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SCUTTLEBUTT EUROPE #1552 - 3 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

GBR RED FORCE THE PACE The Rolex Commodores' Cup took on a different complexion today both in terms of the racing and the weather. The offshore race set sail at 10.30 from the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, but rather than the welcome sunny 10-20 knot conditions of the past two days it was in three to five knots of southwesterly breeze under a grey sky. The start coincided with a building ebb tide to take the boats west out of the Solent.

Under the Rolex Commodores' Cup rules, the offshore race is aimed to be of 24-36 hours duration. The course for the three classes is mostly in Poole Bay and to the south of this, initially with 20 mile long legs out to marks in the English Channel. After this the boats must sail west and here there is variation between the courses the three classes take: the big boats sailing two legs, the first towards Portland Bill, the other to a mark off St Alban's Head (a total of 191 miles), Class 2 sailing two laps to St Alban's Head (a total of 173 miles) and the small boats in Class 3 sailing just once to St Alban's Head (a total of 137 miles). All classes finish at the North Head mark at the western entrance to the Solent.

Prior to the start former ABN AMRO One crewman and Volvo Ocean Race winner, Rob Greenhalgh, sailing on board Antony O'Leary's Antix Eile in Ireland White, gave his perspective of the offshore race: "It is going to be quite a long race - certainly 30 hours I think, 190 miles. And it could be quite light tonight. There are going to be some fairly chunky shifts early on which hopefully we can get on the right side of: southerly then southwest, as the front comes through." -- Trish Jenkins

Top Six Teams - Provisional Positions at the start of the Offshore Race:

Team / Points / Place GBR Red / 40 / 1 France Blue / 42 / 2 Ireland Green / 43.5 / 3 Hong Kong / 66 / 4 Ireland White / 67/5 Netherlands / 91 / 6

http://www.rorc.org/comcup/index.php

DANISH SKIPPER VAULTS INTO LEAD Marstrand, Sweden: Yesterday's sunny skies returned today on day two of Match Cup Sweden, but the wind did not. Nonetheless, race officials from the Royal Gothenburg YC (GKSS) valiantly shifted courses in the fiord to suit the morning easterly offshore breeze, then to the westerly sea breeze which never built above about 7 knots. In all, 7 flights were completed in the day's schedule.

The shifty breeze seemed to suit the Scandinavian teams most familiar with the DS37's used in the competition, as Dane Jes Gram-Hansen and his Trifork Racing Team won five of seven matches today to take the lead on a 7-3 record. With only one flight left in his eleven-match Round Robin, this guarantees him a place in the next stage of the competition, the Quarter Finals, to be sailed on Friday. Also going to the next stage on six wins each will be Swedes Magnus Holmberg and his Victory Challenge Team, as well as yesterday's leader Mattias Rahm and his Stena Bulk Racing Team.

Conversely, there will be some teams likely not going into the next round. Surprisingly, and a testament to the tough 12-team field at this fourth stage of the World Match Racing Tour, these include a prior Tour stage champion: Brazil Sailing Cup victor Paolo Cian (ITA) and his Team Shosholoza, who has remained winless in the event. Match Cup Germany winner Damien Iehl and his French Match Racing Team may also be in trouble, as they are on only three wins, but with three matches left to sail they still have a chance to get through by doing well tomorrow. Both can act as spoilers in the inevitable complex tie-break scenario that will determine the remaining positions in the Final Eight.

Round robin racing will be completed Thursday in day three of Match Cup Sweden, with four flights scheduled for the afternoon. More sunny skies, warm temperatures, and light winds are forecast, which should prompt even more spectators than today's estimated 30,000 to line the rocks for the show in Marstrand.

Results: 1. Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Trifork Racing Team 7 - 3 2. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge 6 - 4 3. Mattias Rahm (SWE), Stena Bulk Racing Team 6 - 4 4. Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team 5 - 2 5. Peter Gilmour (AUS), PST Team 5 - 3 6. Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Alandia Sailing Team 4 - 3 7. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team 4 - 4 8. Sebastian Col (FRA), French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge 4 - 4 9. Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar 3 - 4 10. Damien Iehl (FRA), French Match Racing Team 3 - 5 11. Ben Ainslie (GBR), Team Origin 3 - 7 12. Paolo Cian (ITA), Team Shosholoza 0 - 7

http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com

QUANTUM RACING WIN TWICE IN SARDINIA A pair of well won victories on the Gulf of Cagliari by Terry Hutchinson (USA) and the crew of the Quantum Racing not only earned the American boat the overall lead on the Audi MedCup Circuit 2008 today, but sees them just one point behind Mean Machine (MON) the leaders of this Audi Region of Sardinia Trophy regatta.

While Mean Machine posted a second and third from an interesting day's racing which, despite the slightly one sided courses, proved a good test of starting, upwind and downwind strategies, Quantum's two near identical starts and the ability to earn the lion's share of the favored right early in both races, was the key to their twin successes today.

Quantum showed good speed throughout the day over both races which were sailed in 11-15 knots of what is proving a consistently reliable sea-breeze, reliable to the point that some crews might be really looking forward to new challenges of tomorrow's coastal race, and to Friday when a change in the wind direction and conditions is forecast.

For Hutchinson, tactician Morgan Larson (USA) and crew three wins from five starts is a welcome reward for the hard work they have been putting in since Marseille last month. The team on the green and black hulled Botin & Carkeek design have been addressing their perceived weaknesses. In particular today their starting was pin sharp in terms of time on distance and speed off the line, but their positioning, such that they did not risk being compromised at the busy committee boat end, was equally surefooted.

As is their policy this season, Quantum Racing were the first boat out on the Gulf here, training since last Thursday.

Results after five races:

1. Mean Machine MON, 11 points 2. Quantum Racing USA, 12 3. Bribon ESP, 29 4. Artemis SWE, 30 5. Mutua Madrilena, 32 6. Matador ARG, 32 7. El Desafio ESP, 33 8. Platoon by Team Germany GER, 37 9. Caixa Galicia ESP, 42 10. Audi powered by Q8 ITA, 43

http://www.medcup.org

EXCITING LAUNCH FOR SEA RIBS UK Sea RIBs are now available in the UK through Mainsail Ltd, exclusive distributor for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

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ISAF WORLD SAILING RANKINGS Australia reclaims the lead in the national standings and Japan gain the Women's 470 world #1 spot in the final release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings before the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Beijing beckons with the Games of the XXIX Olympiad just over a month away and it's the Australians who are leading the charge to Qingdao and the Yellow Sea, where the 2008 Olympic Competition will take place. In the ISAF World Sailing Rankings released on 2 July, the final World Ranking release before the Olympic Games, Australia reclaims the lead of the national standings from Spain with crews occupying three world #1 spots and one #3 spot across the 11 Olympic events. Spain, Poland and Great Britain also count four crews in top-three positions and ahead of the Games in China there is a timely boost for the Asian sailing nations.

Looking in more detail at the 2004 Olympic Champions, seven of the 11 gold medals, went to nations who had a sailor in the world #1 spot. Amongst the 11 gold medal winning crews, four held the world #1 spot going into the Games, and equally, only four of the 11 world #1 Ranked crews missed out on a medal in Athens (interestingly, all four of these crews will be competing in the same events in Beijing).

World Ranking Leaders - 2 July 2008

Heavyweight Dinghy - Finn - Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial - Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser - Tom Slingsby (AUS) Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470 - Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (AUS) Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470 - Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata (JPN) Skiff - 49er - Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez (ESP) Men's Keelboat - Star - Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (POL) Women's Keelboat - Yngling - Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson (GBR) Multihull - Tornado - Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (AUS) Men's Windsurfer - RS:X - Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) Women's Windsurfer - RS:X - Marina Alabau (ESP)

The next release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings will next be on 3 September 2008, including results from the ISAF Grade W Olympic Sailing Competition.

Complete rankings at http://www.sailing.org/rankings

TWO MORE JOIN TELEFONICA VOR TEAM Javier de la Plaza (Santander, Spain 22/10/1973) is another Spaniard who debuts with the Telefonica team. Javier will be trimming on one of the team entries in this Volvo Ocean Race. His CV boasts Olympic achievements; Silver and Bronze in two European 49er Championships and a fourth place at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, also in the 49er class. Javier was also World Champion in the 49er class in 2000, a title that he also holds in the J80 class. In the TP52 class sailing in the MedCup Circuit, Javier has been one of the ìCxG Caixagaliciaî permanent team members, reaching second place in the circuit with the team in the 2007 season.

Jonathan Swain (Durban, South Africa, 28/01/1967) will be one of the watch captains in the Telefonica team. Relaxed, but intense, this 41 year-old South African with a great spirit of competition will be setting off on what will be his fourth Volvo Ocean Race. It will also be the second consecutive edition with the Spanish team, having sailed with Bouwe Bekking in 2005-2006.

The Telefonica team: 1. Bouwe Bekking 2. Iker Martínez 3. Fernando Echavarri 4. Jordi Calafat 5. Xabi Fernandez 6. Pepe Ribes 7. Jaime Arbones 8. Gonzalo Araujo 9. Simon Fisher 10. Javier de la Plaza 11. Jonathan Swain

http://www.equipotelefonica.es

IODA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Two further races on day 3 made surprisingly little difference to the leaderboard, despite rather stronger winds of up to 20 knots.

Sara Piasecka (POL), having won all three races on day 2, showed she was only human with 5 and 4 but still holds a 7 point lead over Carlotta Omari (ITA). Fanni Pech (HUN) showed that she could handle the stronger stuff - unusual on Lake Balaton in summer - and remains in third place.

Among the boys Sebastian Kalafarski of Poland scored an excellent 4 + 3 to ease into second place behind Luca Mazzaferro (BRA) and splitting the Spaniards Xavier Antich and Luis Beritez-Inglot. And, for the third day running the surprise story remains Momir Nikolic from first time participants Montenegro who retained a top-10 place.

Coaches are beginning to add up team results as this event is the qualifier for the first-ever European Team Racing Championship (see http://www.optiworld.org/08euroTRnor.pdf ).

Results: http://www.optiworld.org/08euroresultday3.pdf

A GREEN THREAT TO THE OLYMPICS Concerns over environmental problems spoiling Beijing's Olympiad have usually centered on the city's air quality, but a new threat to the Games has materialized in the sea. The waters off the coastal city of Qingdao, the venue for the Olympic sailing events, have become choked with thick, green algae. The bloom snakes along the shore and covers a third of the Olympic course, according to the state-run Xinhua News Service - and the muck is making life difficult for sailors and windsurfers who have come to train ahead of their August events. For Qingdao, a former German concession best known as the home of Tsingtao Beer, the outbreak is a monumental headache just six weeks before the Games begin.

More than 10,000 troops and close to 100,000 volunteers have been deployed to battle the algae, says Gao Zhenhui, director of the State Oceanic Administration's North China Sea Environmental Monitoring Center in Qingdao. "At first we didn't realize how big it would be," Gao says. "We didn't think it would happen so fast." Last June, Qingdao saw an algae blooms that covered 27 square miles, and a second one in September covered three square miles. But those are dwarfed by the current algae bloom, which covers 154 square miles. -- Austin Ramzy, full story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080701/wl_time/agreenthreattotheolympics

CRAIG AIMS TO TAKE RECORD FOURTH OK DINGHY WORLD TITLE Ask any OK Dinghy sailor what their favourite venue is and the answer from many of them will be Warnemunde, in the east of Germany. Ask them why, and they will say because the water offers some of the best sailing conditions anywhere in the world, the onshore facilities are great, the people are friendly, the town is wonderful and the beer is plentiful.

Hence Warnemunde was a particularly popular choice as the venue for the 46th OK Dinghy World Championships, scheduled to open this weekend. So far 89 sailors from Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Poland and Sweden have entered for what promises to be a tough and hard fought for event.

Undoubtedly the three times and current World Champion, Nick Craig (GBR) is the favourite to take the title for a fourth year in a row. Craig is now regularly competing in four different classes, and he hasn't been able to put in the amount of time he wants to in order to fully prepare for this event. However he is certainly one of the fittest and strongest sailors in the international fleet and produces a level of consistency across a range of wind strengths that few other sailors can match.

However, if Craig manages to win for a fourth year running he will make history. Only one other person, Bo-Staffan Andersson (SWE), has won the title three years running and only two sailors have won the title four times, albeit not consecutively, (Andersson in 1988 and 1991- 93 and Leith Armit (NZL) in 1983, 1985, 1990 and 1994), but no one has yet won it four times running.

His main competition is likely to come from local favourite Karsten Hitz (GER). Twice a world champion himself, Hitz finished 4th in 2007 and has a new and largely untested German built hull. The German fleet is unsurprisingly the largest national contingent in Warnemunde with 27 entries. Other likely contenders for the top 10 include Gunter Arndt who was 6th last year, Martin von Zimmermann the 2006 European Champion and Oliver Gronholz who was 10th last year. -- Robert Deaves

Event site: http://www.okworlds2008.org

JOG ANNOUNCE TITLE SPONSOR FOR ILLINGWORTH CHALLENGE The Junior Offshore Group, JOG, has announced a major Title Sponsorship deal for its new offshore race, the Illingworth Challenge, named after Captain John Illingworth a founder member of JOG.

Now called the Cognos Illingworth Challenge, the race will start from the JOG line in Cowes on 19th July 2008 and will take competitors west out of the Solent, around Ushant to the finish off La Trinite, a distance of approximately 400 miles.

Cognos will be working closely with MarineTrack who will supply a tracker system on board each boat. Real-time race data will be relayed and Cognos will present this on the web through its mid market operational Business Intelligence solution Cognos Now! The website will enable competitors and their followers to stay up-to-the-minute on the position of the contestants throughout the race.

http://jog.org.uk

ROUND THE ISLAND RACE: RNLI RESCUES Last Saturday's Round the Island Race was a breezy one, so it proved a busy day for the RNLI's volunteer lifeboat crews based on the Isle of Wight and around the Solent. I appreciate you've probably wrapped up your coverage of this now, but just in case...

Howard Lester Coxswain of Yarmouth RNLI all-weather Severn class lifeboat 'Eric and Susan Hiscock' says:

"Saturday's Round the Island Race proved a busy day for RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews based in the Solent. Isle of Wight based RNLI lifeboats from Bembridge and Yarmouth, along with the Calshot based RNLI lifeboat were called to around 20 rescue incidents. As it was a breezy day, with wind up to a force five to six, incidents varied from injured sailors to gear failure and a few broken masts.

On average more than half of RNLI lifeboat call outs are to leisure boaters each year; so I'd encourage all who use the sea to support the marine search and rescue charity on a regular basis by becoming a member which will help keep us afloat."

http://www.rnli.org.uk

NEARLY HOME! Nearly two years ago The Lively Lady Project, supported by Raymarine, the Portsmouth-based marine electronics company, set off on an exciting round the world sailing experience aimed to help disadvantaged young adults.

Having visited 18 countries, 27 different ports and changed the lives of the 36 young adults on the project, this famous yacht will be sailing back into the familiar waters of Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth on July 5th 2008.

Lively Lady is the historic wooden sailing boat that took Portsmouth grocer Sir Alec Rose to Australia and back in 1968. Believing that anybody could and should realise their dreams, Sir Alec Rose bequeathed Lively Lady to the City of Portsmouth, intending that she should be used to help disadvantaged young adults realise their potential. Now, 40 years (plus one day!) on from Sir Alec's return in 1968, Portsmouth will celebrate once again an amazing feat of stamina and bravery.

The Raymarine Lively Lady Project has been headed up by British ocean adventurer Alan Priddy, who was inspired by Sir Alec Rose as a child, and committed to taking up this demanding challenge on board the 36 foot (11m) sailing yacht. For each leg of the trip Alan, and his experienced adult co-skipper, were joined by two young adults who, following a rigorous selection process, had been selected.

FEATURED BROKERAGE 1958 Block Island B-40, 395,000 USD, Located in Menominee, Michigan, USA.

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THE LAST WORD In the absence of will-power the most complete collection of virtues and talents is wholly worthless. -- Aleister Crowley

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