the sailing spectrum, the innovative slalom course specially designed for this event made for spectacular racing as the combined fleet of 1720 Sportsboat, IRC class 3, Sigma 38-footers and X332 divisions all enjoyed plenty of fast reaching conditions.

Nicholas O'Leary, skipper of the leading 1720 Wet n'ready, commented: "We are really pleased to be leading the class but more so to see my brother Robert behind me so he doesn't have any bragging rights during the week." Nevertheless, 16-year old Robert placed third and fourth in the 13-boat class yesterday and lies third overall.

Full results at: http://www.accbankcorkweek.ie

AFTER THE CHANNEL AND THE ATLANTIC, THEY HEAD FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN >From the Channel to the Atlantic Ocean, the twenty-seven competitors of the Tour de France Sailing Race have already sailed two thirds of their trip. They arrived in Saint-Cyprien yesterday, and they are now getting ready for the last part of the race: the Mediterranean Sea. Courrier Dunkerque (Daniel Souben) ranks first after two weeks of race with ups and downs, due to bad weather conditions. There is still a week left, and the Mediterranean Sea is most certainly going to change many things. Three M 30s already had the red Honda Civic Hybrid spinnaker of the leader in the overall ranking, many more will try and get it! ToulonProvence Mediterranee - COYCHyeres (Fabien Henry) was the first one: the defender was leader in Dunkerque. But Nouvelle-Caledonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret) took the lead in Dieppe and kept it until Granville - Pays Granvillais. Courrier Dunkerque (Daniel Souben) has been leading the race since Lorient. Unfortunately, as the wind blew too strong in Normandy, the boats remained stuck in Granville for a few days. They couldn't sail two offshore legs: 105 nautical miles to Perros-Guirec Cotes d'Armor, and 180 miles to Lorient. Instead of that, they travelled on the roads through Brittany! The race committee has decided to intensify the program of the races in the Mediterranean Sea.

Tomorrow, the sailors will start the races at noon in front of Saint-Cyprien. -- Anatole Lucet

The rankings: Honda Civic Hybrid overall ranking Courrier Dunkerque (Daniel Souben) Nouvelle-Caledonie (Vincent Portugal / Ronan Dreano / Bernard Mallaret) Elcimai - Ville de Marseille (Dimitri Deruelle) Bouygues Telecom amateur ranking Saint-Malo Purflo Team SNBSM (François Lebourdais) Val Thorens (Lucas Millieret / Alexis Littoz) Ville du Port - Region Reunion (Gabriel Jean-Albert) Malongo student ranking CSC - HEC - Ecole Navale (Herve Gautier) INSA - Sopra Group (Simon Troel) Brest Grandes Ecoles ENSIETA ESC (Loic Le Garrec)

http://www.tourvoile.fr

MISTRAL BY DUBARRY: SAILING-PROOF TROUSERS No environment presents as big a challenge to technical trousers as that of a sailing boat. So Dubarry designed Mistral trousers to survive seasons of sailing in style. They're built from quick-drying, SPF 40 UV-resistant fabric with articulated knees for easy movement. Hard-wearing areas are reinforced with tough, high-twist fabric and there are practical features like a flip-up multitool pouch so it doesn't dig into your leg on the rail, splashproof zipped pocket and tough button fly that won't let you down. The results look good, and last longer.

Dubarry's Mistral Trousers: Same Rules. New Collection.

http://www.dubarry.com

GREAT BRITAIN LEADS NATIONAL STANDINGS AT HALFWAY STAGE Arhus, Denmark: Great Britain is leading a close four-country battle for the Volvo Trophy, awarded to the best-performing nation at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship. The young British sailors can enjoy the lay day in Arhus, Denmark today, after a highly successful start to the championship which puts them 17 points clear at the top of the Volvo Trophy standings. New Zealand follow the Brits in second place, whilst the defending champion Australia lie third, just ahead of the host nation Denmark. France, nine-time winners of the Volvo Trophy, complete the top five, but has a lot of ground to make up with a 45-point gap separating them from the British team.

The national battle at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship is as fiercely fought as any of the seven individual titles and more than any other event exemplifies the unique spirit of the championship. The standings are calculated based on a nation's top four crews after each race is completed across all the fleets, meaning a sailor out of medal contention can still have a massive impact on their team's performance with a strong finish.

The British success so far has been spearheaded by the two 29er teams who both hold the overall lead, but mixed performances from them in races seven and eight (which the other fleets are yet to complete) could see the standings tighten by the end of tomorrow. Following the lay day, there's also a new factor added into the equation: pressure. With just three days of racing remaining, the finishing line is drawing closer and any mistakes begin to prove more and more costly.

Amongst the five leading teams, only Denmark has never won the Volvo Trophy before. Great Britain's two wins came back in 1995 and 1996 with the team of 'ferrets' coached by Jim Saltonstall, many of whom went on to win medals at the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games. New Zealand has also won the trophy twice before (1992 and 1994), whilst Australia have won three times (in 1993 and 2003 as well as last year).

Following the lay day, racing resumes in Arhus tomorrow at 12:00 local time with three races scheduled for all seven events. Two races (three for the 29er fleets) are scheduled for each event on Thursday. On Friday, the final day of the Championship, just one race will be held in each event to decide the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Champions and the winners of the Volvo Trophy.

Volvo Trophy Standings (after six races)

1. Great Britain - 187 points 2. New Zealand - 170 points 3. Australia - 163 points 4. Denmark - 160 points 5. France - 142 points 6. Brazil - 117 points 7. Cyprus - 112 points 8. USA - 100 points 9. Italy - 97 points 10. Greece - 92 points

http://www.sailing.org/youthworlds

119TH TRAVEMUENDE WEEK AND 4TH BALTIC SPRINT CUP With a new record fleet of 61 offshore yachts at the start in 2008, the fourth edition of the Baltic Sprint Cup for blue-water crews will for the first time set off in Germany. The festive background of the kick-off to this two-week offshore race between five Baltic rim countries will be the 119th Travemuende Week. The first 216-nautical mile leg to Karlskrona, Sweden will be the highlight of the first race day of the ten-day regatta event in the port town which is part of Luebeck. The first starting gun will be fired on Saturday, 19 July at 3 p.m.

The wide range of yacht types that take part is split into a racing division that uses the IRC handicap system, and a cruising division (ORC Club). It comprises boats as different as Peter Pink's Hamburg-based Adios, and twelve-metre Zampano of Carsten Hohne from Delmenhorst, as well as Lithuanian Ambersail, who under her former name of Assa Abloy already withstood the most challenging ocean race around the world, and British Yeoman XXXII of David Aisher, Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, London.

German flags will mix with their counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland and even the USA and the British Virgin Islands and make this fourth edition of the Baltic Sprint Cup more international than ever before.

>From Swedish Karlskrona, the fleet will continue on a 190-mile leg to Klaipeda in Lithuania, where the 450 sailors will join in the celebrations of the port city's famous Sea Festival. The third leg, and the shortest of all with only 111 nautical miles, will lead the crews to Gdynia, Poland. Two short in-port races on 29 July will constitute yet another novelty in the Baltic Sprint Cup set up out on then Bay of Gdansk waters. These two races will count as an equivalent to the other legs. The final race of the 710 nautical miles overall (around 1,300 kilometres) will start a day after that to cover 171-nautical mile distance to the port of Ronne on the Danish island of Bornholm, where the overall winner will be honoured on 1 August.

The boss of the main sponsor DnB Nord Bank from Copenhagen will be racing on board his Luffe 40 Red 'n' Hot. From the smallest yacht Flying Circus (10.31 metres) of Wolfgang Uecker from Luebeck, Herlyn will be racing against a wide and varied range of yachts, including the winner of the 2005 edition, Emil Reiseschwein of Stefan Hummelt (Buxtehude). Also among the fleet: Norddeutsche Vermogen Hamburg of the Hamburgischer Vereins Seefahrt (HVS) led by skipper Jan Gallbach and the three all-female crews DHH Cross-Match (Sabine Juttner-Storp, Glucksburg), KPMG (Inken Braunschmidt, Dortmund) and TUI (Kirsten Harmstorf, Hamburg). -- Andreas Kling

http://www.travemuender-woche.de

ENTRIES IN FOR 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES SAILING COMPETITION Sailors from 62 nations will take to the world's greatest sporting stage this August as they battle on the Yellow Sea at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Sailing Competition.

Confirmation of national places has been received by the International Sailing Federation, along with provisional entry lists detailing the athletes who will compete across the eleven events of the Olympic Sailing Competition. Entries range from multiple medallists looking to expand their entry in Olympic sailing history to new faces aiming to demonstrate their talent on the world's greatest sporting stage. Amongst the 62 nations, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates enter athletes to the sailing events of the Olympic Games for the first time.

In total 400 athletes will compete at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao, including four of the gold medal winning teams from Athens, who return to defend their titles. The British Women's Keelboat team also features two of the three crew who won the gold medal in 2004, whilst a further three gold medallists from Athens will compete in different events to those in which they triumphed four years ago. All the competing athletes will face a new challenge in Qingdao with the introduction of the new Medal Race format for all 11 events. Following an initial opening series held over five days of racing, the top ten crews will progress to a final Medal Race where points scores are doubled and the 2008 Olympic Champions will be decided.

At the forefront of the challenge from the host nation will be Athens silver medallists Jian Yin in the Women's Windsurfer event. The young but highly talent Lijia Xu also starts amongst the favourites in the Women's One Person Dinghy event sailed in the Laser Radial.

Please note the entry list below is provisional. The final deadline for National Olympic Committees to summit entry forms is 23 July.

Full entry lists, including links to ISAF Sailor Biogs - including biographical information, results and World Rankings for each sailor - can be found on the ISAF Olympic Games microsite http://www.sailing.org/olympics

MARK RUDIGER'S BATTLE WITH CANCER Mark Rudiger, one of the world's greatest sailing navigators, has had some complications due to a relapse of cancer and is hospitalized at Kaiser Hospital in Roseville in Northern California. Rudiger was first stricken with lymphoma in 2004 but recovered to continue his career, including last year's Transpacific Yacht Race on Brack Duker's Holua, which finished second in Division 2, and this year's Vallarta race to Mexico, also on Holua. Rudiger's wife Lori offered a statement: "We are at a critical point here in California and need your support. Mark is in the hospital but hanging tough. He strongly believes in the power of positive energy. This is the time for it to help him through the next few days. He can fight this but we can help. Thanks for your support and for your good thoughts. Lori." Rudiger has navigated 14 Transpacs and two Volvo Ocean Races, the premier around-the-world race. On short notice, he guided Paul Cayard's EF Language to victory in 1997-98 and Assa Abloy to second place as co-skipper n 2001-02, and in 2005-06 he was called in again to work Legs 6 and 7 for a struggling Ericsson team. His resume also includes five Barn Door first-to-finish Transpacs, two Sydney-Hobart first-to-finish boats, and last year he was first to finish on the inaugural Daimler-Chrysler Transatlantic race. He also has sailed regularly on various ocean racers, including Sayonara, Pegasus and Genuine Risk. * From the editor of the original Scuttlebutt: Mark is one of the good guys in this sport, and clearly needs the support of the Scuttlebutt Community. Rather than the newsletter attempt to accommodate all your emails that this news will surely bring, please submit your sentiments to Mark on this Forum thread: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6073

8 METRE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CHOPARD Hanko, Norway: The famous racecourse at Hanko, Norway showed itself from the best side during the 2008 International 8 Metre World Championship Chopard last week. After five days of intense racing the Swiss yacht "Aluette" with helmsman Eckhard Kaller could raise the Coppa d'Italia and the World Cup trophies. Home favorite H.M. King Harald of Norway took a very popular victory in the "Sira Cup" with his classic "Sira".

With excellent sailing conditions the whole week and a flawless organizing of the races, class president Fred Meyer, Switzerland, said the championships in Norway had been the best 8 Metre Worlds for at least the ten last years. He might have taken into consideration the social events as well; H.M. King Harald holding receptions onboard the royal ship "NORGE", Norwegian yachtsmen inviting the foreign crew to dine at their summer houses, and of course the big price giving and closing party sponsored by the Swiss watch and jewelry company Chopard.

Five modern 8mRs were competing at Hanko, four of them were fighting within the first four places in every race.

The 18 other yachts at Hanko were classic, and competing for different trophies in different divisions. The most prestigious was definitely the "Sira Cup", established and donated by the late majesty King Olav of Norway when the 8 metre Worlds were held at Hanko in 1983, and named by his own, green 1938-built 8 metre. Three yachts stood out from the rest: "Sira" (now helmed by Olav's son, King Harald), the Finnish "Silja" (helmed by Henrik Thelen), and the French "Cutty-Tou" (helmed and owned by the Minos brothers). Sira had some really bad starts the entire week, its crew and helmsman being used to much lighter and faster yachts from the King's Fram campaign in the IMS and TP52 classes. But Sira sailed very well in all conditions, and kept Silja just behind most of the time. Cutty-Tou had to struggle with bad results from the first day, but showed later in the week that they could really challenge the Finns and the Norwegians. After an exciting series of races, with the classics some times challenging the modern yachts, Sira and her crew managed a three-point win over Silja, with Cutty- Tou six more points behind. Sira Cup has not been won by any Norwegian 8 metre before, and class president Fred Meyer said at the price giving ceremony: - Congratulations! The Sira Cup is back home after 25 years!

Meyer himself won the Neptue Trophy with his beautiful "Catina VI", being the best Vintage boat of the Championships, and Swedish Kjell Nilsson won the First Rule class with his 100 year old, gaff rigged 8 metre "Asagao".

The 2008 International 8 Metre World Championship Chopard is part of the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club's 125-years anniversary celebration. The other big event in this anniversary season is the European Championship for the Dragon Class in Oslo in August. -- Ivar Gilsa

http://www.kns.no/Engelsk/Race/8mR_World_Championship/

FIREBALL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Nieuwpoort, Belgium: Tom Jeffcoate and Dave Hynes (GBR) have won the 2008 Fireball European Championships.

56 Teams from 9 countries took part in a windy weeks sailing off the Belgium coast.

The final results saw 5 British boats joined in the top ten by teams from France, Czech Republic, Ireland and two from Belgium. First lady helm was Derian Scott in 10th just holding Eva Skorepova who finished 11th. The Belgian Association were great hosts, in particular putting on an excellent BBQ and live band before Wednesday's lay day which meant some people couldn't make the tour of the Bruges Brewery. Next years European Championships will be held in La Rochelle as part of a 2 week European and World Championships.

Final top ten: 1. Tom Jeffcoate / David Hynes, GBR, 11 points 2. Ludovic Alleaume / Etienne Perdo, FRA, 14 3. Manu Hens / Jan Peeters, BEL, 15 4. Wade David / Ben Migrane, GBR, 16 5. Philip Popple / Gavin Tillson, GBR, 27 6. Donald Smith / M Richardson, GBR, 29 7. Kenneth Rumball / David Moran, IRL, 30 8. Martin Kubovy / Milan Cap, CZE, 52 9. B Van Antwerpen / W Debacker, BEL, 55 10. Derian Scott / Andy Scott, GBR, 56

http://www.fireball-international.com/php/results.php?event=europeans&year 08

FEATURED BROKERAGE 1993 Boatspeed 80 'Brindabella, 675,000 AUS$, Located in Sydney, Australia.

Owned by two of Australia's most respected campaigners, ASM Brindabella, one of Australia's most famous racing yachts is now on the market. You could not wish for a better pedigree. Meticulously maintained and constantly upgraded, she has had over $200K spent on her this year. Her runner less four spreader swept carbon rig, asymmetrical spinnakers on a bow sprit and huge open cockpit make her an easily handled, competitive, blue water racing yacht.

Brokerage through Yoti: http://www.yachtworld.com/yoti/

Complete listing details and seller contact information at http://uk.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1938230

THE LAST WORD Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. -- E. L. Doctorow

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